Favourite debut album
 

Everyone knows mine (Marillion's) but what's yours? And why?

(That was a short post, but then, how much do I need to explain the concept behind this...?)

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fairly obvious.

Firstly, the quote in anticipation's sig is certainly my favourite comment on MB ever.

I would probably say my "favourite" is The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses, but after years of listening to more music, I have to admit that it isn't that great an album overall. However, Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus is probably the debut album I would consider to be the "best".

The Velvet Underground and Nico - The antithesis of what was the hippie happening in '67. Mainly all dressed in black (at the time, of course), singing songs about things a lot of people were scared to hear, feedback, Lou Reed's way with a killer melody and street wise lyrics, John Cale's strong Bass playing and classic artful additions to the sound (The Viola, especially), NICO, the sinister Exploding Plastic Inevitable show and Warhol connection, the classic "Peel Slowly and See" Banana cover, the quotes (Cher's is especially memorable!), Mo Tucker's hard thumping rhythm, the decadence, and the sound that was ready to shock the last few years of a decade that was puking technicolor and caught the attention of those ready to dive into some stronger music. Hearing this album back in '86, during the start of my Punk Rock Adventure, I found out what I would have been raving about back in the day (and I was also just starting to get into The Birthday Party, too...all the pieces were being put together).

"All Tomorrows Parties," "Run Run Run," "Venus in Furs," "Waiting for the Man," ...damn, just the whole album.

If it were not for this, I wonder if a lot of my other favorite Debut Albums would have even existed.

They probably would.

Quite a few, possibly, but VU and Nico did a lot of groundbreaking for '67. Plus, they had a style that was copied if not duplicated by many bands through the years. It's not easy being among the first. It was an album a lot of musicians got into back then. Plus, I'm convinced that many of the original Gothics would possibly point to that album, or at least Nico's second album The Marble Index, as works that helped built the roads for the original movement.

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Is there anyway I can make the pictures bigger?

Yeah, I do agree to an extent, and I have the hugest respect for The Velvet Underground, but I assume there would have been some other bands out there making similar music around that time.

Don't attach them, copy and paste the image url into [IMG] (no space) [/IMG] instead.

thank you :)

The Strokes - Is This It

The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever You Say I Am, That's What I Am Not

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

At least that's all I can think of. I don't pick favourites, really.

Soundgarden - Ultramega OK (1988)

Not only my favourite debut disc, it's also my favourite Soundgarden album. I'm left to assume Hiro Yamamoto's initial presence and influence in the band is what puts this disc on par with Superunknown and the fact that it was released before CDs became the defacto album standard forced a more focused effort.

The album also showcases the dark humour that permeated the band in their early days before success turned them into serious musicians. The title specifically was meant to poke fun at the superfluous and absurd re-branding of boring products in the late 80s. It seemed like everything being sold on shelves was some sort of Super Ultra Extra Wowwie! version of the same OK grade stuff from the not too distant past.

Lucky for the listeners the album was not OK grade stuff. It was freaking awesome. Cornell actually sounds a bit like Ozzy at some points but when he starts wailing on a track like 'Beyond the Wheel' or the cover of 'Smokestack Lightning' it's all Cornell. The production on Thayil's guitar playing might have cleaned up a bit over the years but it's still obvious he's had his sound since the start. Cameron's drumming is just as fluid and innovative as anything else he'd go on to do with the band, check out 'He Didn't' for proof.

The one thing that does stand out from the rest of their catalog is again Yamamoto's bass playing. His leads were far more melodic than Ben Shepherd's subsequent work, it's not that one is better than the other, just different. He also handles vocal duties on 'Circle of Power' granting that song a manic feel that I just can't imagine Cornell being able to pull off.

Then you get the hilarious 665 / 667 as well as the cover of John Lennon's 'One Minute of Silence' where if you pay close attention you can hear one them b!tching to the other about looking at his watch. 665/667 were recorded in direct response to the parental groups looking to blame heavy metal being played backwards for all the ills of the world and Satanic shenanigans. It kind of does sound like Cornell is signing about Satan due to the heavy post-production, but the reality is - he's asking Santa to please bring him a bike.

The song I linked above really encapsulates the disc and band for me. Starting with an acoustic guitar, then some borderline shred-punk riffing before a psychedelic breakdown with a nice bass lead. It's got something of everything and so did this album. It would take the band 3 more albums before they reached this level again and it would only last for that one disc.

Soundgarden was not like the others, and this debut proves it.

Maybe I should have stated that it did encourage a few people in the music industry to take notice and dare themselves to get a little more adventurous.

There were some bands that had a darker sound, yes. Maybe not similar but certainly interesting.

The Music Machine - The "Talk Talk" band (I mean the Garage Punk "Talk Talk" Band," not to be confused with Mark Hollis' band) were not similar but shared a few things: all in black, killer Fuzz Bass sound, Sean Bonniwell's lyrics that were more advanced than a lot of other Garage Punk bands of the day (although instead sung in a very Soulful voice), slightly Gothic sound through Doug Rhodes' organ. Sadly, their record company, Original Sound, wanted covers on their debut, making it weaker than what it could have been.

The Doors - Dark and sometimes mysterious, they were more easier to approach than The VU. It's not a dismissal, I love a lot of their music, but what I got out of The first two albums era VU and Nico was a coldness that was a serious clash to what was happening where The Doors wanted the audience to get involved with their music, leading to part of the appeal and large popularity.

Slipknot cuz it RoXS

Ehhh... While Ultramega OK is definitely a great album I still prefer Louder Than Love (and Badmotorfinger to that). The band was on a winning streak all the way up to Superunknown which easily ties with Badmotorfinger depending on my mood. In the context of a debut, it surely is a hefty one but the quality of their writing still had plenty of room to improve (as they did with each subsequent release - even up to Down on the Upside - while not as good overall, it still showed the peak of their growth as musicians).

I've often gone on how great the Doors, Led Zeppelin, the Cars and Devo debut albums are, so I won't mention them here.

Here's another two of the very best though and can certainly match the above albums.

Pink Fairies Neverneverland 1971
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A hard rocking psychedelic at times hippie classic, one of those albums to really impress people with its freak out feel.

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick 1977
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With its Beatlesque hooks, Who styled power, overdriven amps and pure energy the Cheap Trick debut sounds like a rollarcoaster ride that's about to go off the rails at any moment, it was bolder and harder that what most punk bands were putting out in 1977 and of course it was full of Cheap Trick humour. In fact the record label were so shocked that they made the band tone things down for the second album.

Enter the 36 Chambers by the Wu is still their strongest release, in my opinion. It was just the right mixture raw production and casual listenablity that makes it the perfect introduction to all of their other work, and something you find yourself going back to time and time again.

I was going to say this but now you have stolen my thunder sir/ma'am

Hatfield and the North's debut is my favorite debut album of all time.

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It came out in 1974 and features a brilliant line-up. Richard Sinclair on vocals and bass, Dave Stewart on keyboards, Phil Miller on guitar and Pip Pyle on drums. In addition, some of the pieces feature vocals by the Northettes, a female trio made up of Amanda Parsons, Barbara Gaskins and Ann Rosenthal. Robert Wyatt also makes an appearance on one of the tracks.

There's some interesting story behind it, but I guess it won't mean much to people who don't know the Canterbury scene which is most I guess. Suffice to say that the music on this album is brilliant, beautiful and entirely unique. It's like they came up with something entirely new and it was just brilliant. The album features the perfect mix of talent and I just adore it on every level.

Never understood this. Wu-Tang Forever is absolutely miles and miles ahead of 36 Chambers in almost every way and yet people always say their debut is their best offering. Don't make no sense.

Oh no no, you like Forever? It's barely listenable. 36 Chambers is raw,everyone shines, production is near perfect, hooks are memorable, more memorable one liners, more impactful, no lame ass music videos (Just saying Triumph is pretty gangsta).

Not arguing, just giving you my point of view for 36 Chambers. :bowdown:

We are allowed to argue. I place them both on the same level to be honest.

Although I have quite a few favorites, Satch's first (Not Of This Earth) will always have a special place in my heart just for the sheer boldness of it. In a time where MC Hammer and Michael Jackson ruled the airwaves, Joe took to the task of creating an all guitar album, and delivered with rave reviews. The man had, and still does have some big cahona's. He's pretty good with a guitar too.


Joe Satriani - The Enigmatic - YouTube

Forever is good, I just don't think I would have been able to get it unless I had listened to 36 Chambers first. I have to agree that 36 is just in general more memorable than anything on Forever. Then again, it might just be nostalgia.

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that everyone and their mother hypes 36 Chambers to no end. In my eyes their debut was a show of what they would come to be, both lyrically and production wise while Forever was their opus, and feels more cohesive and ill. I can recite 3/4 of Forever word for word and enjoy it loads more than 36 Chambers, which is not to say that I don't love the debut but I've never understood the hype aside from the obvious nostalgia/influence argument. And anyone who thinks that the rhymes on 36 Chambers are objectively better than Forever needs to get their head checked :p:

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Kate Bush's debut album is also pretty astounding (imo). The songs here are written by her during her teens, some of them while she was as young as 12 years old. These are beautiful melodies. She wrote so many songs during her teen years (200+) that her first three albums all contain material from this period and many of them became hits. Still, I think the debut album contains the cream of the crop.

Aside from Kate and her beautiful voice and piano, the album is produced by Andrew Powell who really did a good job and, I feel, got the best out of Kate. I actually think he did a better job producing her albums than she did herself in the mid 80s.

Wuthering Heights is the most famous song from the album which was inspired by a movie adaptation of Emily Bronte's famous novel by the same name. It's a great song, but here's another favourite, the title track which is a controversial song about lovers who happen to be brother and sister - forbidden love which leads to a pregnancy which leads to a suicide. Quite a dramatic subject, but yet it's delicately handled by such a young songwriter.



This song appears in some pre-debut demos I have so it was probably written when she was 15 or 16. Just one example of many beautiful songs she wrote way back then.

As great as her debut was, I always thought the follow-up Lionheart was even better, it was full of the material that was ignored for the debut as it was seen as less accessible. It was Kate Bush at her weirdest.

I don't think it's quite as strong as her debut, feeling it was perhaps a little rushed, but it's still a great album. I think of her three first, I actually prefer them in chronological order. Kick Inside, Lionheart, Never for Ever :)

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King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

These guys were an awesome prog rock band from the very beginning, they ddidn't even need to evolve because they struck gold the very first time. This one is, together with Red and Discipline, their best album and it's pretty obvious why. Lake is just an awesome singer, this album doesn't have any actual downsides and it had enough variation to stay interesting. 21st Centruy Schizoid Man got me at hello, the very first 5 seconds of overwhelming horns made me love King Crimson already and the other tracks didn't make me think any less of it. I Talk to the Wind is quite a touching song, Epitaph is the second climax to the album, opening with an overwhelming, outlandish guitar riff, and going into calm mode afterwards. It's probably the best thign King Crimson has ever done, with an amazing buildup, an overall awesome composition and with one of Lake's strongest performances vocally. Moonchild is the oddball track (not the last one they made, to say the least), that lulls you asleep with little improvised guitar riffs and keeps you awake with random sounds after a little ballad. And then there's the finale, which is one of grandeur to say the least. What's there to say about it? It's just epic, case closed. Overall, I think that no one has made such a perfect debut as King Crimson. Simple as that.

I'm just the opposite Never For Ever, Lionheart, Kick Inside

I can agree with this...while it's a tossup between this and Red for my favorite King Crimson album, they definitely nailed it on the first go here. No other album has as much variety while simultaneously staying very cohesive. Red's one flaw is that the songs might be too cohesive. It starts to drag after repeated listens as a result.

Yeah, while I think that all of Red's ongs are awesome (aside from Providence, I honestly can't ge tinto that one), it does seem like they really were going for a more consistent style, and while some may say it's good, you can't deny that the surprise factor and variation of their debut is what makes it such a wondeful album and such a great band.

If "Wu Tang Forever" was a person it would look like this....
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Decent trollin'

Dude, that's anything but trollin.. its called a joke... we're having a convo about an album and that is my response. It's funny, laugh, it won't kill you.

Don't be a prick just because you have no one to talk to :(

In fact, what you just did was the ultimate way of trollin'. Sticking your electronic schnoze in the middle of a convo that had nothing to do with you. Now put on your big boy knickers and grow up.

Wire-pink flag

:clap: totally agree :)

Yes.

Neu! is right up there for me, as is The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators.

the first two that popped in my head :)

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16 Horsepower - Sackcloth 'n' Ashes

what a perfect beginning to an amazing band....this is such a strange and wonderful album....mixing amazing Americana and folk with a for of dark almost goth aesthetic.....there are as many songs about murder as there are about jesus.....and i think nobody can deny the absolute power of David Eugene's lyrics and ghostly voice....i celebrated their entire discography but none of the other albums even come close to the genius of this one....although Folklore is very close.....seriously if you have not heard this band.....get on it....they seem to be one of those rare bands that attract everybody

best track by far


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Heroine Sheiks - Rape....On The Installment Plan

i always love to make the joke "this is what happens when Swans and Cows mate"....and it works......after the demise of Cows and well after Swans died this amazing band released its debut album on reptilian records.....and it was perfect....seriously not a bad track on here.....and although i love their later releases none of them come close to how good this is.....i mean any album that opens with the line "all rise! I've arrived" and ends with "today is another day...a day god made....to that i say FUCK!".....whats really great is this sounds nothing like Cows or Swans but has both feelings of said bands.....their only album that is 100% beginning to end
end.....

Um, sorry to burst your triumphant bubble but posting a picture of Jimmy from South Park is hardly stimulating good conversation. It also isn't very funny.

You should have posted a picture of a cat doing something hilarious. Then it would have been funny.