Mostly listening to rock music from the 60s and 70s, thus I am asking a biased question. My greatest debut album is From Genesis to Revelation by Genesis. I understand there were production issues in the making of the album but Gabriel's voice is astonishing on this LP. I wish I could find a live version of Into the Wilderness but can not. Any help in that would be appreciated. Look forward to hearing others opinions for selfish reasons as I want to grow my collection and appreciate the opinions represented here.
Ricmci, you have taste : ) Indeed very young Gabriel had fantastic voice perfectly fitted the music, and he soon would emerge as the perfect interpreter for symphonic progressive rock. Excellent songs, near all perfect pop tunes, and not a single dull moment really. Wonderful mix of pop and psych with a progressive touch, all the GENESIS musical aspects and character are already there, those soon would lead to the one of the very finest symphonic rock acts/prog bands performing on the planet. Well, in fact, the lads were not excited about Jonathan King´s quite naive lush orchestral sound production. That first album is just his fantasy, not what the kids really wanted to sound. They were under 20, they wanted to play rock music for goodness sake ! The best thing is they did not copy anyone but already had the sound and the musical style of their very own, they were about to create something extraordinary. And they did, FGtR is a fine pop album from the fantastic late 60´s.
The very first editions are too pricey for me, what later edition(s) would you recommend ?
And what exactly is their true first album for me, the wonderful Trespass. Now the sound is mature and dense, melancholic mostly but nothing light anymore, very fine in a pastoral way, yet very dynamic (proper stereo system required of course). Absolutely fantastic. And as unique as King Crimson´s sound on their incredible debut album just a year earlier. These bands created totally different rock music, nothing related to blues but rather in European classical music tradition. GENESIS were young geniuses, but sadly Trespass is (prog) rock´s most underrated album.
Wow. To quote a letter in the latest issue of Stereophile, this thread is, with a few exceptions here and there, a memorial to OWGM - Old White Guy Music.
Dire Straits. It holds up better than any of their subsequent works, both sonically and performance-wise. It sounds like they just showed up at the studio and laid it down, effortlessly.
Janelle Monae-The ArchAndroid. Technically her second album (The Audtion came out seven years earlier but only 500 copies were ever made). In terms of sheer scope and imagination, it’s hard to come close to anything like this since the 70s.
Duran Duran. Their debut comes out of the gate with so much power and slick production. Much better than most of their “new romantic” peers.
DJ Shadow-Endroducing. Turntablist masterpiece.
Finley Quaye-Maverick a Strike. Delightful and unique.
Me’Shell NdegeOcello-Plantation Lullabies. Angry, funky, sexy. Much better than her later work.
Inner Mounting Flame imho does not qualify as a debut. John McLoughlin did two LPs on Douglas - after he left Miles’s Bitches Brew band, before he formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
My best debut LPS would be, in no particular order, excepting The Doors which for me is a clear Numero Uno:
The Doors - The Doors Laura Nyro - More Than a New Discovery Jeff Buckley - Grace Little Feat - Little Feat Mark Almond Band - Mark Almond Band Joni Mitchell - Songs of the Seagulls It’s a Beautiful Day - It’s a Beautiful Day Crosby Stills Nash - Crosby Stills Nash David Crosby - If Only I Could Remember My Name The Byrds - The Byrds The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Guilded Palace of Sin Gram Parsons - GP (unless you think of The FBBs as a Gram Parsons backup band, which imo they are not: Chris Hillman was a huge contributor) Public Image Limited - Public Image Limited The Gang of Four - Entertainment! X Ray Spex - X Ray Spex (a one hit wonder, I am afraid) Scraping Fetus Off the Wheel - Nail Chicago - Chicago Hot Tuna - Hot Tuna
Led Zeppelin Rainbow Black Sabbath Santana Nazareth Jethro Tull Heart Uriah Heep Boston Asia Europe Foreigner Kingdom Come Mighty Sam McClain Mike Oldfield Ozzy TOTO ZAZ .......................................and many others
Regarding The Beatles: Americans tend to consider Meet The Beatles their debut album, but it actually isn’t. In March of 1963 EMI released their true debut, Please Please Me, in England, but Capitol (EMI’s U. S. equivalent) passed on the album. Vee Jay Records obtained the rights to the album, changed the title to Introducing The Beatles, and released it in January of ’64, the same month Capitol released Meet The Beatles. By then Capitol had seen the light (or smelled the money ;-) .
Meet The Beatles is unquestionably, in historical terms, THE "debut" album of my lifetime (said as a U.S.A. resident). It sounds like what we consider the early Beatles sound: Merseybeat. Please Please Me/Introducing The Beatles doesn’t. It contains covers of a lot of U.S. Girl Group, R & B, and Show Tunes (a favorite of Paul McCartney), and not particularly well done, imo.
Taj Mahal "S/T" John Prine "S/T" Zebra "S/T" Courtney Barnett "Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit" Bad Company "S/T" Luna "Lunapark" The Outlaws "S/T" Cracker "S/T" Leon Russell "S/T" Liz Phair "Exile In Guyville" The Wallflowers "Bringing Down the Hoarse" Ryan Bingham "Mescalito" Blood, Sweat & Tears "Child is Father to the Man" Tori Amos "Little Earthquakes"
I change em up or go into a wierd phase but these are always in my top 20 debuts The Allmam brothers Band- The Allman Brothers Band Robert Palmer- Sneaking Sally Though the Alley Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath Rory Gallagher- Rory Gallagher The Sonics- Here are the Sonics Dio- Holy DiverThe Meters - The MetersMotorhead- MotorheadThe Black Crowes- Shake Your Money Makernot really a debut but a pretty big departure from thier previous releases, pre Michael Schenker.UFO- Phenomenon
@tostadosunidos, yup Jack was the most interesting thing about The Airplane, just as John Entwistle was in The Who. But then, I love the bass. James Jamerson is about my favorite musician; he, Ry Cooder, and Levon Helm. What a trio that would have been!
@mitchagain - I saw dada last winter on the 25th Anniversary Tour of Puzzle. They've still got it. Was a great show. I would see them again anytime they play nearby.
I bought "Puzzle" back when it came out in 1992 and I loved it. I could never figure out how dada did not become a household name. I would love to get it on vinyl, but it seems they only released it in Brazil and Spain. I'll occasionally see an LP for sale on Discogs and they are usually $200+. I like it, a lot, but not that much....... :~)
@Reubent: Nice call on DADA's debut album. I seriously considered mentioning that one. I saw them on the tour for that album. They were opening for Sting, and they blew him off the stage.
That album is one of many great records where the single (Dizz Knee Land) is one of the worst (if not the worst) song on the album. A few other examples that coem to mind are Dire Straits (Sultans of Swing) and The Pretenders (Brass in Pocket).
bdp24, I agree about Jack's bass playing. You may know he was the principal reason Grace Slick quit the Great Society and joined Jefferson Airplane. It's a shame his bass part on the Electric Ladyland LP got horribly lost in the mix. I'd love to hear a re-mix of Voodo Chile that does him justice. What a band that was--Hendrix, Jack C., Stevie Winwood and Mitch Mitchell. Wow!!!
@tostadosunidos, the bassist in my 1971 band loved Jack Cassidy (and Rick Danko, and Phil Lesh) and the sound he got, so bought himself the same Guild bass Jack played at the time. He was disappointed and frustrated that it sounded nothing like Jack's, and soon learned it was because Jack had replaced the stock flat wound strings with round wound. Expensive lesson! Jack is a very interesting bassist.
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