Those rare albums that are great on first listen.


You know the ones. They blow your mind and make you glad you're an audiophile.

Share your favorites.

For me it’s usually some style or vibe I haven’t heard before. My list so far is around 20, but I’ll keep it to my top 5. Feel free to share as many as you like.

!. Poe ‘Haunted’
2. Spirit “Twelve dreams of Dr. Sardonicus’
3. Midlake ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’
4.Tori Amos ‘Little Earthquakes’
5. Skindive  ‘Skindive’

 

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Yes, and Live Herald is just fantastic.

"L" by Steve Hillage. And still souds nice. From 1976.

Some Albums I have always liked from the first time I heard them. There are a lot more if I took more time to think about it...

Surrealistic Pillow, The Jefferson Airplane

Truth, Jeff Beck

The Pretender, Jackson Browne

Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

Beggars Banquet, The Rolling Stones

Surfer Girl, The Beach Boys

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, Allen Sherman

The Monster Mash, Bobby Boris Pickett

The Seeds, The Seeds

The Flying Purple People Eater, Sheb Wooley

Aftermath, The Rolling Stones

Rubber Soul, The Beatles

Heart Like a Wheel, Linda Ronstadt

Music for the Mind and Body, Country Joe and the Fish

High Tide and Green Grass, The Rolling Stones

Kind of Blue, Miles Davis

Santana, Santana

Unchained Melody: Very Best of the Righteous Brothers

The Best of the Animals, The Animals

CS&N, CS&N

Dire Straits, Dire Straits

Runaround Sue, Dion

The Best of Ray Charles, Ray Charles

The Doors, The Doors

East West, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel

Boston, Boston

Bitches Brew, Miles Davis

The Koln Concert, Keith Jarrett

Blue, Cassandra Wilson

Sarah Vaughn, Sarah Vaughn

Bright Size Life, Pat Methany

Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Bill Evans

 

 

 

 

 

Marjorie Fair - Self Help Serenade

I was mesmerized during that first listen.  Each successive note and song seemed like it could not be more perfect...like the whole thing was unfolding according to some cosmic plan.  Yeah, well, whatever.  If you weren't right there you wouldn't know, would you.  

(Thanks to Pokey77 for turning me on to that one.  

 

Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and others - "Like Minds"
John Coltrane and Rashied Ali - "Interstellar Space"
John Handy Quintet - "Live at the 1965 Monterey Hazz Festival"

Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and others - "Like Minds"
John Coltrane and Rashied Ali - "Interstellar Space"
John Handy Quintet - "Live at the 1965 Monterey Hazz Festival"

Thanks soix very good choices for me ...😊

I did not have them ...

 

Just thought of a couple more from Joe Sample and Oscar Peterson.  Great music throughout and all well recorded…

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDzuMUMRugCqrpQSxMVGfoSjo5vXS0zaj&si=Y3zx5ErXma_s2qO_
 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7wwUW-k_SGERpk2z3yTyW3tyj-iuAowg&si=FWJyw97Ue4_7qqEu

Sandy Denny 'An old fashioned waltz'

Joni Mitchell 'Ladies of the canyon'

Best of Etta James

Lubomyr Melnyk......... "Fallen Trees"

Popul Vuh................"Aguirre"

Laurie Anderson.........."Mister Heartbreak"

The National................"Trouble Will Find Me"

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds..... "The Boatman’s Call"

Khatia Bunatishvili........."Labyrinth"

@unreceivedogma

Do these questions seem to generate answers that reply more to the question “what are your favorite LPs”, or is it me?

 

Not for me.

My entire music listening history is rife with: bands, musicians, composers, genres and subgenres of music, that took time and work to get into. Many, if not most of my favorites, did not immediately make sense to me, until I gave them multiple listens, in order to be able to wrap my mind around what they were doing.

My first example of this, would be the prog band, Gentle Giant. They were recommended to me because I was already listening to quite a bit of prog at the time (Yes, Genesis, Camel, King Crimson, etc), but I was not ready for what these guys were doing: the dissonance, the unique harmonies, the stop/start rhythms, etc.

A year later, after listening to a bunch of other prog, and I decided to take their LP’s off my shelf and give them another try. It was like a light went off in my head. What was I thinking?! They quickly became one of my favorite bands, and have more longevity than a lot of other bands of their time.

Same thing happened again with the entire subgenre of avant-prog. These bands use even more dissonance than GG, also use atonality, extremely complex and unpredictable song arrangements, free improv, complex time signatures, etc. Again, it tool me months to wrap my head around avant-prog, but the subgenre is my favorite prog subgenre.

Happened again very recently with post 1950’s (up through the current era) atonal, serial, avant-garde, experimental, classical music. Now, I can’t get enough.

So, for me, much of the music that takes time and "work" to get into, seems to have the most longevity, has emotional depth, and holds up to repeat listenings better.

Renaissance - Turn of the Cards (1974)

Prog, influenced by late Romantic era classical music, elevated by the voice of Annie Haslam. 5+ octaves, near perfect intonation, dynamics, power, loads of emotion.

 

That voice sent shivers down my spine the first time I heard it!

Do these questions seem to generate answers that reply more to the question “what are your favorite LPs”, or is it me?

Yes they do.   But, since

"Those rare albums that are great on first listen." is a matter of personal opinion, that is what is going to happen.

Placebo 'Meds'. My daughter and I loved the line 'Let's follow the cops back home
and rob their houses'

Death Cab for Cutie 'Plans'. Includes a song that'll make your spirit soar.

Western States Motel. There's just something about this chill indie band I love.

Neil Young 'Harvest'

Uriah Heep. My and my buddies loved all of their albums. Blasting on the way to school in my '55 Ford wagon.

 

Do these questions seem to generate answers that reply more to the question “what are your favorite LPs”, or is it me?

theaudioatticvinylsundays.com

Marvellous experience then...

I cannot forgot the Allegri Miserere  piece nor the Spem in Alium of Thomas Tallis first listening...

I was and are always stunned..

😊

@mahgister I have seen them perform it twice. Both times in old churches necessary for the correct performance.

@mahgister I have seen them perform it twice. Both times in old churches necessary for the correct performance. 

Stunning piece i remember listening for the first time 50 years ago ...

But with Cambridge Choir ... 😊

Laufey; Everything I know about love

Samara Joy;  Linger awhile

Kandace Springs;  The women who raised me

Wow what a great thread, keep them coming! Forgot my favorite Pete Townsend album with small faces alumni Ronnie Lane, "Rough Mix". A real sleeper album at the time , I think I was the only person in our group at the time who had ever heard or listened to it.

Mellow Yellow by Donovan, Traffic - Welcome to the Canteen, Darryl Hall and John Oats- Abandoned Lunchinette, Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and a big thumbs up for "Tea for the Tillerman" listened to all of these on a continous rotation.

Lots of excellent choices and quite a few out of my “comfort zone” even though I have an eclectic taste in music. 
 

I have probably gleamed at least a dozen album titles from people’s recommendations that I am going to gather for headphone/2.1 stereo listening. 
 

it is always good to expand your horizons. Great topic. 

The reason why you like music the more you listen to it is called neuroplasticity. The reason why you like an album or a song right off the bat is because it reminded you of something that you liked already. The reason why we audiophiles like our own sound systems is because we listen to it so often and enjoy it. 

Steely Dan "Aja"
Grover Washington Jr. "Soul Box"
Chris Botti "When I fall in Love"

A little late to the party. I concur with many of the records mentioned already. Here are a few more that did it for me. There are many albums that captured me the first time I heard them, but the following still grab my attention listening with much, much better gear.

Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman

Bruce Cockburn: Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws

Cassandra Wilson: Blue Light ‘til Dawn

Lorde: Te Ao Marama (a companion piece to Solar Power. The EP is sung entirely in Te Reo Maori - remarkable)

Beyonce: act ii - perhaps the best pop album in a decade

I could also add 

Faces Long Player

Rod Stewart Gasoline Alley

Pete Townsend Ronnie Lane Rough Mix

Even me who is a bit picky concur with your choices...😊

 

 

King Crimson - "In the Court of the Crimson King"

Jethro Tull - "Thick as a Brick"

Miles Davis - "Kind of Blue"

Eberhard Weber - "The Colours of Chloë"

Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon"

King Crimson - "In the Court of the Crimson King"

Jethro Tull - "Thick as a Brick"

Miles Davis - "Kind of Blue"

Eberhard Weber - "The Colours of Chloë"

Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon"

There are many, many more but I also limited myself to five.  I was late to the party in discovering Miles Davis and picked up "Kind of Blue" in a record store due to the partial review on a sticker on the record.  Not having heard any Miles I took it home and played it having my mind blown.  I think I played it every day for at least a month!  "The Colours of Chloë" I heard on the radio.  I heard one amazing track and thought "I have to find out what that record is".  Then they played a different piece of music and I thought the same thing.  I wondered when they were going to tell me what they were playing.  Two more amazing pieces of music followed and then they finally gave out the play list - all four were from the same album!  You can be sure I went out and bought it immediately.

Cream/Fresh Cream ,Santana/First Album,Doors/First Album,Somewhere in Time /Soundtrack Lp, Queen/A Night at the Opera. 

Some may not like the album itself for various reasons (political, band feuds, etc) but Pink Floyd’s last album The Final Cut is awesome to listen to with all the extra background sounds. The audio engineering is excellent. 

@chrisoshea

Not unusual at all for me to love an album at first listen…. 95% of my favorites I loved at first play;

Good to know I’m not the only one for whom this is not only not a "rare" occurrence but the norm! 

 

Post removed 

Not unusual at all for me to love an album at first listen…. 95% of my favorites I loved at first play;

 

Beatles - Abbey Road

XTC - Drums and Wires

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder 

Fairport Convention- Unhalfbricking

 

 

 

 

 

Many albums are challenging and are an acquired taste, but ultimately the most rewarding. BUT some albums are great just from the first time!

  • The Clash - London Calling
  • Beatles - Abbey Road
  • REM: Reckoning
  • The Who - Tommy
  • Nirvana - Nevermind
  • Generation X - self titled
  • The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
  • Supertramp - Breakfast in America
  • Charles Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus etc.
  • Rush - Moving Pictures
  • The Cars - The Cars

Not expecting to break any new ground with that list.

@taheeti 

Audiogon messages don't allow a reply. Some issue with security. 

Anyway, when I listened to Sardonicus on vinyl I was not in a state of mind to notice anything but the music. I would have assumed any sound was intentional.

Never had the CD but it sounds good on streaming. 

Son Volt, Trace & Fink, Wheels Turn Beneath My Feet are two good ones that captivated me on 1st listen. David Bowie, Young Americans is a good one too

Some Albums I have always liked from the first time I heard them.  There are a lot more if I took more time to think about it...

Surrealistic Pillow, The Jefferson Airplane

Truth, Jeff Beck

The Pretender, Jackson Browne

Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

Rubber Soul, The Beatles

Heart Like a Wheel, Linda Ronstadt

Music for the Mind and Body, Country Joe and the Fish

High Tide and Green Grass, The Rolling Stones

Kind of Blue, Miles Davis

Santana, Santana

Aftermath, The Rolling Stones

Unchained Melody: Very Best of the Righteous Brothers

The Best of the Animals, The Animals

CS&N, CS&N

Dire Straits, Dire Straits

Runaround Sue, Dion

The Best of Ray Charles, Ray Charles

The Doors, The Doors

Beggars Banquet, The Rolling Stones

East West, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel

Boston, Boston

Bitches Brew, Miles Davis

The Koln Concert, Keith Jarrett

Blue, Cassandra Wilson

Sarah Vaughn, Sarah Vaughn

Bright Size Life, Pat Methany

Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Bill Evans

 

 

 

 

 

Diana Krall - Loves Scenes

Shirley Horn - You're My Thrill

Gregory Porter - Be Good

 

The Who - Who’s Next

Taj Mahal - The Real Thing

Charles Mingus - Ah Um

Rosanne Cash - The River and The Thread

Procol Harum - A Salty Dog

Jimmy Buffett - A1A

Grateful Dead - American Beauty

MUSICAL BLISS!!!

Don’t shout me down!

Led Zeppelin III

Rush - Farewell to Kings

Moody Blues - To our Children’s Children’s Children

Henry Gross -Plug Me Into Something 

Eno- Here Com The Warm Jets

Elf - Elf

Steve Harley - Love’s A Prima Donna

Mason Ruffner - Gypsy Blood