Debut albums - your favorites

Albums that I played to death back in the day:

The Byrds: Mr Tambourine Man
The Rolling Stones first UK album
Tonto's Expanding Head Band
Mamas & Papas: Would You Believe
The Doors first album
The Voice Of Scott McKenzie
Vanilla Fudge
Scott Walker: Scott
Procol Harum
Dr. John: Gris Gris
Fever Tree
David Ackles
Jones: Hard (not sure if this was their first album but I've never been able to find out much about them)

Plus a lot of those mentioned in previous posts such as Hendrix.

TimDoyle said:

Montrose - Montrose.

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Good selection..2018 is gonna be a good year...it must be...you already have 2 posts!..I wish you would post more often

Many of my favorites have been named. A few glaring omissions:

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (!)
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Guitar Trio - Friday Night In San Francisco
Allman Brothers - The Allman Brothers Band
Molly Hatchet - Molly Hatchet
Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out
An Evening With Wild Man Fischer
Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs

And:

Big Brother & the Holding Company
James Gang - Yer' Album
Simon & Garfunkel - Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
Tom Waits - Closing Time
Don Slepian - Computer Don't Breakdown

Great thread! Many of the good ones already stated! I'll add:

Kate Bush--the Kick Inside
Leonard Cohen--Songs of Leonard Cohen
Richard Thompson--Henry the Human Fly
Throwing Muses--Throwing Muses
Velvet Underground and Nico

The first two that sprang to mind are

King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Emerson, Lake, & Palmer

The first KC album just left me stunned when I heard it (probably the year after it was released - borrowed from someone at school!), likewise the ELP. The fact that I can now listen to them in surround, is firstly amazing considering all those years since their initial release, and secondly great as they are albums I love.

So many of my fav first albums have been listed above...ELP, KC, Devo, Cars, and on and on. However, the one album I remember getting the biggest reaction from me was Freak Out by FZ & The MOI. When I was in 8th or 9th grade, a friend of mine would bring over albums for me to hear, and many times I didn't care for them at the time (I later got to like many of them). He showed me the cover to FO and I thought "Oh No, this is gonna suck". He played me It Can't Happen Here and I went into hysterics and couldn't stop laughing. That was my introduction to FZ and the rest is history.

GOS said:

I still enjoy Cheap Trick debut album. To my ears, Oh Candy is a perfect piece of pop/rock perfection.

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For me, He's A Whore is my favorite.

Not sure if this is a "debut" or a first solo, but Paul Kantner's BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE (billed as "Jefferson Starship" in jest, but later made into a band, making this the "debut" JS album) -- owns a great fondness in my musical heart.

That second side is not only pure science fiction, but also the best recreation of a stoned state on vinyl. Really.

Or so my friends on the west coast tell me.

https://youtu.be/I_xX4YDwDzc

1967 - Songs of Leonard Cohen. What a trip that was.

So many fantastic offerings so far, just to add a few cents...

Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
David & David - Welcome to the Boomtown
The Blue Nile - A Walk Across the Rooftops
ABC - The Lexicon of Love
Afro Celt Sound System - Sound Magic
Laurie Anderson - Big Science
Dixie Dregs - Night of the Living Dregs
Me’shell Ndegeocello - Plantation Lullabies
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles
David Essex - Rock On

So pleased to hear the suggestions of Toy Matinee... so good. You must also discover Kevin Gilbert’s solo debut Thud, incredible record.

Dr Simple, I was amazed to see your reference to Brent Bourgeois, excellent album. The self titled debut from his initial band Bourgeois Tagg is a must. Lyle Workman’s first band... his guitar playing on this album is superb.

Shnicks said:

David & David - Welcome to the Boomtown

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This is my nomination for the best album no one has ever heard of.

Shnicks said:

So many fantastic offerings so far, just to add a few cents...

Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien

Dr Simple, I was amazed to see your reference to Brent Bourgeois, excellent album. The self titled debut from his initial band Bourgeois Tagg is a must.

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Satriani's debut was actually:

Not of this Earth - 1986

If you can handle (or like) Christian contemporary music (CCM), there are some good/great cuts on Brent Bourgeois - Come Join the Living World.

A few I haven't seen named yet…
Albums that are either better than everything they put out later or just already fully formed… in general music that to me at the time seemed to come out of nowhere (well, not all of them):

Arcade Fire – Funeral
Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Django Django - s/t
The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain
Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Madrugada – Industrial Silence
Portishead – s/t
The Radio Dept. – Lesser Matters
S o h n – Tremors
Tears for Fears – The Hurting
Terranova – Close the Door
Tindersticks – s/t
The Twilight Sad – Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters

Oh, and Steve Tibbetts by Steve Tibbetts.

His 2nd album, Yr, is one I dearly would love to hear in surround, but his first is no slouch!

Maybe a "sub-section" would be "first SOLO albums":
Lindsey Buckingham- Law and Order
Lowell George- Thanks, I'll eat it here

Brilliant albums...

Surprised no one has mentioned Jethro Tull. Their debut album "This Was" is a favorite of mine.
After that album was released Mick Abrahams left and formed Bloodwyn Pig which was not too shabby of a debut also.

Thank you edisonbaggins, I stand corrected. For whatever reason I had remembered Satriani’s Not of This Earth as an independent release. Also an outstanding album.

Shnicks said:

Thank you edisonbaggins, I stand corrected. For whatever reason I had remembered Satriani’s Not of This Earth as an independent release. Also an outstanding album.

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It's not bad! IIRC, he funded production with a credit card!

Has anyone mentioned this one:

Heart - Dreamboat Annie

Dreamboat Annie was the first dbx encoded album that I bought back in the day. I found a used pristine copy in a rack for $5. What a steal.

I'll go with one of GOS's picks, Black Sabbath. I believe I was 14 going on 15 at the time and this was my first ever vinyl purchase I made from my lawn mowing money I remember thinking who is this Tony Iommi and what is he doing with that guitar?? That was a great time to be growing into music, I remember a couple years later picking up the new Pink Floyd Dark Side album that had just come out and heading to my sister's to play it on her Philips console stereo (coffin, lol).

And so today, I still have Black Sabbath, but on SACD-SHM. It sounds fantastic and every time I spin it, it takes me back to the day when I first heard that head banging music. Now days I just bang my head getting out of the car.