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Post by Dawn on Jan 6, 2010 0:30:41 GMT -5
Thought this would make for an interesting discussion...I don't believe we've done it here on the Click before.
Many times, artists take a while to find their sound and niche, and their best work comes over time. But sometimes, there are artists who hit their stride early, and never top or equal the quality of their first album.
What artists do you think peaked with their debut release?
One example is Boston. Their catalog is not large, but their debut album still stands as one of the most solid and consistent albums in rock. Just about all of the songs get at least some airplay on classic rock stations, which attests to the enduring quality of it.
Another artist would be Donald Fagen, IMO. As with Boston, his solo releases are not numerous, but while each one contains some superb tracks, it's The Nightfly that will likely hold up as his best work.
Then there is George Harrison. All Things Must Pass is a hard album to top, even by Beatles standards. Not many artists could release a multi-disc set of consistently good original material, but George pulled it off admirably.
I'll add more to the list as we go along. What are some of your choices?
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Post by H2IZCOOL on Jan 6, 2010 16:33:57 GMT -5
How about Meat Loaf? If you discount his duet album with Shaun Stoney Murphy, called "Stoney and Meat Loaf" his solo debut album was of course, Bat Out of Hell. It produced four hit singles, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, You Took The Wordsd Right Out of My Mouth, and the title track. It is the 4th largest selling album in the world ever. It is also in my Top 10 favorite albums - but that's not important. The point is, that Meat never came close to having another album nearly as good - either in quality or in popularity. The closest he came was with two sequels Bat out of Hell 2 and 3. - And they were not nearly as good. But the original was a magnificent production.
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Post by Dawn on Jan 6, 2010 18:41:37 GMT -5
How about Meat Loaf? If you discount his duet album with Shaun Stoney Murphy, called "Stoney and Meat Loaf" his solo debut album was of course, Bat Out of Hell. It produced four hit singles, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, You Took The Wordsd Right Out of My Mouth, and the title track. It is the 4th largest selling album in the world ever. It is also in my Top 10 favorite albums - but that's not important. The point is, that Meat never came close to having another album nearly as good - either in quality or in popularity. The closest he came was with two sequels Bat out of Hell 2 and 3. - And they were not nearly as good. But the original was a magnificent production. Excellent example. Meat definitely set the bar very high with that album, both from a critical and commercial standpoint. I hadn't known it was the fourth biggest seller...that's interesting. |
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Post by Dawn on Jan 6, 2010 18:46:06 GMT -5
Thought of this one earlier...Christopher Cross.
His self-titled debut won five Grammy Awards and was a huge success. Unfortunately, his subsequent albums, while well done, never have achieved the heights and acclaim that his debut did.
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Post by Pete70s on Jan 6, 2010 20:26:58 GMT -5
The one artist who immediately comes to mind is James Taylor. His Apple debut is by far the beat thing he's ever done!
And, of course, America's debut!
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Post by Dawn on Jan 6, 2010 23:09:55 GMT -5
The one artist who immediately comes to mind is James Taylor. His Apple debut is by far the beat thing he's ever done! And, of course, America's debut! I'd like to check out the James Taylor debut. I've heard some of the songs, but not all of them. I agree with you about America's first. Although I enjoy most all their albums, especially the ones through Hideaway, it's the debut that I come back to most. An incredible collection of songs! |
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Post by Jughead on Jan 6, 2010 23:53:18 GMT -5
Fiona Apple comes to mind here, only in her case, it was her outbursts and generally bad behaviour that killed her career and her music.
Her debut album was AWESOME. It contained "Criminal", one of my all time favourite songs of the 1990's, and "Shadowboxer" was a great track too. But, lately, she's fizzled out musically. A lot of it was her own doing, but it was kind of sad, because she DID have the talent to make it on her own.
I'm also going to mention Jewel in this category as well. "Pieces Of You" was her debut, and it was great. Her later albums just couldn't quite match the success...especially when she went dance-pop in 2003...
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Post by Dawn on Jan 7, 2010 12:14:33 GMT -5
Fiona Apple comes to mind here, only in her case, it was her outbursts and generally bad behaviour that killed her career and her music. Her debut album was AWESOME. It contained "Criminal", one of my all time favourite songs of the 1990's, and "Shadowboxer" was a great track too. But, lately, she's fizzled out musically. A lot of it was her own doing, but it was kind of sad, because she DID have the talent to make it on her own. I'm also going to mention Jewel in this category as well. "Pieces Of You" was her debut, and it was great. Her later albums just couldn't quite match the success...especially when she went dance-pop in 2003... I've never heard the rest of Tidal, but I agree that "Criminal" is a good song. I remember including it on a mix tape I compiled back in '97 or so. A lot of Jewel's appeal was the folky style of her earlier work, as it set her apart from the Mariahs and the other dance-pop divas. It's a shame she didn't stay closer to that style as time went on. |
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Post by m c dornan on Jan 7, 2010 13:51:22 GMT -5
Well, "All Things Must Pass" wasn't Harrison's debut. He did two LPs, but they weren't too good (or maybe so far ahead of their time they'll only be appreciated in 2025!)
The one group I can think of is the Doors. Later LPs like "Strange Days" and "Waiting for the Sun" came close, but didn't match the debut.
I'll have to check the actual lineup of their early LPs, but maybe Santana would fit in here, too. I did like them better in their early days then now, but debut LP, I'm not sure.
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Post by H2IZCOOL on Jan 7, 2010 15:21:27 GMT -5
Well, "All Things Must Pass" wasn't Harrison's debut. He did two LPs, but they weren't too good (or maybe so far ahead of their time they'll only be appreciated in 2025!) The one group I can think of is the Doors. Later LPs like "Strange Days" and "Waiting for the Sun" came close, but didn't match the debut. I'll have to check the actual lineup of their early LPs, but maybe Santana would fit in here, too. I did like them better in their early days then now, but debut LP, I'm not sure. MC, I was thinking of mentioning The Doors as well, but I probably gave a little more credit to Strange Days and maybe Soft Parade. I think that the debut album is their best, but not by enough to say "they had peaked." |
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Post by Dawn on Jan 7, 2010 16:08:15 GMT -5
Well, "All Things Must Pass" wasn't Harrison's debut. He did two LPs, but they weren't too good (or maybe so far ahead of their time they'll only be appreciated in 2025!) The one group I can think of is the Doors. Later LPs like "Strange Days" and "Waiting for the Sun" came close, but didn't match the debut. I'll have to check the actual lineup of their early LPs, but maybe Santana would fit in here, too. I did like them better in their early days then now, but debut LP, I'm not sure. Good point about George Harrison. I had debated whether to mention him since Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound came out first, but those were kind of specialty "niche" recordings that aren't as well known. The Santana debut is very good, I agree. If not the top pick of their albums for me, it would definitely be very close. |
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Post by Dawn on Jan 7, 2010 16:15:30 GMT -5
Another I thought of: Hootie and the Blowfish.
They were huge in 1994-95; I remember "Let Her Cry," "Time," "Only Wanna Be With You" and "Hold My Hand" were almost constantly on top 40/AC radio back in the day. They even got namechecked in an episode of Friends! Their second album was considered to be a huge disappointment, although I don't think it's as bad as is often asserted. Their following albums were a blip on the screen.
Darius Rucker is having a lot of success now as an up and coming country artist, though.
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Post by dave910 on Jan 8, 2010 23:41:41 GMT -5
I remember back in the Spring of 1988 when Tracy Chapman released her debut disc. It wound up getting a lot of critical praise and VH1 were hyping her up! It went to number one on the album chart next to metal heavyweights Def Leppard and new comers Guns N' Roses. Fast Car was one of the most played songs on the radio that summer! Tracy earned herself three grammies that year as well. But subsequent follow ups Crossroads (1989) and Songs from the Heart (1992) were seen as critical and commercial disappointments. Chapman was soon to be banished into one-hit wonder status until she released her third CD Smoke and Ashes (1995) contained the blues flavored "Give Me One Reason" and the single shot to no. three on the charts. Chapman has released other CD's since and still tours but the radio has forgotten about her.
Back in the summer of 1995, singer-songwriter Alanis Morrissette released "Jagged Little Pill" her major label debut on Madonna's Maverick label. It was a huge success, eventually selling 16 million copies. The biggest debut ever for a female or artist period! It contained five singles and won her three grammies. So it's understandable that the next release would have a challenging time of reaching those heights. When "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" - say that fast three times - was released in Oct. 1998, the CD sold about 400,000 copies in it's first week to debut at no. one! The album went on to sell three million copies, but only contained only one major radio hit, "Thank U". It's sad considering there were many other great songs, yet they received very little airplay. The CD isn't as strong as her debut but does contain one of my favorite Alanis songs: "That I Would Be Good". Alanis still continues to release good music, but it will be a challenge for her to reach the status of her debut.
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Post by Ken on Jan 9, 2010 2:18:02 GMT -5
How about Meat Loaf? If you discount his duet album with Shaun Stoney Murphy, called "Stoney and Meat Loaf" his solo debut album was of course, Bat Out of Hell. It produced four hit singles, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, You Took The Wordsd Right Out of My Mouth, and the title track. It is the 4th largest selling album in the world ever. It is also in my Top 10 favorite albums - but that's not important. The point is, that Meat never came close to having another album nearly as good - either in quality or in popularity. The closest he came was with two sequels Bat out of Hell 2 and 3. - And they were not nearly as good. But the original was a magnificent production. "Bat Out Of Hell" seemed to be one of those albums that everybody had a copy of back in the late 70's.I remember hearing "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" and "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" on a regular basis. I recall about seven or eight years ago, while I was out hunting for records I actually came upon a sealed copy of the album and I couldn't believe it!  In my travels I've seen numerous copies that had been played to death, so to actually see an unopened copy just seemed to me, to be kind of cool, btw I did buy it.  and it's still sealed. |
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Post by H2IZCOOL on Jan 9, 2010 10:23:29 GMT -5
How about Meat Loaf? If you discount his duet album with Shaun Stoney Murphy, called "Stoney and Meat Loaf" his solo debut album was of course, Bat Out of Hell. It produced four hit singles, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, You Took The Wordsd Right Out of My Mouth, and the title track. It is the 4th largest selling album in the world ever. It is also in my Top 10 favorite albums - but that's not important. The point is, that Meat never came close to having another album nearly as good - either in quality or in popularity. The closest he came was with two sequels Bat out of Hell 2 and 3. - And they were not nearly as good. But the original was a magnificent production. "Bat Out Of Hell" seemed to be one of those albums that everybody had a copy of back in the late 70's.I remember hearing "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" and "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" on a regular basis. I recall about seven or eight years ago, while I was out hunting for records I actually came upon a sealed copy of the album and I couldn't believe it! In my travels I've seen numerous copies that had been played to death, so to actually see an unopened copy just seemed to me, to be kind of cool, btw I did buy it. and it's still sealed. I've always wondered about the value of buying and selling sealed music, Ken. I guess everyone takes it on faith that the vinyl inside that covering is indeed Bat Out of Hell. I mean, how do you know that someone didn't mistakenly put a copy of Michael Bolton's Greatest Hits inside? ;D |
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and it's still sealed. 
