Albums that you know are going to be brilliant within the opening 20 seconds of the first track

Inspired by Mark Prindle's review of Kid A where he makes a similar 5-second claim, and brought to life by hearing Wire's 154 for the first time. As soon as I heard the opening chord-cycle of "I Should Have Known Better" it hit me just what level the band were operating at.

I don't want "stunning intros" that could be flashes in the pan, I want albums that demonstrate within their opening few seconds a stunning and arresting musical agenda that promise amazing things to come.

Presence

Keep It Like a Secret did this for me.

Hex Enduction Hr.

Monster Movie.

Stars of the Lid - And the Refinement of their Decline (honestly, 10 seconds in I knew what I was in for).

Ekkehard Ehlers - Plays

Galaxie 500 - This is Our Music.

Trout Mask Replica, of course.

The Cure - Disintegration

Metal Box

i can totally hang with trip maker's and curtis' choices

Nevermind

The Millennium - Begin

on the mouth

"Appetite for Destruction"

Moon Safari

Three Feet High and Rising

Bee Thousand
Born to Run

i feel in love with Technique immediately. later came to hate Fine Time and more recently fell in love with it again. so, uh, Technique!

Slanted and Enchanted

Dragnet

Nation of Millions
Stands for Decibels

Sung Tongs

Kill Em All
Enter the Wu Tang

Avalon

Watery, Domestic

Las Vegas
From Here We Go Sublime
Untrue
No Way Down

sung tongs!

The Queen Is Dead, give or take a few seconds

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d2/N.W.A.StraightOuttaComptonalbumcover.jpg

"you are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge."

I wonder what the quickest one is, subjectivity granting.

That would surely be Nevermind

nah it takes almost 10 seconds for the drum entry! sure we can do better than that

I knew I was going to love Vitruvian Pan by Thee Majesty ~0.2 seconds into the first track

Sticky Fingers

Exile On Main Street

I wonder what the quickest one is, subjectivity granting.

― restraint and blindness (Just got offed), Monday, November 10, 2008 1:28 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Opening snare crack and on Highway 61 Revisited

Led Zeppelin III: well under a second

october rust

OK maybe longer than 20 sec but: Paul's Boutique

oh shit there's a rly obvious one that nobody's said yet probably because it is too obvious

Out of the Blue?

nono it is mbvious than that

hang on where did i put my oreo

Vanilla Ice? No wait, that's reverse oreo...

no wait, he's a reverse oreo with white cream on the inside too

a custard cream

I'd actually argue that In Utero is a better choice for this than Nevermind.

I was going to say that the obvious one is Kick Out The Jams - but that's track two

2112

SIAMESE DREAM?

http://www.metrolyrics.com/images/albums/8900thesundays_reading.jpg

Nirvana - Unplugged

Eldorado/Out of the Blue/Face the Music/Third Day/Discovery by ELO.
All the classic era Moody Blues albums.
Every Girls Aloud album.
One Step Beyond/Absolutely/Seven/Rise and Fall by Madness.
1000 Years of Trouble by Age of Chance.

I just knew within seconds each album would be perfect for me.
And they have been.
There is something about a consistent production crew and a band that I love.

New Pornographers, Electric Version

The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike

any solex album

The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike

exactly my point.
within seconds you know this is an album that's going to hit the spot.

Ovalprocess
Radian - tg11
Aerial M - s/t

Pixies - Doolitle

Debaser

bob drake's arx pilosa. "Many years ago - billions actually..." - sold.

Kraftwerk - Computer World

Took this out from the library c 1986; nodding gladly along to the initial electro perc and bass, then utterly sold when THAT little synth riff came in at 0:15. Still works.

John Martyn / Solid Air

I've heard less than a minute of Current 93's Sleep Has His House and I know this is going to be the best album of all time

― imago, Wednesday, October 10, 2018 3:40 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

about halfway through this album and loving it

weezer blue album btw

Master of Reality.

Blues for the Red Sun.

In A Silent Way.

Copper Blue.

I think this factor is what sealed Source Tags and Codes as the breakthrough Trail of Dead album, honestly

Snakes for the Divine

I have a recollection of the 3 big trip hop albums (maxinquaye, dummy, mezzanine) being mindblowing for me when I played them for the first time. Mezzanine in particular but they all tell you what you need to know about what’s ahead in 20 seconds.

30 seconds: Leftism

Agreed, Moka. Hearing those albums for the first time was transfixing and transformative from the get-go.

Dinosaur jr - You're Living All Over Me

monster magnet god says no

Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

I think this factor is what sealed Source Tags and Codes as the breakthrough Trail of Dead album, honestly

― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Friday, 12 October 2018 15:36 (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

isn't there a silly intro before 'it was there that i saw you' blows the house up

Straight Outta Compton

Heh, that one's a classic instance of 'Albums that you know you're never going to get within the opening 20 seconds of the first track' for me.

first one to mind is from the choirgirl hotel

Breeders' "Last Splash"

Copper Blue.

aye

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"

crikey, Hancock's Crossings rather tears out of the gate doesn't it

Low.

Ok, how about the "Hard Days Night" referencing "Serve the servants" of Nirvana's "In Utero"

Haha, never noticed that before

Faust, s/t

The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Rosalía - El Mal Querer
Bjork - Homogenic

Steely Dan - Aja

there is so much going on in just the first bar of Black Cow. first heard it in my parents' car when i was 17 - about 9 years ago - and i don't think anything has hit me as hard as that first bar

master of reality

Ritual De Lo Habitual

Bauhaus, The Sky's Gone Out

American Music Club, Mercury

T.I. - King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58IDj9a6szM

was about to answer this, when i checked, and yeah, my answer is the same as 4 years ago.

R.E.M. - Reckoning
Aphex Twin - RDJ Album (...prob others too)

Royal Trux - Sweet Sixteen

Opening 20 seconds: Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend - swirling guitar effects resolve to a confident psychedelic blues. It had my number.

Opening 2 seconds: Tom Waits, Rain Dogs - (Squawk!)

Royal Trux - Sweet Sixteen

the Pussy Galore is better :D ;)

Opening 5 seconds: Destroyer - Streethawk

Opening 90 seconds: Can - Future days

Rain Dogs yes. I can remember the moment! My friend slapping it on the turntable, me vaguely aware of Waits as a seventies singer songwriter of some kind, maybe like Randy Newman. The squawk like a closet door opening, all these strange tools stuffed inside clattering to the floor