Acts whose debut album is an afterthought in their overall discography

Wouldn't Fairport Convention's debut be a perfect choice for this?

Red Red Meat - S/T

TV On the Radio - OK Calculator

Supposedly the Rush debut but fans are generally so unenthusiastic about it, I cant be bothered checking if theyre right.

Lucinda Williams - Ramblin'

of Montreal - Cherry Peel

Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Lou Reed - Lou Reed
Neil Young - Neil Young

(last 3 debatable)

First Canned Heat album perhaps.

Girls Against Boys - Tropic of Scorpio

The first work of some of the tropicalistas, maybe:

Gilberto Gil - Louvação
Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso - Domingo

surely dylan is more known as the songwriter he'd become than a folk covers artist he began as xxxp

Oneida - A Place Called El Shaddai's

Al Greene - Back Up Train

Joni Mitchell - Songs To A Seagull

Hüsker Dü - Land Speed Record

Emmylou Harris - Gliding Bird
Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor
Juana Molina - Rara

Eminem — Infinite
Parliament — Osmium
Fleetwood Mac — Fleetwood Mac

Sly and the Family Stone - A Whole New Thing

(though I believe it underwent a major reevaluation/rediscovery in the mid-90s)

Another one I almost posted

10. Billy Joel - Attila
Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor

how many debuts does this guy have?

Isaac Hayes - Presenting Isaac Hayes

It may be just me but I don't care much about Bruce Springsteen's first album

10. Billy Joel - Attila
Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor

how many debuts does this guy have?

the Hassles' 1967 s/t album might also qualify as his debut (although he didn't sing on it). dude is the king of false starts.

Thin Lizzy - Thin Lizzy
Gentle Giant - Gentle Giant
Jethro Tull - This Was

The Divine Comedy - Fanfare For The Comic Muse

Sleater-Kinney: s/t

It may be just me but I don't care much about Bruce Springsteen's first album

Lots of people do, plus it has Blinded By the Light which was a huge hit for Manfred Mann.

John Cougar - Chestnut Street Incident

The Boo Radleys - Ichabod & I

Carly Rae Jepsen - Tug of War

Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing

All the fans who latched on to FB after Tarot Sport wouldn't even recognize this.

Van Der Graaf Generator - The Aerosol Grey Machine

"Afterwards" is quite often played live by PH at solo gigs. Otherwise this would be a good call.

Came here to post From Genesis to Revelation and Fanfare for the Comic Muse, both good shouts.

Robyn - Robyn is here

but Robyn Is Here spawned at least two international hits and is quite possibly her bestselling album to date! just because P4K didn't review it doesn't m

Wouldn't Fairport Convention's debut be a perfect choice for this?

― Mark G, Sunday, May 10, 2015 11:21 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Isn't the biggest thing people have against this one the absence of Sandy Denny? Because otherwise the signature style is there, albeit with more of a west coast psych influence.

A similar case could be made for Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, as the famous female singer hasn't shown up, and the repertory is cover-heavy.

Built To Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers

Dinosaur s/t

Sonic Youth s/t EP though I guess Confusion Is Sex would be true for general public if not hardcore fans

Disagree on Jethro Tull's This Was. It has a different sound then their following work, and is not a peak album, but it's not exactly an ignominious and hated record. It was reasonably successful and songs from it still show up in their set lists.

The National s/t

Meat Pups

Afghan Whigs

Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing

Really? I thought SH was fairly well received/known?

What about

Eminem - Infinite

oh we had it

Cowboy Junkies - Whites Off Earth Now
10,000 Maniacs - Secrets of the I Ching

warren zevon -- wanted dead or alive
garland jefferys -- grinder's switch, or "garland jeffreys," whichever you consider his debut
andy pratt -- records are like life

good rats -- good rats

what about rufus's self-titled, extremely low charting debut, the only one they made before they officially became "rufus featuring chaka khan"?

yeah going back upthread Show Me Love was HUGE, I remember seeing it on MTV as a kid and digging it. the album that it's on is fantastic too.

But I kind of think "bands people were in before they were famous" is a whole different category, myself.

yeah, true.

Oh speaking of early Sly, that 2014 Light In The Attic comp, I'm Just Like You: Sly's Stone Flower, has a lot of good stuff, ditto the 2013 box, Higher!, although there's some overlap I think.

the stone flower comp is great! it's very simple to an earlier comp on ace records, but the sony comp has better sound IMO.

cyndi lauper's band, before "she's so unusual." album went nowhere fast.

o it's already been broughten

Lauper was the lead singer of Blue Angel, so would be a different category as noted above, re Debbie Harry in pre-Blondie band The Wind In The Willows (also as noted, the album by Blue Angel is good, with Lauper's 50s-80s belting in a no-frills club rock setting).
Haven't heard Alice Cooper's xpost Pretties For You, but used to play Easy Action and thought it was pretty okay: a bit demo-y, but Vince's vocals really go for the gusto, as they used to say in that beer commercial he probably relished.

Did anybody mention these cobbled-together collections that can come out soon after the first proper albums hit it big, like Hendrix on sessions of Curtis Knight, Little Richard, the Isley Brothers (got some of the first two, would love to get the remixed tracks, with guitar highlighted, that the isleys bought out on their label: really good reviews, OOP forever, prob 100s of dollars on eBay)

since somebody mentioned it...

http://www.willardswormholes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cover1-293x300.jpg

Inquire within:
http://www.willardswormholes.com/archives/468

does the Jefferson Airplane debut count?

no, but the first Jefferson Starship album (Blows Against the Empire) almost does....

Jefferson Airplane Takes Off is a solid debut, and neither fans nor the band distanced themselves from it. I think of it like the first Fairport Convention album (which sounds surprisingly similar, and is also very good); each was made with a fine female vocalist who left after the first album and are unfairly maligned because they're not Grace Slick/Sandy Denny, and weren't as popular or quite as good as what followed.

Gerry Rafferty's Can I Get My Money Back? (1971) is a weird one. Tucked in between the three Humblebums albums that proceded it and the three Stealers Wheel albums that followed, it was ignored upon its release and still (undeservedly) gets little attention now. It would be another seven years before City to City, which topped the charts in the US and many probably think is his solo debut.

John Cale's Vintage Violence fits doesn't it?
Think it's his first, stylistically different etc. VU were still obscure when he left.
Not sure what's on it though, so he may have reworked songs live.

First Little Big Town album (Monument 2002) also fits.

Did Dead Can Dance get a mention already?

First two Sparks albums? No hits on either of them, recorded with a different band to the "classic" era, and I guess most people assume their recording career started with "Kimono My House".

What about Mark Everett's pre-Eels solo records? I guess "Bad Dude In Love" probably doesn't count as it was self-released and obscure to the point of being an urban legend, but "A Man Called E" and "Broken Toy Shop" must do.

Yeah did think of those, they're a more pop version of himself..

Suave House released an album Rick Ross recorded back in 2002-04 ("Rise to Power") after he dropped Port of Miami.

"Genesis - From Genesis to Revelation"

def