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    Starting as they meant to go on

    Opening songs off debut albums which are such classic examples of the artist's work, you wonder why they bothered doing anything else.

    Black Sabbath “Black Sabbath”
    Neu! “Hallogallo”
    Curtis Mayfield “(Don’t Worry) If There’s A Hell Below, We’re All Going to Go”
    Wu-Tang Clan “Bring Da Ruckus”
    Doctor Feelgood “She Does It Right”
    Suicide “Ghost Rider”
    Led Zeppelin ”Good Times, Bad Times”
    Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop”
    NWA “Straight Outta Compton”
    Massive Attack “Safe From Harm”
    Tricky “Aftermath”
    Etoile De Dakar “Dom Sou Nare Bakh”

    #2
    King Crimson - "21st Century Schizoid Man".

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      #3
      Elvis Costello and the Attractions - No Action (from Costello's first album with the group)

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        #4
        I like the King Crimson suggestion in particular.

        De La Soul “The Magic Number”

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          #5
          Not to take the thread off-topic - perish the very thought - but here's Jack Lee of The Germs talking about the very first song he ever wrote: Hanging On The Telephone.

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            #6
            Guns ‘n Roses: Welcome to the Jungle

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              #7
              U2 - I Will Follow

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                #8
                Oasis - Rock 'n' Roll Star

                As Noel put it, 'I've pretty much summed up everything I wanted to say in "Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Live Forever" and "Cigarettes & Alcohol", after that I'm repeating myself, but in a different way.'

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                  #9
                  Stone Roses I Wanna Be Adored
                  Killing Joke - Requiem
                  Elastica - Line Up
                  Super Furry Animals - God! Show Me Magic

                  Yes, I did come of age in 1991, good spot.

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                    #10
                    Eclectic selection of potential qualifiers from acts in my own CD collection:

                    All Saints – Never Ever
                    The Avalanches – Since I Left You
                    Keane – Somewhere Only We Know
                    Leftfield – Release The Pressure
                    Amy McDonald – Mr Rock & Roll
                    Nine Inch Nails – Head Like A Hole
                    The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds
                    Britney Spears – ...Baby One More Time
                    Traveling Wilburys – Handle With Care

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                      #11
                      Madness - One Step Beyond

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                        #12
                        The Blue Nile - A Walk Across the Rooftops

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                          #13
                          Blew — Nirvana

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Giggler View Post
                            The Blue Nile - A Walk Across the Rooftops
                            I was pondering whether to nominate that myself last night, but since the second track is Tinseltown In The Rain it seemed a little harsh to suggest they could've stopped after the title track.

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                              #15
                              Oasis and Guns N’ Roses, although I’m no big fan, fit the bill perfectly. As does “I Wanna Be Adored”.

                              Problem with “Line Up” is that it’s not really their song, no?

                              Today’s suggestion is Prince’s “In Love” from his rarely discussed debut album, which is lush and fantastic and prefigures his mix of romantic worship and sly innuendo.

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                                #16
                                The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man
                                Not their song of course, but it instantly lets you know what you're dealing with.

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                                  #17
                                  Thought about including 'Reel Around The Fountain' but I'm not sure it is typical Smiths, although it's the track that switched me on to them (and the earlier session version had been their top entry in the 1983 Festive 50). The Smiths wore a few different musical hats (contrary to myth) and weren't always as openly emotional as on this song. The piano/organ accompaniment of Paul Carrack is also unusual on a Smiths track, although Johnny Marr plays piano on some later B-sides like 'Asleep'.

                                  Durutti Column - Sketch For Summer is a gorgeous opening piece, showcasing Vini's unique guitar style, but this act was also very eclectic and key member Bruce Mitchell had not yet joined so the drums are not typical of later albums (similarly, Martin Hannett produced this track so it has his fingerprints on the sound and mixing but Hannett was gone by the third album).

                                  On the other hand, if the criterion is "this act sounds like nothing else out there at this moment", The Smiths and Durutti Column both qualify as would Kate Bush, for example. But we'd have to expand the thread premise considerably.
                                  Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 16-08-2018, 23:06.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                    I was pondering whether to nominate that myself last night, but since the second track is Tinseltown In The Rain it seemed a little harsh to suggest they could've stopped after the title track.
                                    I can see your point, but I see AWATR as more representative of their sound of gentle romantic yearning and unlikely-but-entirely-appropriate imagery. 'A walk across the rooftops' is like something Dick Van Dyke's character says in Mary Poppins. It'd be very difficult to do, but it seems right in the context of the music. Like 'The cigarettes, the magazines/All stacked up in the rain' in From A Late Night Train. Why have fags and periodicals been left in the drizzle? I don't know, but the imagery fits the music perfectly.

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                                      #19
                                      I Saw Her Standing There was a pretty good start to Please Please Me and the Beatles catalogue

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                                        #20
                                        Duran Duran's eponymous debut opens with Girls on Film

                                        Ned's Atomic Dustbin's God Fodder kicks off with Kill Your Television.

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                                          #21
                                          Some of these albums were released with the opening track already being a hit record. Which seems to make the OP thread slightly superfluous. Why bother with the album when you've already had the single?

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                                            #22
                                            I guess there's a sub-topic of artists who never bettered their debut single. I'm going to offer up The Sundays ('Can't Be Sure') as an example of this.

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                                              #23
                                              Burn It Down - Dexys Midnight Runners

                                              (For the main topic, obviously.)

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                                                #24
                                                Another classic example recently: Soul II Soul's "Keep On Movin'", opening their debut, which really changed everything for British soul music, and would have done even if they'd have called it quits right away.

                                                One sub-sub example of never bettering your debut single is REM, whose debut EP Chronic Town is the just about the best thing they ever did. Although, Automatic For The People was an incredible late period album.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Mid-period, surely?

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