2nd Albums Identified as the Debut

Darn, you got me! I did not realize that...

 

Imogen Heap - I Megaphone is an alternative rock album she released in 1998. There was little promotion by the label, so it was mostly ignored. Her second album Speak For Yourself is an electro-pop affair she put out in 2005. It gained much exposure through TV and sampling by Jason Derulo. At least with me, I knew of the latter before the former, thinking it to be Immi's debut.

Regards,
Dave

 

Obviously Beatles tragics will know better, but I imagine many people think All Things Must Pass was George Harrison's first solo release.

 

When I first saw Genesis in 1972 Gabriel referred to Trespass as their first album and I seem to remember him doing similar in press interviews at the time, I guess they wanted to bury FGTR at that point unless any potential new fans might consider it representitive. Ironically finding a copy in the bargain bin in a local record shop was the first time I'd heard of them and led me to investigate further.

 

Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55

I think that, like Bjork, many people don't really considers Charlotte's first album, recorded when she was a child, to be her real debut because the first solo album she recorded as a adult was so different.

 

The Indigo Girls self-titled album (with "Closer To Fine") may have been mistaken by many as their first (full-length) LP but "Strange Fire" had been released by an independent label about 2 years earlier (and re-released by Epic after their self-titled LP became successful).

 

True that Wonderwall Music and ‘Electronic Music’ came before ATMP, but that latter was Harrison’s first solo Rock album.

The same could be said for Ringo Starr, his first album Sentimental Journey was all standards and his second Beaucoups of Blues was all country. His third album Ringo was his first true Rock album, so some might consider it his real first album.

 

While it makes sense that the kids who were into the Seattle club scene knew about Soundgarden's Ultramega OK when it first came out, there were others like myself in SoCal who first heard of Soundgarden when metal stations like KNAC and Pirate Radio began playing "Loud Love" in '89, '90 (and then "Ugly Truth" and Hands All Over"). Louder Than Love may have also gotten Soundgarden some recognition when the video for "Hands All Over" was featured in the 1990 movie Pacific Heights with Michael Keaton and Meg Ryan. Lastly, I also agree that mainstream America probably first heard about Soundgarden when "Outshined" (from their third album) hit the airwaves. It sounds like the band had three debut albums. But before the Internet, iTunes and streaming services it was almost impossible to know what was what back then. When I first heard of Ultramega, I originally thought it was a previously-shelved album that was released after the band became popular with Badmotorfinger. I just thought the album's date (1988) was referencing when the album was recorded, not when it was releaseed in record stores. Kind of like Mother Love Bone with Apple in 1990 and then MLB in 1992. I never heard of Apple until years later. Anyhoo...

 

Another in the "first US album so let's pretend it's a debut" series:

 

I wonder how many thought that Bee Gees' 1st was the Bee Gees' first album? It would seem an understandable assumption.

 

Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep … possibly one of the most celebrated debut albums of recent years …

was preceded two years earlier by don’t smile at me, billed as an EP but 8 songs (11 on the extended edition) looks like an album to me. Some variants are actually longer than her ‘debut.’

Still she did both by the time she was 17 both recorded in her brother’s bedroom so hats off to her.

 

Thanks for providing the context, interesting.
The band didn't like the production on Ultramega OK, so maybe they didn't promote it much...

I would love to have gotten into, say, Nirvana with Bleach, but alas...I had no access to alternative music in 1989.

 

Supertramp as well... many seem to think that Crime of the Century was their first.

 

Am I the only one that actually enjoys this album? I'd never say its "good", but its kinda fun, especially in light of what you know follows it.

 

It's a classic, love that album

 

Yes. This is exactly what this thread is about, and the title of her second album is the cherry on top!

Likewise, Chris Knox's first solo album was this extremely rare, never reissued 1983 release:

Not the celebrated Seizure in 1989.

Another couple that spring to mind:

(Grand Opera Lane came first.)


(It's their, if I recall correctly, eighth album: the previous ones were released on cassette.)

And back in the eighties I was in a record store and the owner was introducing a customer to the wonders of Fairport Convention while I was shopping nearby. He was discussing the transitional importance of Unhalfbricking, then said, "but I think their first album is possibly the best of them all" and picked up What We Did on Our Holidays. I leaned over and said "actually, that's their second album, but I agree that it's the best one!" The store owner laughed and said he's completely forgotten about the other one (on Polydor, not Island, without Sandy Denny, and out of print for more than a decade at the time, so it's no wonder it had been forgotten.)

 

Another one you'd have had to look through the imports section to find would be Rosanne Cash's self-titled 1978 debut on the German Ariola label:



Her U.S. debut (on Columbia) was 1979's Right or Wrong.

 

This is one of my favorite albums as an album. I stumbled upon it as a compact cassette and listened to it dozens of times over the first few months that I had it.

 

Can we count Joy Division in this? They recorded an entire album in 1977 for RCA which was rejected by the label. Then Factory came calling & the rest is history. Not a bad album but nothing in comparison with the miracles Hannet did to their sound.

 

This is his debut album.

 

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams



Probably a stateside thing, but for years I never even knew their actual first album, In the Garden, even existed.

 

A lot of people think Live Through This was Hole’s first album, not 1991’s Pretty on the Inside.

 

A lot of people think that "A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean" is Jimmy Buffett's first album, but his debut album is "Down To Earth" on Barnaby Records from 1970.

 

I think by definition an unreleased album shouldn't count as a debut album. Tree falling in the forest problem.