We were going to write a countdown of our favourite debut records, but quite quickly realized that there's far too many for us to ever give them any kind of quantitative value, so we thought we'd just write a few words about some of the debuts we've been listening to a lot recently.
Patti Smith - Horses
Patti Smith's 1975 studio debut was always going to be a great record given that a certain John Cale was on production duties and Tom Verlaine of Television lent a hand with the guitar work, but nobody could have predicted the everlasting effect that Smith's first record would have on punk music. 40 years later and she's selling out venues up and down the country by playing this record in its entirety.
Clipping - Midcity
Released on Bandcamp and available to download for free, Clipping's Midcity is one of the lesser known debut records on our lists. It's an experimental hip hop record which brutally fuses together harsh noise and rap in a bold, brash statement. White noise with a heavily distorted bass soundscape some admittedly less striking lyrics, but the sort of cliched analogies add something in that the record goes from something that only Anthony Fantano would listen to to a record that could easily catch the ear or everybody with half an interest in hip hop.
Television - Marque Moon
Never Mind The Bollocks came out just seven months after Television's art rock masterpiece and casted a huge shadow in terms of immediate attention, but Marquee Moon remains one of the greatest records ever written. The way Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine's guitar lines entwine and battle is one of the most timeless sounds in rock music, and Verlaine's removed delivery of his poetic lyrics, particularly on the title track, will never, ever sound dated.
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico
I'd struggle to deny that The Velvets would somehow make their way in to most lists I write given that they're my favourite band of all time, but their 1967 debut really is special. 'Venus In Furs' is a drone-heavy masterpiece that would corrupt its most innocent listener, the perfect head-on collision between Reed's cutting lyricism and ability to completely disregard vocal melody and make it sound beautiful with Cale's avant-garde approach to composition, to think that it's an early track written before the group even had a name is unfathomable. It's hard to contemplate too that 'I'll Be Your Mirror' is by the same band, a truly diverse showcase of the VU's genius.
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
Jim Reid once claimed that The Velvet Underground were the only band that matters, which sometimes I can't help but agree with. His own band, however, the visceral and noisy shoegaze outfit known as The Jesus and Mary Chain, had their own bewilderingly good debut with 'Psychocandy'. It's one thing to be able to write fourteen great pop songs, but to write fourteen great pop songs with de-tuned guitars awash with feedback is a mark of a true visionary, Reed and co. were well and truly that.
Other honorable mentions: The College Dropout by Kanye West, Neu's self-titled Is This It by The Strokes, Here Come The Warm Jets by Brian Eno.
By Marty Hill
No comments:
Post a Comment