First four albums...

newlacesleeves · Post by **newlacesleeves** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 8:57 am

In my opinion, Elvis's first 4 albums are the best first 4 by any rock and roll artist... What do you think? Does anyone else have as good a first 4 as

My aim is true
This year's model
Armed Forces
Get happy!

I'm talking about the album as a whole cohesive statement.. We all know that Dylan and the beatles Had some great albums, but we're talking 'first four' here....

Chrille · Post by **Chrille** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:06 am

I personally think TYM drag the others down just slightly, though it's still a great album. But if one is to go by your rules, 4 first albums of a rock artist I must say EC wins in my book.

Close though are Roxy Music's and Talking Heads' first four.

However if we were to change the rules to "4 brilliant albums in a row" then then there'd be a alot more challengers imo. But leave that for another thread.

newlacesleeves · Post by **newlacesleeves** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:09 am

Definitely some artists that are in the running.... I agree with you about the talking heads.. They definitely had a great first 4... I still hold with EC though...

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:50 pm

I'd put the Pixies Surfer Rosa, Doolittle, Bossanova, and Trompe Le Monde up there with those four. But that's just me.

guidedbyvoices · Post by **guidedbyvoices** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:54 pm

radiohead - 1 decent album (pablo) and 3 classics (Bends, OK, Kid A)

guidedbyvoices · Post by **guidedbyvoices** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:54 pm

Zeppelin 1 through 4 aint too shabby either.

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 3:47 pm

If it was about the first three I would say the Band would get the prize but I think I like Cahoots less than Armed Forces.

Dexys only did three & the Weakerthans haven't released their fourth yet so they're out too. Richard Thompson & Van Morrison released stuff with bands before their solo (& duo) stuff so I'm not gonna consider them. Leonard Cohen isn't a rock'n'roll artist. Dylan wasn't either on his first four, and I prefer Elvis' anyway, so our man E is still in the lead...almost. My top 5:

1. the Velvet Underground (& Nico, White Light/White Heat, S/T, Loaded)
2. Elvis
3. the Ramones (S/T, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, It's Alive)
4. the Pixies (see above)
5. Randy Newman (S/T, 12 Songs, Sail Away, Good Old Boys)

If Randy doesn't qualify as rock'n'roll I guess the Band squeezes in at #5.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:22 pm

pophead2k wrote:I'd put the Pixies Surfer Rosa, Doolittle, Bossanova, and Trompe Le Monde up there with those four. But that's just me.

I'm right there with you. And I'd also give 1st four props to the Police:

Outlandos D'Amour
Reggatta De Blanc
Zenyatta Mondatta
Ghost in the Machine

wardo68 · Post by **wardo68** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:26 pm

I've long been interested in the 'first four' theory. And to add to the pile:

Murmur
Reckoning
Fables Of The Reconstruction
Life's Rich Pageant

(R.E.M.)

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:36 am

That's an excellent 1st 4. You can go 1st 5 with REM, even. Document is pretty perfect.

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:38 am

Some good candidates have been posted, but I'm not sure any first four are as strong as Elvis'.. except maybe VU's, but they only had four albums so I'm not sure that's fair

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 6:45 pm

The Smiths
Meat is Murder
The Queen is Dead
Strangeways Here We Come

(- and if you DO count Hatfull of Hollow it still works)

Movement
Power, Corruption And Lies
Low-Life
Brotherhood

CHEAP TRICK
IN COLOR
HEAVEN TONIGHT
(CHEAP TRICK AT BUDOKAN)
DREAM POLICE
(- and if you DO count BUDOKAN it still works)

This Was
Stand Up
Benefit
Aqualung

Greetings from Asbury Park N.J
The Wild The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle
Born to Run
Darkness on the Edge of Town

1971 Every Picture Tells a Story
1970 Gasoline Alley
1969 Rod Stewart Album
1969 An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:52 pm

BlueChair wrote:Some good candidates have been posted, but I'm not sure any first four are as strong as Elvis'.. except maybe VU's, but they only had four albums so I'm not sure that's fair

They released five before disbanding (Squeeze without Lou) and then lots of live albums and two albums of outtakes. Why not fair? They're four strong albums, and they werre the first four they released.

And Lou released a few more that weren't too shabby after that...

lostdog · Post by **lostdog** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:11 am

The Blue Nile - they've only made 4 albums: three of them are perfect, and one (Peace At Last) is an 8/10.

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:34 pm

The Tindersticks ' first four are just about flawless.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:43 pm

Much as I love New Order, I wouldn't include Movement here. Patchy and low-key, a poor successor the genius of JD, and needing the new direction they were beginning to discover so well with PC&L. I can't list Scritti cos Provision is mostly tedious. I'm with Talking Heads and EC. If you start Bowie with Space Oddity it works very well, but you can't really. Bjork's first four are all fantastic.

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:24 pm

Otis Westinghouse wrote:If you start Bowie with Space Oddity it works very well, but you can't really.

Did he release an album before that? I always thought the early stuff was singles and outtakes that weren't released as LP's till later. Guess I was wrong. However I do find large chunks of The Man Who Sold The World very difficult to listen to in their murkiness. That one nixed it for me.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:34 pm

My brain is in shit-down but I think Decca did release an LP of stuff. I used to know all this by heart. Maybe I'm wrong. MWSTW is one I haven't played in years, but it's got some great stuff on and is a fabulous contrast to SO and then HD after.

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:07 pm

Otis Westinghouse wrote:My brain is in shit-down but I think Decca did release an LP of stuff. I used to know all this by heart. Maybe I'm wrong. MWSTW is one I haven't played in years, but it's got some great stuff on and is a fabulous contrast to SO and then HD after.

Contrast, yes, well changed. As for 'great stuff', well...OK, 2 great songs (title track & Width of A Circle). Supermen & All the Madmen are quite enjoyable too but the other 5 (Black Country Rock, Running Gun Blues, etc.) are def. not worthy of this fine prize we're discussing. imho. (makes Hunky Dory more impressive too)

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:08 am

Good typo! I meant 'shut-down', but actually that was a better description.

http://www.illustrated-db-discography.nl/Album.htm

Deram, not Decca for first LP, so yes, out of contention. I love All The Madmen, agree that some of it is a bit patchy, but as a whole and as a demonstration of versatility of genres, a foretaste of the wonders of the rest of the 70s, it's still impressive stuff. For me this relative position in those 4 more than its individual merits make it a contender, were it not disqualified! I've never been much into a lot of the songs on MAIT, but it makes for a great debut in itself.

Of course Ron's first four are all fabulous, how could we not include them?

Joni? (I don't know all 4 of these: http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/jon ... iscography)

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:30 am

Mike Boom wrote: 1971 Every Picture Tells a Story
1970 Gasoline Alley
1969 Rod Stewart Album
1969 An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down

Aren't those first two the same album? I was under the impression that it was called Raincoat in UK and Rod Stewart Album in US.

In any case, you can probably include 1972's Never A Dull Moment on there as well so it still works.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:35 am

Otis Westinghouse wrote: Joni? (I don't know all 4 of these: http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/jon ... iscography)

Her first three are okay, but I think Blue (her 4th) was the album that kind of boosted her to excellence. I wouldn't want to include her first three for the same reason I wouldn't want to include The Beatles' first three. Good albums, but not groundbreaking by any means.

This is an interesting thing to discuss because there are so many artists that took an album or two to get really good. I mean Neil Young's first solo album had a few good songs but was mostly overproduced. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, on the other hand, is a classic. And Bob Dylan's self-titled debut is good, but if not for Freewheelin' I bet Columbia would have given up on him.

newlacesleeves · Post by **newlacesleeves** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 9:00 am

a lot of great choices.. I would say Springsteen's 1st 4 would be the closest to rival EC's.. I agree about Dylan's 1st album being a fine little folk album, but not anything astounding.. Dylan became DYLAN with freewheelin'... Was watching the documentary on him the other day, and it seemed like he was just kind of feeling it out for the first album playing folk chameleon... Competent but not transcendent.. However... If we start with Freewheelin'... THEN.. Dylan has the record...

Nashville Skyline - 1969
John Wesley Harding - 1967
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits - 1967
Blonde on Blonde - 1966
Highway 61 Revisited - 1965
Bringing It All Back Home - 1965
Another Side of Bob Dylan - 1964
The Times They Are A-Changin' - 1964
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - 1963

I would add Steely Dan... I think all their albums were perfect...

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 9:31 am

Leonard Cohen:

Songs of Leonard Cohen (1968)
Songs From A Room (1969)
Songs of Love and Hate (1971)
New Skin For The Old Ceremony (1974)

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1976)
You're Gonna Get It (1978)
Damn The Torpedoes (1979)
Hard Promises (1981)

Wilco:

A.M. (1995)
Being There (1996)
Summerteeth (1999)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001)

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:46 am

Eels
Beautiful Freak
Electro-Shock Blues
Daisies of the Galaxy
Souljacker