Albums which blew you away on first play.

I've agreed with a lot of the choices on here, one that's not been mentioned yet is Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain.

It's got such a 'luxurious' feel to some of the tracks and Alison's voice is fantastic.   I'd also put Seventh Tree into the same category but for different reasons.

I've seen one mention of Jethro Tull (Aqualung), I'd add Songs from the Wood to the list also.

There are so many really, I think i'd mention two more; the debut albums from the Damned and the Clash at the time were very impressive, I think the Clash has aged better though.

Richard Dane posted:

Since this thread started I've been thinking about the question and wondering whether any album blew me away on first play.  I'm sure some did, but I just can't remember now.  Except this evening, while thumbing through some LPs, I came across my copy of The Sisters of Mercy's First And Last And Always, and it took me back to that evening at Uni when I first took the LP out of the sleeve, plonked it on the Rega Planar2 platter, cued it up and the sat transfixed listening to mesmerising tracks such as Marian and Logic. I'd never heard anything quite like it.  Yes, even when playing through a Sansui amp and JR149 speakers, I can certainly recall that album blew me away on first play. I think I must have played it at least twice, maybe three times that evening.

Well, well, well, The Sisters of Mercy - haven't thought about them in a long time! I saw them play live at a now sadly-gone venue in Aylesbury called "Friar's" around 1985. They were somewhat underwhelming, possibly because their support act, the excellent March Violets did a great set and were a pretty tough act to follow. My overwhelming memory of the evening is thinking how short they all were! Top album though and I've still got most of their 7" singles.

Stephen packer posted:

 

There are so many really, I think i'd mention two more; the debut albums from the Damned and the Clash at the time were very impressive, I think the Clash has aged better though.

"London Calling" is in my "near to hand" pile on my vinyl and also on CD for my car. I agree with your comment re: longevity. I think The Damned kind of lost it when they released "Eloise", my favourite was always "Smash it Up".

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's "Safe as Milk".

A real WTF moment and I've loved them ever since

Roy Buchanan - Second Album.

Previous to this album, I’d been listening to heavy rock were you'd be lucky if there was a guitar solo in every track. This album was a whole album of virtuoso AWESOME guitar playing.

ianrobertm posted:

And it still does. 

The United States Of America - The United States Of America 

Apart from the more obvious Pipers, Peppers, Disraelis, Bitches etc. this stands out for me. Mostly because it's a fantastic album (a big influence on Portishead and Broadcast et al.) but partly because it was such a shock.

We knew about them, because they had a track on The Rock Machine Turns You On sampler, but the track CBS chose was an outlier - the Vaudeville I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar (a tale of suburban sleaze that had an underage kicker) and when a friend bought the album what hit us was anything but with pretty much the first psychedelic violin lead embellished with a primitive ring modulator and the icy tones of Dorothy Moscowitz, starting with a bit of Charles Ives, then...

Followed by a succession of hard and soft psychedelia that was never less than deeply unsettling. After 50 years, it's still a wonder that still thrills/chills.

Sadly, they broke up and the leader, Joseph Byrd made a follow up (The American Metaphysical Circus) that never quite hit this spot again. 

Probably the most amazing aural experience I have ever had.

Santana coming out of 4 speakers, I felt that the band were all around me.

I got inspired again by this thread. This was one out of also my youth when I was getting myself into jazz. This was one of the for me driving records, played it a lot. Publish it with the cover I got to know the album...

Bert Schurink posted:

I got inspired again by this thread. This was one out of also my youth when I was getting myself into jazz. This was one of the for me driving records, played it a lot. Publish it with the cover I got to know the album...

 

Now hopefully showing the cover

And this was Lao a groundbreaking record for me. It was the new kind of jazz. And I strongly belief that a lot of modern jazz wouldn’t have sounded the way it does without the music of these guys...

Let me still add one. The cover already gives that impression. She is so raw, direct, vulnerable ..... these are in general difficult pieces to appreciate, but she makes it a feast which keeps you constantly focused. Recordings like Nathan Milstein are more rounded at refined, but nobody beats her directness....

Ok last one from the evening. Didn’t know this music unless I heard it together with my ex wife in a concert sung by Miranda van Kralingen, and I was totally sold. So we started to search for a good recording and landed with this one. While the live concert had been inspirational this at relatively high volume cuts through your soul. Again other great recordings exist, but in my ears nothing captures the emotion so good as she does...

Normally an album that blows me away on first listen tends to be quickly forgotten. It seems I need to do a little work to get into my records. Exceptions would perhaps be the eponymous Elton John, Fragile by Yes, Zep 3 and Isle of View by the Pretenders.

Funnily enough Relayer is back in my life after a few years on the shelf. It was Steven Wilson that did it!

Stu

lutyens posted:

This. That opening loping guitar on the first track and I was completely in awe.

Thanks for the suggestion Luytens - very infectious music. 

I had never heard of them, but now have this album and 3 or 4 others of theirs marked as favourites in Tidal.

Loved this from Jim Kerr's opening line of "Brilliant Days , Wake up on Brilliant Days " . A very regular listen .