Albums that blew you away on first listen

[Old Mother Hell]

This one kills every chicken on the truck.

[Skully]

Flock Of Seagulls - Flock of Seagulls. You mean I can do that with the stuff I already own? Cool...

Highly underrated, all because of the haircuts.

[SPUDCASTER]

On The Bandstand - Buck Owens
Swinging Doors/Bottle Let Me Down - Merle Haggard
Sgt. Peppers LHCB - Beatles
Made In Japan - Deep Purple
Can't Buy A Thrill - Steeley Dan
Feats Don't Fail Me Now - Little Feat
Elegant Gypsy - Al DiMeola
Most every early Jerry Reed album

These were just a few off the top. So many to choose from, where do you stop?

[hwy145]

I normally cool on albums that hit me immediately, but I can think of six that were great from the first listen.

"Trace" by Son Volt

"No One is Really Beautiful" by Jude

"God Shuffled His Feet" by The Crash Test Dummies

"The Great Divide" by Semisonic

"Stranger's Almanac" by Whiskeytown

"Heartbreaker" by Ryan Adams (still my all-time favorite album- EVER!)

That was a long time ago...

Not much that makes me double take these days...

['56Teleman]

March 18, 1967, I was blown away buy this album. 7-10 days later I was taking guitar lessons.

[twintwelve]

The first one that just knocked me out was Johnny Winter's "Johnny Winter"--"Be Careful With a Fool" still gets me every time......
David Lindley and El Rayo X-"Win This Record"
The Blasters-"The Blasters"
Los Lobo's-"How Will the Wolf Survive"
Judas Priest-"Unleased in the East"
Iron Maiden-"Piece of Mind"
The Wailers-"Burnin'
Dwight Yoakum-"Guitars, Cadillacs..."
AC/DC-"Powerage"
The Fabulous Thunderbirds- "What's the Word"
ZZ Top-"Deguello"
The Johnson Mountain Boys-"Let the Whole World Talk"
The Abyssinians-"Forward"
The Rolling Stones-"Get Your Ya-Yas Out"
Gillian Welch-"Revival"
Lucinda Williams-"Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"
Jimmy Vaughan- "Out There"
James Harman-"Do Not Disturb"
Little Richard-"The Fabulous Little Richard"
Charlie Hunter-"Ready, Set,...Shango!"
Nick Curran-"Player"
Sean Costello-"Cuttin' In"
The Dead Kennedys-"Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Motorhead-"Ace of Spades"
Anvil-"Forged in Fire"
Raven-"Wiped Out"
BB King-"Live at the Regal"
Albert Collins-"Ice Pickin'"
Danny and the Fat Boys-"American Music"
Danny Gatton-"Redneck Jazz"
The Nighthawks-"10 Years Live"
George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars-"Live"
John Mayall-"Bluesbreakers"
George Thorogood-"and the Destroyers"
John Hammond-"Wicked Grin"
God I'm such a compulsive list maker....ALL these records (and many more, grabbed me by the earhole, and became an obsession-until the next one came along, but they all still influence me today.....

[Tommy Biggs]

Hard Again - Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter
Romantic Warrior - Return to Forever
Elegant Gypsy - Al Di Meola
The Clash - the Clash
Kind of Blue - Miles
Giant Steps - John coltrane
Exile on Main Street -Stones
Autobahn - Kraftwerk

[jonnyfez]

Joe Jackson-Look Sharp

[TheGuitarist]

Just a few from my early days:

Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
Bad Company - Bad Company
Peter Frampton - Frampton comes alive

This album had the most influence on me and will always be my #1:

Led Zeppelin - BBC Sessions

Recently:

The Black Keys - El Camino

[Old Mother Hell]

This one makes me flop on the bed and weep till dawn...

[rcole_sooner]

Originally Posted by TheGuitarist

The Black Keys - El Camino

Seriously? It is on sale on Amazon. I need to grab it.

[TheGuitarist]

Absolutely serious!

Check also the older albums from them: pure blues rock.

[Crawfish]

[DuncanAngus]

Pink Floyd - Animals. SO different than anything before from them. Not spacey, but angry and edgy.
Yes - Relayer. After TFTO I thought they were done.
Pete Townshend - All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes. Just liked the way it was done.
REM - Automatic For The People. Maybe my favorite "first listen" album. Freaking stunning.

[twintwelve]

Cool-I really like Relayer, too.....

[superlightweigh]

Originally Posted by keithb7

I was about 12 or 13 when I really got into Van Halen. I was collecting all their tapes. This was a time before internet. You could not watch videos on You Tube. I just knew I liked every VH song on all the tapes I had so far. I got to a point where I had all their albums except the elusive Fair Warning. For some reason I though it was their first, and least popular album. I was corrected by a friend. I saved up my paper route money and took a bus to town to get it. For some reason I never knew anyone, who had the Fair Warning album. I don't think there was any radio hits from that one around my parts. The cover was just weird. I got it home and put it in my Ghetto Blaster. First song was....Mean Streets intro. I was friggin blown away. I still remember hearing it for the first time. The album was released in 1981. First time I ever heard any of it was about 1985 when I finally bought it.

Hah I read your whole post thinking you meant the album "Women and Children 1st" then realized which one you meant. Great album. But, like others have said, Van Halen 1 was a whole order of magnitude different from everything else.

[Hallski]

I've got a few, but for me, the game changed when I first heard Around the Fur by Deftones. I'm not sure if I'm alone in the forum, but I tend to go for the heavier stuff. I was in 8th grade when I got this album, and the first time I heard it, it honestly blew my mind because I had never heard anything like it. Still in heavy rotation with me...

[scottymokan]

BAD BRAINS - Banned in DC

ROLLING STONES - Exile on Main St.

[stevehyphen]

Originally Posted by scottymokan

BAD BRAINS - Banned in DC

ROLLING STONES - Exile on Main St.

Both of these albums would be in my top albums list... if I had such a list.

Dr. Know's solo on Big Takeover from the self-titled Bad Brains album just kills. I love the way it was mixed. Just try cranking this album up as loud as you can take it. When he hits that solo it feels like it's cutting through my brain, not just the mix.

I have so many favourite moments from Exile on Main Street, but the first thing that comes to my mind right now is probably the part on Torn and Frayed where it sounds like Nicky Hopkins is hitting the keys so damn hard that it's almost out of tune.

[voodoo_idol]

Anything by Rainer Ptacek. Hard to find but worth the effort.