You're probably familiar with the expression, "One for them, one for me" - usually where directors alternate between making the movie the studio wants, then earning the right to make a passion project.
On this blog and more so in writing for other outlets, I write articles for editors who make an effort to get their facts straight and illustrate industry insights or profile established artists.
But this is a music blog.
And it's my music blog.
The most enjoyable thing to write about is the music that lit a fire under me, so here's my "one for me."
That said, it really can be a one for you if I'm introducing you to these six great albums.
All of these are special and, in my opinion, albums you need to know.
The common element here is that they were all debut albums; and pretty much in every case they were at such a high level that each artist never got to those same heights ever again.
Not that these great songwriters had failed careers; Nellie McKay is a vibrant artist and Michael Penn is killing it in the film music work.
Oh, and these albums are all from 20+ years ago.
That either means that I'm old and nostalgic ... or I hope that the real reason is that these are truly great ALBUMS, which is a format that started dying out as a popular art form 20 years ago.
I'll be going in chronological order, representing the end of the great debut album era.
1983 - Nick Heyward - North Of A Miracle
Right off the bat, this is a little bit of a cheat, since Nick Heyward was the frontman of 80's legends Haircut One Hundred, who disappeared as quickly as they arrived in 1982.
Think of them as a less-synthy version of ABC if they were Nordstrom's models.
The next year, Nick went ahead and ripped off a solo album that alternated between kick-ass pop horn numbers and lush string ballads.
In a vacuum or even looking back on it now, it was an incredibly well-produced album.
Then when one considers this was at the beginning of the CD era and when it seemed like everybody had recently bought great stereo speakers, the sound was mind-blowing at the time.
Check out the horns on "Take That Situation", "Atlantic Monday," and "The Kick Of Love" if you want to fan out on the horn section.
And weigh that with "The Day It Rained Forever" and "Whistle Down The Wind" - which are feelings songs that Sam Smith could only dream of.
1989 - Michael Penn - March
Yup, Sean Penn and Chris Penn's brother.
And Aimee Mann's husband.
If you're younger than I you might not know this record, although you might recognize him as the studio engineer in Boogie Nights where Dirk Diggler and Reed Rothchild were recording their album.
Penn also did the score for Boogie Nights among many other movies over the years.
But good God, his debut album March stands up to anybody's first album.
If you like Crowded House at all, then this should be one of your favorite records of all time.
"No Myth" was the lead single and it's great, as is the follow up "This & That".
It goes deeper than that; I developed a relationship with this record by listening front to back like we used to.
When you crawl inside an album like that, it gives you a chance to give "album tracks" like "Cupid's Got A Brand New Gun" and "Innocent One" their day in court; songs like that can reward you and be a happy place for the rest of your lives.
The biggest compliment I can give to any song as a songwriter is that I'm insanely envious of somebody else writing and recording the song instead of me.
Penn's song "Invisible" is a first-ballot envy hall-of-famer.
Please listen to it.
It's the best Crowded House song of all time, and they had nothing to do with it.
1994 - The Philosopher Kings (self-titled)
I never heard of this Canadian band until I discovered it just randomly pressing play on a headphones listening station in a Tower Records.
Is there more of a mid-90’s experience than that?
The opening of "Turn Your Head Around" with the jazz-pop crooning, jazz piano and jazz sounding snare drum grabbed me on those headphones along the Tower Records wall.
When somebody tries out a record, the song gets about 10 seconds of runway where this song only needed 3 of them to hook me.
I listened to the rest of the album right there and bought it.
If you're doing a similar quick sample of it yourself right now, here's a roadmap.
"Charms" would be the single.
"Just Like A Woman" is a very satisfying soulful Dylan cover.
And "Leave That Man" was certainly ideal for me as a young guy with a lot of unrequited love.
But then promise me you'll give some time up for "Lay My Body Down" which might be a Top 50 song of all time for me - or at the very least a Top 3 vocal performance.
1998 - Morley - Sun Machine
The discovery on this one was unusual.
I was working my first job in the electric utility industry with a software company.
A good-old-boy and great guy former electric lineman named John Cavener who lived in the Mojave desert came to the office.
We often talked music - Tom Petty was usually our common ground.
Then one day he laid this Morley debut album on me.
Just to keep it in 1998 terms, she was like a fresh new hybrid of Sade, Dido and Cassandra Wilson.
To this day, I don't think I've ever heard another person mention her in person or in print or had a conversation about her.
If the album only had "Slingshots," it would have been a debut success.
Seriously, press Play on that.
But the start of that album is loaded: "Desert Flowers", "When I Love You" and "Just Like You."
I could use Morley as a perfect example of why music is NOT a meritocracy; her not being a world-famous recording artist proves the unjustness of it all.
2004 - Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me
New York City's music scene of the 2000s gets a lot of deserved hype about being one of the sneaky great musical incubators of all time.
But instead of The Strokes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs getting all of the credit, there was a slightly more downtown element of Nicole Atkins, The Trachtenberg Family Players, and the best, Nellie McKay, who were the truly underrated NYC geniuses.
For my money, Nellie McKay is the most underrated artist in music.
It makes me angry that you don't listen to her.
She can be a chanteuse with songs like "Won't U Please Be Nice" or "Manhattan Avenue" which is what she's done with a lot of her career since.
Simultaneously, she is an absolute beast on the piano and writes cynical bangers better than anybody: "Toto Dies", "Sari," and the single "David."
Even now, if you're frustrated by the state of the world, "Inner Peace" and "Change The World" could be your antidote for a while.
Seriously.
It's a double album and the title is an unmistakable response to the ubiquitous Norah Jones 2002 double album Come Away With Me.
Jones album was a sweet lullaby, but Nellie's ballsy debut record was the one we really needed post 9/11.
2009 - The Mummers - Tale To Tell
I've written about The Mummers before but it's worth repeating since they're the band in this article you're least likely to be aware of.
This is how I described them in that 2022 article: "If you want a quick comp of what they sound like, think Doris Day singing over Brian Wilson arrangements played by Gogol Bordello and produced by Jellyfish."
Or to put it another way: They were awesome.
Read my article above for their full story or to see me get pissed that they weren't more popular.
Or just click on "March Of The Dawn" for something that's modern yet filled with old Eastern European charm.
Better yet, click on "Tale To Tell" right now.
Everything can be found online.
I can watch any episode of The Battle Of The Network Stars or Real Housewives of Vancouver online if I wanted to right now.
But I can't listen to their just-as-good 2011 follow-up, Mink Hollow Road.
What a world.
