1st Album-1st Song-Great Debut

[Needs More Cowbell]

Dave Mason- Only You Know And I Know (1970)

There have been 2 phases of Dave Mason and it's quite easy to dismiss the later version. Syrupy sweet soft rock with lyrics no stronger than 'I Love You, You Love Me". That version got worse and worse starting about 1974

But the first Dave Mason- founding member of the group Traffic and author of one of classic rock's most covered songs "Feelin' Alright". Friends with Jimi Hendrix and contributor to his Electric Ladyland album as well as playing some guitar on that LP's iconic version of "All Along The Watchtower". Dave Mason also played on The Rolling Stone's Beggars Banquet LP, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass LP and was on the early sessions of Eric Clapton's Derek And The Dominoes LP Layla

In 1970 Dave Mason released his first solo album Alone Together. An incredibly strong album backed up by future members of Derek and the Dominoes as well as Leon Russell and Rita Coolidge. I recall that the first pressing of the album came in a splotchy multi-color vinyl that mesmerized as it spun on a turntable. The music on the LP was even better

First track was a killer. Only You Know And I Know

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Elliot Murphy-Last Of The Rock Stars (1973)

"The New Bob Dylan Has Arrived!!". 1973's debut by Bruce Springsteen-"Greetings From Asbury Park" LP- had those reactions from critics. So did Elliot Murphy's debut album from the same year-Aquashow. I think Springsteen won that contest. Aquashow though might have been the better album. What happened?

Springsteen wound up assembling a fantastic band to perform with him. He also appealed to the working class and quickly changed his music more towards hard-charging rock. Not so with Elliot Murphy. His subsequent albums were highly praised but he was a bit more high-minded and literary (with references to The Great Gatsby and Hemingway). Murphy had many great guest musicians on his albums (Bruce Springsteen, Mick Taylor, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Sonny Landreth, David Johansen, The Violent Femmes and more)but never settled on his own sound.

This native from New York State is still plugging away and has recorded over 30 albums to date. Just not too many know of him. Still that first album, Aquashow, is a 1973 pinnacle and the first track starts it off excellantly

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Fats Domino- The Fat Man (1949)

Fats Domino (1928-2017) was one of Rock N' Roll's pioneers. Many consider his 1949 first single, The Fat Man, to be Rock Music's first $1,000,000 seller. His first album was released in 1955 called Rock N' Rollin' With Fats Domino and collected his early singles as well as a few original tunes. The Fat Man song led off the disc

Ain't That A Shame, Blueberry Hill, Blue Monday, I'm Walkin'- these songs and others by him helped define Rock in the later 1950's. Fats Was Where it Was At

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Gene Pitney- Town Without Pity (1961)

Gene Pitney was quite an accomplished pop star in the early 60's. Besides scoring 16 Top 40 hits in the USA and 4 Top 10s, he began his career writing songs for other artists. "He's A Rebel" by The Crystals, "Hello Mary Lou" by Ricki Nelson and "Rubber Ball" by Bobbie Vee were Pitney creations

Gene Pitney , born in Hartford Connecticut, sung the hits "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallence", 'Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" and "Only Love Can Break Your Heart". Even with the change in musical tastes in the pop market with The British Invasion, Pitney had a huge smash in 1964 with "It Hurts To Be In Love"

Pitney was just as popular in The UK and was invited into The Rolling Stones first recording session for their debut album. It is said that Gene Pitney played some piano on their first LP

Gene Pitney's first album came out in 1962 which mostly collected his earliest singles. The first track was his first Top 20 song " A Town Without Pitney" wait, check that, "A Town With Pity"

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Howlin' Wolf- Moanin' At Midnight (1951)

One of the all-time greats of the blues, Chester Arthur Burnett was born in Mississippi in 1910. By the 1930's he was playing harmonica as well as electric guitar at Southern blues clubs. Things came late in life for Howlin' Wolf. He would not get a radio broadcast of his playing until 1948 at age 38. His first single was not released until 2 years later at age 40. His first album had to wait another 9 years

But in the meantime, Howlin Wolf created some of the best known blues, embraced by Rock N' Rollers, especially the young British performers in the 1960's. Classics like 'Spoonful", "Smokestack Lightning", "Killing Floor" and 'The Red Rooster".

Howlin's first LP was Moanin' In The Moonlight, released by Chess Records in 1959. As was common back then, it collected Wolf's earliest singles. Moanin' At Midnight led off the disc and was produced by famed Sun Records honcho Sam Phillips

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Iggy Pop- Sister Midnight (1977)

Born James Newell Osterberg Jr. in Michigan, Iggy Pop grew up under the influence of Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger and James Brown. He's been dubbed as 'The Godfather Of Punk' chiefly on his work with his band, The Stooges, from 1968-1974. Released from their record contract and struggling with drug addictions, the Stooges came to an end. Iggy wound up in a mental institution to help ween himself off drugs

But earlier he made good friends with David Bowie who never gave up on Iggy and helped him get a new contract with RCA Records under the provisions of producing Iggy's solo debut LP. The result was the album The Idiot with music totally unlike what The Stooges made nor what was to follow in Iggy's career. As Iggy put it, it was a blend of James Brown and Kraftwerk, funky electro pop. The LP also contained the original version of China Girl, a song David Bowie smoothed out later on and made a hit for himself.

Check out the synth-groove of The Idiot's first track, Sister Midnight

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Joe Cocker- Feelin' Alright (1969)

No need to go into detail about Joe Cocker's career. One of the most amazing voices and interpreter of songs in Rock history. His first album was 1969's With A Little Help From My Friends- a version that Paul McCartney admitted was simply fantastic. The first cut was the Dave Mason penned song Feelin' Alright originally performed by Traffic the year before. After this album, Joe would appear at Woodstock and a star was born.

But the reason I selected Joe today instead of all the other performers with "J" as a first name initial was due to rare footage I have uncovered showcasing Joe Cocker's twin brother. John Cocker had graduated from Animal University and then followed his brother's footsteps.

Here is Joe and John together and they are Feelin' Alright

Here's John on his own. It's so hard to tell the difference. Soon after John went into a different direction from Brother Joe and became a Blues Brother

One more with John Cocker and Leon Russell

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Keith- 98.6 (1966)

Here is one of those one-hit-wonder stories

Philadelphia-born singer Keith (James Barry Keefer) got a Columbia Records contract in 1965 and his first single flopped. Columbia released him and Mercury Records picked him up. His 2nd single "Ain't Gonna Lie" got limited airplay. But 3rd time was the charm and in December 1966 the song "98.6" roared up the charts, reaching #7 nationally and spent 14 weeks on the Billboard listings. His first album was subsequently released called "98.6/Ain't Gonna Lie" with the big hit single as the lead track

According to Keith, John Lennon told him he liked the song as they peed side-by-side at a urinal. it was downhill from there. 4 more singles in 1967 hardly made a dent or didn't get on the charts at all.2 more albums which no one bought. Then when he was on tour in 1969 he was arrested by military police for draft dodging. Fortunately he wasn't sent to Vietnam but served his time in New Jersey.

He hooked up with Frank Zappa briefly in 1974 and accompanied that year's tour but didn't perform on stage. He had 3 singles on Zappa's record label that only his family bought. He became a bartender and hung around music clubs since hoping lightning would strike twice

It won't

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Leon Russell- A Song For You (1970)

Most album first tracks are upbeat numbers or songs planned to be released as singles. Leon chose this instead for his debut solo LP- a heart-wrenching tune asking for forgiveness from a loved one. The song only went on to be inducted in the Grammy Hall Of Fame and be covered by at least 200 diverse performers (including Aretha Franklyn, Andy Williams, Ray Charles, The Temptations, Amy Winehouse, Herbie Hancock, Donnie Hathaway, Cher, Willie Nelson, Simply Red, The Carpenters, Whitney Houston, Neil Diamond, Peggy Lee, Natalie Cole.....)
Can't do better then that

Leon Russell, born Claude Russell Bridges, was already well established before his 1970 album debut. He was performing in nightclubs, age 14 in Tulsa,Oklahoma, in 1956. By 1958 he moved to Los Angeles and became a studio musician on keyboards. he appeared on recordings by The Byrds, Glen Campbell and Phil Spector productions with The Ronettes, The Crystals and Darlene Love. He played piano on the T.A.M.I. music festival.
By the mid 60's he was writing songs as well as arranging. 1968 saw him team up with Marc Benno as a band called the Asylum Choir with an LP released that year.Leon hooked up with Delaney and Bonnie in 1969, touring with them and meeting George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker.

Joe Cocker hired Leon Russell to co-produce and arrange Joe's first LP. He also performed Leon's new song "Delta Lady" making it the first commercial hit that Russell wrote. Leon joined Cocker for the famous Mad Dogs And Englishmen tour in 1970 and that brings us to Leon's first solo LP later that year

 

[Needs More Cowbell]

Miles Davis- Conception (1951)

Miles Davis, one of the foremost jazz giants of the 20th century. Born in Illinois from a well-to-do family, he relocated to New York City to attend the Julliard School of Music at age 18. Charlie Parker was Miles Davis' idol and he would watch him play at the Harlem clubs Minton's and Monroe's regularly to the point where they let him jam with the band. Davis's trumpet playing impressed enough that he was the replacement for Dizzy Gillespie when Diz left The Charlie Parker Band in 1945. The following years Davis would sit in on sessions with Charles Mingus and Billy Eckstine among others, basically acting as a freelancer.

In 1951 Miles Davis signed a contract with Prestige Records to cut some recordings as leader of a band. He assembled Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, Art Blakey on drums,Jackie McLean on tenor sax, Walter Bishop Jr on piano and Tommy Potter on bass.

The debut album, The New Sounds, came out as a 10" LP in 1951. (33 RPM albums only began to make their way to the public by 1948.Some companies used the 10 inch format while others used 12 inches.)

The song Conception led off the album as well as leading off Miles Davis monumental career as jazz innovator