Is it odd that the first album release from a female artist is often my favorite?

Nuprin

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I get excited about hearing more from that artist but then usually end up being disappointed :(
It's like the magic/energy is gone after the first time...

For example, I've been listening to Chantal Chamberland and have been thoroughly enjoying her first album "This is Our Time" and find it my favorite out of all her releases. Very sultry voice.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=nwtcSOVb2I4&usg=AOvVaw2reIH86WrziDoz5KBx9jBK

The same with Norah Jones (Come Away with Me), Adele (19 - More jazz/blues like?), Melody Gardot (Well, both her first two albums), Madeleine Peyroux (Dreamland), Natalie Merchant (Wonderland-Ok, not really Jazz) to name a few.
 

jeff1225

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You need to check out Rickie Lee Jones, Natalie Merchant, Bjork, Tori Amos, Sade and PJ Harvey.
 

Nuprin

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You need to check out Rickie Lee Jones, Natalie Merchant, Bjork, Tori Amos, Sade and PJ Harvey.

Already mentioned Natalie above :p Rebecca Pidgeon(The Raven) also comes to mind as another example.

I don't know what percentage it is exactly but it seems like half. Sade always has a few hits per album so she's been very consistent. Not really a Tori Amos fan. Some artist do develop over time as they're more seasoned. They often become "technically" better at their craft but they just don't have that entire energy/creativity of their whole being that's been poured into their first album.
 

NorthStar

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You just mentioned some of the great (among my favorites) female French voices above ...

1. You love romances and dates
2. You love women
3. You love Jazz
4. You love Valentine's Days



Zero odd with all of that ... first or last or between albums.
Visit my thread ... A Music Passion for other great female singers, plus other threads in the Music forum section. Bring them on ...



So many great singers so little time ...
 

jeff1225

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Already mentioned Natalie above :p Rebecca Pidgeon(The Raven) also comes to mind as another example.

I don't know what percentage it is exactly but it seems like half. Sade always has a few hits per album so she's been very consistent. Not really a Tori Amos fan. Some artist do develop over time as they're more seasoned. They often become "technically" better at their craft but they just don't have that entire energy/creativity of their whole being that's been poured into their first album.
I couldn't disagree more.....

I could also list a plethora of male artists that are one hit wonders.
 
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Nuprin

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Her latest album Temptation is my second favorite.

In the title I asked if I was the odd one out liking the first album more than most people. I don't find myself listening to male Jazz vocalists as much although I did like this track from Blade Runner.

 

NorthStar

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1. I generally prefer female singers (Jazz, Opera, Folk, International, Blues, etc.)
2. I really like Chantal Chamberlain's 2008 album The Other Woman, and also 2006's Serendipity Street.
3. You're not odd, I'm not odd, nobody's odd...we like what we like it is what it is.
 
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Nuprin

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I guess I'm less sexist on the blues end....Muddy Waters's Folk Singer is probably my favorite blues artist/album. Something really magical about that recording. I remember hearing it on a cheap boom box and it surprised me how good it sounded.

Patsy Cline is a favorite female singer of mine but she falls somewhere between county and blues I guess.
 
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Ron Resnick

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Hi Nuprin,

Do you find that the first album release by male artists also is typically your favorite album by that artist?

Maybe there's no mystery here at all? Maybe you just like first albums in general, because the first album is what an artist spent his/her entire life preparing to release?

I think this is why an artist's first album release often contains the most popular singles the artist ever releases. A first album represents an artist's cherry-picked selections from a lifetime of work, and the second album represents maybe 6 to 12 months of work thereafter.
 
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Hi-FiGuy

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I get excited about hearing more from that artist but then usually end up being disappointed :(
It's like the magic/energy is gone after the first time...

I have experienced this on several occasions, going back a day or two, Rickie Lee Jones self titled album is phenomenal, love every track and to this day listen to it often (MOFI 45 and original pressing), waited a couple years for Pirates to be released and lost all interest on everything after that. Have tried her newer albums over the years and the "magic" is not there.
 

Hi-FiGuy

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Maybe there's no mystery here at all?

1
You're not odd, I'm not odd, nobody's odd...we like what we like it is what it is.

Then there is this, LOL! :D

No shock here I like Rush...but I rarely if ever spin anything from them prior to 2112. Oddly enough I love All the Worlds a Stage which is a live album compromising of materiel from the first four albums.

I love the Rolling Stones but by far do not like their entire catalog.

Then there is Genesis Seconds out an album that damn near brings me to tears with how that concert moves me, especially the dvd in the box set.

it is.jpg
 
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Nuprin

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Ron,

You're right about the artist taking more time with their first album, forming a culmination of their best ideas. It seems to happen less often with male artists and I generally prefer female Jazz vocalists.

I usually know if I like a song or not the first time I listen to it and rarely "grow" into songs or end up liking them over time. It's disappointing when revisiting artists and you think you'll discover something you've missed in the past but that almost never happens for me.
 
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jeff1225

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I have experienced this on several occasions, going back a day or two, Rickie Lee Jones self titled album is phenomenal, love every track and to this day listen to it often (MOFI 45 and original pressing), waited a couple years for Pirates to be released and lost all interest on everything after that. Have tried her newer albums over the years and the "magic" is not there.

Flying Cowboys and Traffic from Paradise are phenomenal albums.
 
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Folsom

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This is true for me and Norah Jones. I couldn't really say with other artists that I just don't know that well.
 

MPS

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^Definitely not jazz :) (didn't notice we are in jazz forum) but goes to same category of first release being more sensitive, personal and even artistic being later replaced with more professionalism and routine. Well, in some of the cases anyway.
 

the sound of Tao

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+1 the first album often comes out of a long early life time and is often the first essential expression of this is me arriving. There are less constraints coming in so there may be more freedom and often no expectations or preconceptions from your audience.

Also if the first album is really good then that builds the platform for the second album where the sophomore is judged like a make or break album which might make creating it within a commercial framework and timescale daunting.

Also some completely peak at the first step and then don’t cope with the shift to the next phase (past initial establishment) through to the later development phases of maturing (that can also bring amazing developmental growth).

Growing into your skin can be hard for artists and the self destructing artist that simply doesn’t make it past their late twenties literally is a prolific and very tragic thing in the world of music. Quite probably related to the reality of success and fame from artistically emerging with that first big breakout album and then transitioning into the realities of coping with the pressures and expectation of ongoing success in the commercial world. The whole creative platform can shift in nature and complexity completely and that can then impact on the end quality of the work.

Ultimately maturation can be an extraordinary thing for the artist and the late works of great musicians can be very different but also the opus of the great work and summative culmination.
 
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jeff1225

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But Rickie Lee she's Pop/Rock music, not Jazz.



* Tracy Chapman too ... Pop/Folk


The OP might have put this in the Jazz forum but he mentions Natalie Merchant in the post. RLJ is more jazz than merchant, don't you think Bob?
 

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