3 Debut Albums Everyone Should Own

Like movies and TV shows alike, new music comes out in droves nowadays. Maybe it's due to the way the internet has changed all three industries, maybe it's the increased ease and availability of creation. In any case, there's so much new music flooding the market that sometimes it's hard to decide what to spend your time listening to.

Well, I'd like to think I can help...ahead are 3 debut albums that I think everyone should own, as right out the gate the artist (or artists) involved made a high quality project. More after the jump!

Jason Mraz-Waiting For My Rocket To Come

Mraz has become a household name for easy listening adult alternative pop, especially with his latest massive single "I'm Yours", which, after it's first release, was heard almost everywhere you went. But it all started for Mraz back in 2002 with the release of his first studio album "Waiting For My Rocket To Come".

The album has a great range of sounds, from the inspiring hit-single "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)"  to the hip-hop inspired "Curbside Prophet". What makes this album impressive is that Mraz possesses not only the talent to produce catchy, addicting songs, but in addition excellent songwriting skills that shine through on tracks like the reflective "Absolutely Zero".



"Waiting For My Rocket To Come" is an album that right away indicated Mraz's talent for making rock and pop music for us adults, as well as his infectious care-free attitude.

Recommended Tracks:
"Who Needs Shelter"
"Too Much Food"
"On Love, In Sadness"


KT Tunstall-Eye To The Telescope

Tunstall is another artist whose name has been associated with contemporary adult rock, though perhaps her singles are known to be more "poppy" than Mraz's, especially her second single, "Suddenly I See". The album was released in 2004, and Tunstall has since released 2 more studio albums as well as a short acoustic EP.

I've come to find that the tendency of record companies to release singles that are very easy to like has painted some artists as something they aren't. Case in point-KT Tunstall. "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" and "Suddenly I See" both sounded a bit like any other singer-songwriter on the radio at the time, and as a result not many people bothered to listen to more.



But Tunstall's real talent lies in less popular tracks like "Stoppin The Love", which is bluesy, funky
and just plain cool. Tunstall stands out in a sea of female singer-songwriters in her ability to write and sing blues-rock like nobody else around. Her live performances are equally as impressive (when performing "Black Horse", she uses a looping pedal to play the whole thing by herself)

Recommended Tracks:
"Miniature Disasters"
"Under The Weather"
"Silent Sea"

Keane-Hopes And Fears

Back in 2000, Coldplay released their debut album "Parachutes" and launched a new take on the rock genre by adding the use of a piano in most of their songs, and since then, the sound has been constantly emulated. One band that took on the sound was Keane, whose debut album "Hopes and Fears" was released in 2004. Their first single, the piano-driven ballad "Somewhere Only We Know" was a hit, though it was much more popular in Europe (the band is from England) than in the US.

Still, Hopes and Fears is very much an album worth having. The band succeeds on putting a nice new twist on the piano-rock genre by creating many different sounds off of it, such as the driving "Can't Stop Now" and the effect-heavy, breath-taking album closer "Bedshaped".


Keane greatly succeeds then, in keeping the genre alive while adding their own flavor to it. The soundscapes on the album cover everything from exciting to reflective to inspiring.

Recommended Tracks:
"This Is The Last Time"
"Sunshine"
"Untitled 1"

So there you have it...3 debut albums you need to own if you don't already. Get to it!