An addition to Ashgate's Popular and Folk Music series, Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself … is an edited collection that considers the lasting significance of the debut album, with a chapter being devoted to each of the 23 chronologically arranged examples (the exception being Little Richard and Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, who share one chapter). These range from Buddy Holly's initial long player in 1957, to the debut release by The Go! Team in 2004. Comedy, country, soul, folk and variants of rock are among the fairly broad spectrum of genres represented, albeit rap, hip-hop and jazz are conspicuous by their absence. Male artists also heavily outnumber female artists. The examples include albums by the familiar (Elvis Costello), the forgotten (Wilson Pickett) and (to these ears at least) the obscure (Willis Alan Ramsey). As the editor George Plasketes suggests, the debut album can possess special meaning for those involved in its production and consumption by virtue of its capacity to launch careers, embody a new sound, develop new listening relationships and engage critics. Popular music's ongoing infatuation with the ‘new’ in the marketplace (pre-releases, debut releases, sales charts, etc.) also frames such considerations. First albums can therefore embody unique values as determined by the never-to-be-repeated newness and innovation that only accompanies a debut release by an artist. In this respect, Plasketes argues that the first album can be considered to be an identifiable genre which, on the evidence presented, represents a valid proposition.
Referred to as the first academic study devoted to this topic, it is claimed that the collection itself represents a debut album of sorts. However, with over 100 editions available, Bloomsbury's mostly excellent 33 1/3 series, where individual albums (including several debut releases) are the focus of an entire short book, can be seen to have already encroached upon the intricacies of the first album. In acknowledging such potential overlaps, the editor avoids duplicating any of the debut albums featured in the Bloomsbury series. Nonetheless, by sheer number alone, the 22 chapters within this somewhat slim collection allow limited scope for the authors to discuss their chosen albums in any great detail (unlike the 33 1/3 texts). Despite this, some of the chapters do resonate, with the essays that incline towards elevating the cultural-musical importance of the release in question tending to be among the most effective examples.
These include Ian Inglis' insightful evaluation of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, which helps us to excuse the fact that was this was actually Harrison's second release after the Wonderwall soundtrack. Elsewhere, Deena Weinstein's chapter on Metallica's debut outlines how it introduced thrash as a new metal subgenre and was, in ‘best first album’ traditions, a release that was never bettered by the group. Plasketes' chapter on Rickie Lee Jones's first album (one of four he provides overall) illustrates how her charismatic appearance on the NBC TV show Saturday Night Live initiated a media frenzy that propelled the album towards platinum sales.
In another chapter, Thomas M. Kitts' essay on The New York Dolls' initial release (1973) traces the group's passion for pop music, camp theatre and the (then-decaying) city of New York as being the main drivers that shaped their explosive debut. In a further essay by Plaskete, which focuses on Warren Zevon's eponymous debut of 1976, the editor portrays the release as symbolising ‘album as place’ (p. 104), where the dark decadence of mid-1970s Hollywood acts as a link between the singer-songwriter environment typified by Laurel Canyon and the soon-to-materialise punk genre. Sarita M. Stewart's chapter on LeAnn Rimes' 1996 initial release is noted for the way in which the artist's age (then 13) is offset by her newly acquired maturity, and the manner in which this process shapes the album's subsequent global success. Given its disputed merits, the inclusion of Up the Bracket by The Libertines could be questioned in some quarters, yet Michah Rueber's essay on this 2002 release generally succeeds in convincing the reader with regard to its modern-retro attributes.
Still, while several of the chapters are of interest, a sense prevails that, underpinned by the piecemeal nature of the various contributions, the overarching trajectory of the debut album through the decades tends to be neglected. While Plasketes may suggest that ‘Every artist – past, present, future – has, or will have a debut album, whether disc or digital’ (p. 2), this claim fails to fully engage with the vast changes that have occurred within the creative environment since Buddy's Holly's debut, which, as per prevailing album tradition, contained a batch of recent singles (both A and B sides), along with some cover versions (including novelty songs).
Key differences also exist between the album as an analogue and digital text. As an extension of this factor, and driven by the changing consumption habits which are clearly evident within the digital landscape, the recent steep decline in album sales has also impacted greatly on the value previously attributed to debut releases. The fact that only three 21st-century examples (Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Libertines and The Go! Team) are featured in the collection may be reflective of such traits. Debut albums do, however, feature prominently within many of the recent ‘best ever’ lists within several rock music magazines, such as Rolling Stone, New Musical Express and Uncut, and have since helped to shape the debut album canon. While some examples of the said lists are provided within the appendices, they remain in isolation and their presence only receives passing mention in the introductory chapter, thus representing a missed opportunity for further analysis of the genre. Overall, as noted above, the collection possesses a number of chapters that provide relevant, albeit short, case studies on specific debut album releases, and may therefore gain the attention of those who embrace the artists' releases in question. However, as the sum of its missing parts makes evident, many questions about the debut album's pathway across a number of pertinent fields within popular music studies remain unexplored. The collection does nonetheless initiate discourse on our continuing fixation with the debut album and the myriad of meanings it can possess.
