The FIRST series are catch-all compilations with a very wide berth for inclusion.
THE BEATLES usually pop up because they were responsible for so many firsts in rock & roll, but their presence here is secondary. Volume 4 starts off with a track written & first recorded by CARL PERKINS that most people are better acquainted with as a track on a BEATLES album. (Carl was actually in the studio when The Fab Four laid down their version). LARRY WILLIAMS also benefitted greatly from having his song included on an LP by Liverpool’s favorite sons.
THE SHADOWS are more of the focus here, as their first recording (as THE DRIFTERS) makes an appearance alongside the first release by Marvin, Welch & Farrar after the band broke up, & (former-Shadows) Jet Harris & Tony Meehan’s Diamonds--which was JIMMY PAGE’s first session gig.
Demos are prime possibilities for the FIRST series. Included is a songwriter’s (BOB KELLY’s) demo for GENE VINCENT, & Gene’s own home demo for another song he had some success with: Lotta Lovin’. THE RAMONES’ demo for Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World brings it all home—but not before FUGAZI, PAUL SIMON & TAYLOR SWIFT supply more of the same.
First singles or first recordings by acts who took a while to find a national audience are also convenient contenders. There are first incarnations of THE MANHATTANS, THE DEAD BOYS, and the future JACKIE DeSHANNON recording as Sherry Lee. FIRST BANDS are fair game, and JEFF LYNNE’s first recording outfit THE MOVE are represented, as are THIRTY DAYS OUT which I dug down deep in my trivia sack for... the band provided THE RAMONES' tour-manager Monte A. Melnick's first touring experience.
GREGG ALLMAN performs Melissa on Late Night With David Letterman & shares that it was the first song that he wrote and kept. And there’s a dash of ZAPPA in the broth—Baby Ray & The Ferns was one of his earliest recording combos (although there is some dispute).
Some of my selections may have seen the light of day in JONDER’s excellent AS HEARD HERE FIRST series:
https://jonderblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/as-heard-here-first-original-versions.html
There’s a few of those here—tracks rock bands took and ran with that originated with Bullmoose Jackson, Tiny Bradshaw, Lloyd Brown, & Roy Milton.
That leaves only the cover photo—which was taken in Edinburgh—it's the FIRST photo of men drinking!
I urge you to check anywhere in the world for firsts, first, but be sure to check with JOKONKY, last!
Downloaders are asked to share their proudest ROCK & ROLL FIRST. That might be the first album you bought, the first band you saw., or the song that was playing when you first had sex.
ReplyDeleteI’ll go… uh, first. The FIRST rock band I saw live was LED ZEPPELIN.
Like a lot of record collectors, I’m not naturally social, so I used that question as a conversation starter for years, until someone said: “No wonder you asked. You’re almost always going to win.”
I honestly had never viewed it as a competition—I just saw it as something people were eager to talk about at length whether the first group they saw live was respected or reviled—and I was always interested in the story behind it. It often involved sneaking out of the house, for instance. So I encourage readers to (at least) let fly with who they saw and why!
Here’s the link for FIRST VOL. 4:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/Hk4HVkDX