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The Raincoats (album)

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The Raincoats is the debut studio album by English rock band the Raincoats. It was released in 1979 on Rough Trade Records. The album is perhaps best known for its off-kilter cover of "Lola" by the Kinks. The album's seventh track, "The Void", was notably covered by Hole in 1994.

In May 2010, the band performed the album in its entirety in London.[1]

Background

In 1979, the Raincoats weren't working and three of the four members were living in squats - Vicky Aspinall in Brixton, Gina Birch in Monmouth Road, Bayswater, where the band frequently rehearsed. The squatting culture informed the lifestyle and music of the band with an onus on improvisation and DIY.[2] "Life on the Line" had lyrics penned by the original guitarist, Ross Crighton, about a suicide at Ladbroke Grove underground station[3].

The cover painting is by Pang Hsiao-Li.[4]

Release

The Raincoats was re-released by Rough Trade in 1994, with liner notes by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. The album was again re-released on 9 November 2009 on vinyl on We ThRee (the band's own label) in the UK and on the Kill Rock Stars label in the U.S. This edition included a free mp3 download and an extra track, "Fairytale in the Supermarket", as well as a special edition bonus CD, including live footage from 1977 and 1979 and a video of "Fairytale in the Supermarket".

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[6]
Drowned in Sound9/10[7]
NME9/10[8]
Record Collector[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]
Select4/5[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide10/10[12]

AllMusic praised the album, writing, "This music, even at its most dissonant, is stunning and captivating".[5]

Kurt Cobain listed it at No. 20 in his top 50 albums of all time.[13][14]

Track listing

All songs written by the Raincoats, except where noted.

Side A
  1. "No Side to Fall In" – 1:47
  2. "Adventures Close to Home" (Viv Albertine, Tessa Pollitt, Ariane Forster, Paloma Romero) – 1:54
  3. "Off Duty Trip" – 3:14
  4. "Black and White" – 2:29
  5. "Lola" (Ray Davies) – 4:03
Side B
  1. "The Void" – 3:51
  2. "Life on the Line" (lyrics: Ross Crighton and the Raincoats) – 4:22
  3. "You're a Million" – 3:53
  4. "In Love" – 3:05
  5. "No Looking" (lyrics translated and adapted by the Raincoats from a poem by Jacques Prévert) – 3:05

"Fairytale in the Supermarket", the Raincoats' first single, was included as an opening track on all reissues of the album since 1993.

Personnel

The Raincoats

with:

Technical

References

  1. ^ Review of The Raincoats London 2010 performance on 'Bearded' Magazine
  2. ^ https://pitchfork.com/features/article/the-raincoats-debut-album-is-a-classic-diy-document/
  3. ^ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=f6cvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT66&lpg=PT66&dq=Moving+(The+Raincoats&source=bl&ots=SRxrJ15TKa&sig=3SxUlo-TtNFBTQpRBC8ceY_-AH0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji_9z90ffWAhVEXBoKHTU5AXg4ChDoAQhiMA4#v=onepage&q=Moving%20(The%20Raincoats&f=false
  4. ^ https://www.discogs.com/The-Raincoats-The-Raincoats/release/380654
  5. ^ a b Dougan, John. "The Raincoats – The Raincoats". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert (1990). "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  7. ^ Power, Chris (13 November 2009). "Album Review: The Raincoats – The Raincoats". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  8. ^ "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". NME: 37. 23 October 1993.
  9. ^ Shooman, Joe (25 December 2009). "The Raincoats – The Raincoats". Record Collector (370). Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  10. ^ Kot, Greg (2004). "The Raincoats". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 673. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  11. ^ Collins, Andrew (October 1993). "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". Select (40): 97.
  12. ^ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  13. ^ "Top 50 by Nirvana [MIXTAPE]". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  14. ^ Cross, Gaar, Gendron, Martens, Yarm (2013). Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7603-4521-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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