The Raincoats (album)

The Raincoats is the debut studio album by English rock band the Raincoats. It was released on 21 November 1979 on Rough Trade Records. The album is perhaps best known for its off-kilter cover of "Lola" by the Kinks. The album's sixth track, "The Void", was covered by Hole in 1994.

The Raincoats
Studio album by
The Raincoats
Released21 November 1979
Recorded1979
StudioBerry Street Studio, Clerkenwell, London
Genre
Length31:26 (original release)
34:27 (1993 reissue with extra track)
LabelRough Trade - ROUGH3
Producer
The Raincoats chronology
The Raincoats
(1979)		 Odyshape
(1981)

In May 2010, the band performed the album in its entirety in London.[3]

In September 2020, Rolling Stone named The Raincoats the 398th greatest album of all time.[4]

Background

In 1979, 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.[5] "Life on the Line" had the original lyrics penned by the original guitarist, Ross Crighton, about a suicide at Ladbroke Grove underground station.[6]

Release

The Raincoats was re-released by Rough Trade in 1993 on CD, 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 1978 and 1979 and a video of "Fairytale in the Supermarket".

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[7]
Mojo[8]
NME9/10[9]
Q[10]
Record Collector[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[12]
Select4/5[13]
Spin Alternative Record Guide10/10[14]
Uncut9/10[15]

AllMusic praised the album, writing, "This music, even at its most dissonant, is stunning and captivating".[2]

Kurt Cobain listed The Raincoats as one of his 50 favourite recordings.[16] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 398 in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[4]

Track listing

All songs written by the Raincoats, except where noted.

Side A
  1. "No Side to Fall In" – 1:50
  2. "Adventures Close to Home" – 1:54
  3. "Off Duty Trip" – 3:16
  4. "Black and White" – 2:29
  5. "Lola" (Ray Davies) – 4:04
Side B
  1. "The Void" – 3:52
  2. "Life on the Line" (lyrics: Ross Crighton and the Raincoats) – 4:23
  3. "You're a Million" – 3:54
  4. "In Love" – 3:06
  5. "No Looking" (lyrics translated and adapted by the Raincoats from a poem by Jacques Prévert) – 3:06

"Fairytale in the Supermarket" - 3:01, the Raincoats' first single, was included as an opening track on all reissues of the album since 1993.

Personnel

The Raincoats:

with:

Technical credits:

References
  1. Ortega, Aaron (25 February 2014). "The 10 Post-Punk Albums Every Music Fan Should Own". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  2. Dougan, John. "The Raincoats – The Raincoats". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  3. Ronai, Francesca (28 May 2010). "The Raincoats play The Raincoats @ The Scala, London, 20.05.2010". Bearded. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  4. "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  5. Pelly, Jenn (26 September 2017). "The Raincoats' Debut Album Is a Classic DIY Document". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  6. Pelly, Jenn (2017). The Raincoats' The Raincoats. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781501302428.
  7. Christgau, Robert (1990). "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  8. O'Brien, Lucy (January 2020). "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". Mojo. No. 314. p. 105.
  9. "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". NME. 23 October 1993. p. 37.
  10. Segal, Victoria (January 2020). "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". Q. No. 406. p. 117.
  11. Shooman, Joe (Christmas 2009). "The Raincoats – The Raincoats". Record Collector. No. 370. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  12. Kot, Greg (2004). "Raincoats". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 673. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  13. Collins, Andrew (October 1993). "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". Select. No. 40. p. 97.
  14. Sheffield, Rob (1995). "Raincoats". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. p. 320. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  15. Watts, Peter (January 2020). "The Raincoats: The Raincoats". Uncut. No. 272. p. 44.
  16. Cross, Charles R.; Gaar, Gillian G.; Gendron, Bob; Martens, Todd; Yarm, Mark (2013). Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7603-4521-4.
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