The Raincoats (album)

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] The band conveyed an egalitarian ethos in their early live performances: each member was positioned to have equal visual prominence on stage, and the band dressed in everyday punk fashion no different from the ordinary "street clothes" of the audience members.[6]

Simon Reynolds and Joy Press wrote that the Raincoats' debut "bends and buckles rock form but doesn't break it," describing the music as "ragged, homespun folk-punk, with its elastic rhythms, reedy vocals and rickety structures."[7] "Life on the Line" had the original lyrics penned by the original guitarist, Ross Crighton, about a suicide at Ladbroke Grove underground station.[8]

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".

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Christgau's Record Guide	B+[9]
Mojo	[10]
NME	9/10[11]
Q	[12]
Record Collector	[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[14]
Select	4/5[15]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10[16]
Uncut	9/10[17]

AllMusic praised the album, writing, "This music, even at its most dissonant, is stunning and captivating".[2] In 1996, the critic Neil Strauss named it among the 100 most influential albums in "alternative" music in a Rolling Stone book on the subject.[18] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 398 in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[4] In his posthumously published Journals, Cobain's list of his top 50 favorite records features The Raincoats at number 21.[19]

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, has been included as the opening track on all reissues of the album since 1993.

The Raincoats:

• Ana da Silva – vocals, guitar, keyboards
• Gina Birch – vocals, bass guitar
• Palmolive – drums
• Vicky Aspinall – vocals, violin, guitar

With:

• Lora Logic – saxophone on "Black and White"

Technical credits:

• Adam Kidron – engineer
• Geoff Travis, Mayo Thompson, and The Raincoats – producers
• Pang Hsiao-Li – cover painting
• Shirley O'Loughlin – photography