Comments for Raincoats, The, The Raincoats

THE RAINCOATS: From 1979 to 1984, the Raincoats used the freedom of punk-rock for their own innovations: seemingly jerry-built songs full of folky quirks, domestic details and feminist nerve. Two members, Ana da Silva and Gina Birch, revived the Raincoats in 1994; with Anne Wood on violin and Heather Dunn on drums, they have recorded "Looking in the Shadows" , a new album of songs about love, beauty, motherhood, star worship and death. Ms. Birch writes three-chord rockers akin to T. Rex, with oddball lyrics to match her scratchy voice; the irresistible chorus of "57 Ways to End It All" is "Dying again." Ms. da Silva's songs are drones that seethe and sometimes erupt behind free-form lyrics: "Alarm clocks. The night. The light. It's dawn. Something's gone." The Raincoats no longer sound like amateurs, but they haven't joined any mainstream. from apr 30 1996 NY Times

This is one of the most special albums I know, superseded only by their next album, "Odyshape". On their third and last album, though, songs sounded more like mainstream pop, and the magic got lost. However, these debut album songs retain their energy and special line of thought, and I enjoy it every time I listen to it. Note the words to "Not Looking" (slightly altered by the band). Gabi Shahar.

Reissue of their 1979 debut album. The Raincoats werea all-woman band, featuring Palmolive (originally of theSlits) on drums. Musically, they`re in the same bucketas X-Ray Spex, early Talking Heads, or maybe the Clashwithout the politics.Kurt Cobain of Nirvana is responsible for convincing DGCto reissue the Raincoats` three albums.