The Raincoats: Odyshape (clear vinyl) [WE THREE]

Why you'll love it

This clear vinyl edition on 180g comes from the band's own label, limited to 500 copies, with a download code. Robert Wyatt and Charles Hayward sit in on drums, and Kurt Cobain's praise for the album prompted its 1993 reissue.

This edition

• Clear vinyl
• 180g vinyl
• Limited to 500 copies
• Download card included

About the album

Losing your drummer halfway through making a record usually spells trouble. For The Raincoats it opened the door. With Palmolive gone and her replacement Ingrid Weiss leaving early in the sessions, Ana da Silva, Gina Birch and Vicky Aspinall rebuilt their sound around whatever they could find, and asked friends to help with the rhythm. They also picked up instruments on their 1980 tour of New York.

The guest list is something: Charles Hayward of This Heat drums on "Family Treet" and "Go Away," Robert Wyatt plays on "And Then It's OK," and Richard Dudanski adds percussion to "Dancing In My Head." The band swap instruments throughout, adding shruti box, balafon, kalimba, violin and cello, and the songs ebb and flow rather than start and stop. "Shouting Out Loud" and "Only Loved At Night" are among the most intimate things in post-punk.

Critics have called it post-punk with the rock taken out, and the cover is based on Malevich's Peasant Woman. Many of the instruments came from junk shops and markets, which remains the best argument for browsing we know.

Also at Kops: more The Raincoats on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On We Three (cat# WE 3), a reissue of the 1981 album.