The Raincoats: The Raincoats (180g, silver vinyl) [WE THREE]

Why you'll love it

This edition presses the debut on 180g silver vinyl. Produced by Mayo Thompson of the Red Krayola and Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis, it is one of the most influential records of the post-punk years, and Johnny Rotten was an early admirer.

This edition

• Silver vinyl
• 180g vinyl
• Download card included

About the album

Ana da Silva and Gina Birch were art students at Hornsey College of Art when they saw The Slits play in 1977 and decided, more or less on the spot, that they could do this too. By late 1978 The Raincoats had become an all-female band, with ex-Slits drummer Palmolive and classically trained violinist Vicky Aspinall, and Rough Trade signed them up.

Geoff Travis and Mayo Thompson suggested Aspinall play her violin the way the Velvet Underground used theirs, and that scraping, swooping sound runs right through the record. "No Side to Fall In" and "Adventures Close to Home" are jittery and joyful, "Off Duty Trip" and "Black and White" lurch and chant, and their cover of The Kinks' "Lola" pulls the song apart with real affection. "The Void," "Life on the Line" and "In Love" carry the second side, all angular rhythms and voices that refuse to sit politely in the mix.

Kurt Cobain later counted it among his favourite records and wrote liner notes for a 1990s reissue, which sent a whole new generation looking for it. It remains a record that sounds like nobody else, which, given how many bands have tried, is quite an achievement.

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

Tracklist

Listen

On We Three (cat# WE 1), a reissue of the 1979 album.