The Raincoats - s/t poll

Bringing back the block polls from a short sabbatical. This round is Post-punk with no albums poll. Just going to run thru six albums, all from around the same time. Some of these: I can't believe ILM hasn't polled this yet.

WTF,I just went to vote for "Fairytale in the Supermarket" but it isn't there? I even started this poll but this is actually the official track listing for original album:

"Fairytale in the Supermarket" was the Raincoats' first single, and has been included as the opening track on all reissues of the album since 1993."

"No Looking" (with or without "Fairytale...").

I think "In Love" was the first Raincoats song I heard, at least 10 years on from release. Not sure that doesn't remain the correct answer in this house.

the vooooooiiiiiiiiid

excellent idea for a poll, i've been listening to this quite a lot recently!

almost certainly gonna vote for 'in love', their finest moment for me, it was the first song of theirs i ever heard too, on the 'wanna buy a bridge' comp

From memory it would be No Looking but I would need to relisten, love the Raincoats

Perfect album. Voted "The Voooiiiiiiddd"

Going to have to listen to it again to refresh my memory ... which will be a pleasure!

what a great album, another vote for "No Looking" here

and yeah the only reissue that wasn't messed with was Odyshape iirc, Moving in particular omits two essential songs on all reissued versions.

"Off Duty Trip", but I'm afraid that, in general, I find this rather stilted and academic in comparison with what the Slits and LiLiPUT were doing at the time. The single version of "Adventures Close to Home" beats what's on here.
I haven't heard the next two records in part because they had been edited.

went for The Void but could easily have gone for No Looking. I don't think I've ever heard the missing songs from Moving. will fix that asap

I almost redone this poll because I do feel "Fairytale in the Supermarket" deserves to be a choice. Decided against it in the end, and left it more pure.

My 14yo just was listening to the Raincoats cover of Lola. Must have made the rounds on Tiktok recently or something? Solid choice regardless.

xp as you should, that single was hard to find back in the day whereas the LP was more common

Voting "You're a Million". Could almost be any track though.

Another plug for Gina Birch's 2025 Trouble. Her Bandcamp has that and some earlier:
https://ginabirch.bandcamp.com/album/trouble

I like this album but don't love it. There's something about the sound that makes it hard for me to sink into it. Odyshape is my jam.

Lola is the one here that I've listened to the most, but that feels like cheating, so I'm going with Fairytale In The Supermarket.

Yeah I need to re-listen to this - I revisit albums two and three a lot but never go back to this.

Can I say I love an album if I haven't listened to it in 30 years? My love and $4 will get you a cup of coffee.
I voted "Life on the Line"

I voted for "In Love" but this is a wonderful album, though I too slightly prefer Odyshape

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcxOc9D4dr0

...ok so, there not very good and they know that, right?

Yeah its, its they got all this, this feeling and they don't have any skill and they don't want any skill because it's really interesting. What happens when your passion is bigger then the tools you have to deal with it. It creates this energy that's, that's raw.

Isn't it great?

How available would the Raincoats debut have been at the time of 20th Century Women?

I voted for 'In Love' because the vocals are so good, and I really appreciate the dub Velvets feel.

They're playing a 45, which would have had to have been a UK import.

yeah as posted above that song wasn't on the LP until 90s reissues so it would've had to have been the single

interesting that sleeve said the LP was more common to find than the single back then, maybe it depends on the country but I've never seen an original copy of the LP but I found the 7" pretty easily and didn't pay very much for it either

My 16 year old knows who the raincoats are because her dad is a cool music nerd, but I'm surprised by how many of her friends know them. Algorithms?

All the teens are racing to listen to anything associated with their idol, Mayo Thompson

All these stories of young people having "teen takeovers" are just their attempts at a "Free Form Freakout"

All part of the parable of arable land and circle of life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ5tRI-YX7A

“Black and White” was the first ever Raincoats song I put on a mixtape, so that.

xp the bass playing is enthusiastic, if nothing else

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Who is playing second guitar on the first song? Also who is the drummer?

I'm new here, so I don't know if I get a vote, but if I do it's got to be: 'The VOID'

x-post-

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

On the video I meant, not on the album.

Should have xped my post.

I have enjoyed myself getting to know this album over the last couple of weeks. Voting for "No Looking" just over "No Side to Fall In."

voting no side over in love and off duty, but the whole album really works as a whole the way each song is so different yet blends into an alice in wonderland childhood regression. bought it after reading a spin or ap article about cobain’s favorite albums. helped me appreciate all kinds of things like the shaggs and the homosexuals (unintentional and intentional primitivism). probably would have voted fairytale, had that been an option.

out of curiosity listened to a few versions of the earlier chanson set to the prevert poem “dejeuner du matin” used for no looking- the dietrich version is not my cup of tea and i often like her recordings. catherine sauvage’s take is better but i think the raincoats’ typically bizarre take is so great.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Xpost to Tom D re 1978 YouTube video of Raincoats in Warsaw , someone wrote in comments that is Jeremie Frank on 2d guitar and Nicky Turner on drums. Wiki does note those 2 as briefly in the group before it became all female.

More on Jeremie Frank, who didn't quite have the look to fit in the band! Looks like Richard Dudanski on drums too.

https://indiethroughthelookingglass.com/2018/05/07/the-raincoats-previously-unseen-photographs-from-1978/

A reminder that Jenn Pelly wrote a wonderful 33 1/3 about this album.

That Raincoats 33/3 book (by Jenn Pelly) is indeed an exceptional entry in the series --- lots of concrete information, much of it new due to the author's interviews (as I recall) --- a number of the 33 1/3 on first albums bands straddling the punk/post-punk period are highly recommendable (Wilson Neate on Wire's 'Pink Flag' and the YMG 'Colossal Youth' entry by Michael Blair and Joe Bucciero.)