Raincoats, The: The Raincoats (Vinyl LP)

The Raincoats, seminal post-punk band, ‘godmothers of grunge’ and inspiration to a generation of riot grrrls, are celebrating over three decades of breaking rules and doing things the way they think they should be done with a film that maps the band from its formation in the late 1970s when Gina Birch met Ana da Silva, and their journey to becoming one of the most important underground bands Britain has ever produced.

Ana and Gina, along with their manager Shirley O’Loughlin and the various musicians who flowed in and out of the band’s many formations, created a sound that, while inspired by punk and rock music that had come before, was uniquely and uncompromisingly powerful and female, and which has held a fascination over all those lucky enough to have stumbled across it.

The famous story is of course that of Kurt Cobain travelling to the Rough Trade shop in Talbot Road in 1992 in an attempt to replace his worn out copy of The Raincoats LP, a trip that in the end led to reissues of the band’s back catalogue and the offer of a tour with Nirvana that sadly never took place.

The Raincoats have always impressed; in 1980 John Lydon announced in Trouser Press, “Rock’n’Roll is shit… music has reached an all-time low – except for The Raincoats.”

1. Fairytale In The Supermarket
2. No Side To Fall In
3. Adventures Close To Home
4. Off Duty Trip
5. Black And White
6. Lola
7. The Void
8. Life On The Line
9. You're A Million
10. In Love
11. No Looking