Odyshape
| Odyshape | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by The Raincoats | ||||
| Released | 1981 | |||
| Recorded | March-June 1980 | |||
| Studio | Bob's Berry Street Studio, Clerkenwell, London | |||
| Genre | Post-punk, experimental | |||
| Length | 34:54 | |||
| Label | Rough Trade | |||
| Producer | Adam Kidron, The Raincoats | |||
| The Raincoats chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   link |
| Pitchfork | (8/10) link |
Odyshape, is the second album by the Raincoats, originally released in 1981 by Rough Trade. Stylistically, Odyshape was a radical departure from the band's first album, exploring different musical genres and featuring a diverse range of instruments, such as the shruti box, balophone, shehnai and kalimba.[1] It was also described as experimental.[2]
Odyshape was recorded after Palmolive, the band's original drummer, had left the group, and the Raincoats hired Richard Dudanski (P.I.L.), Charles Hayward (This Heat) and Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine) to fill in.
The album cover was based on the painting Peasant Woman by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich.[3]
The album was reissued in 1993 by Geffen Records.
Reception
Pitchfork reviewer Nick Neyland said, "This album has little in common with anything else around at the time, other than the feeling that you're hurtling relentlessly forward into a previously unmapped musical space...It's a very intimate recording, full of sounds they wisely never tried to recreate again, and vocal takes that are often inflected with a heart-crushing vulnerability".[4]
BBC.com writer Chris Power said, "More than the exotic instrumentation, though, it's the extraordinary structures of Odyshape's songs that distinguish it. They don't so much begin and end as ebb and flow in a way that, historically, seems to have bewildered at least as many listeners as it's beguiled".[1]
Track listing
All tracks composed by the Raincoats; except where indicated
- "Shouting Out Loud" (The Raincoats, Ingrid Weiss) - 4:54
- "Family Treet" (The Raincoats, Caroline Scott) - 4:12
- "Only Loved at Night" - 3:32
- "Dancing in My Head" - 5:26
- "Odyshape" (The Raincoats, Ingrid Weiss) - 3:37
- "And Then It's O.K." (The Raincoats, lyrics by Caroline Scott) - 3:05
- "Baby Song" - 4:54
- "Red Shoes" - 2:51
- "Go Away" - 2:23
Personnel
- The Raincoats
- Ana da Silva - vocals, guitar, scruti box, kalimba, bass, percussion, harmonica
- Gina Birch - vocals, bass, belafon
- Vicky Aspinall - vocals, guitar, bass, violin, piano
with:
- Georgie Born - cello on "Dancing in My Head"
- Dick O’Dell, Shirley O'Loughlin, Kadir Durvesh Shehnai, Ingrid Weiss - percussion
- Robert Wyatt - drums on "And Then It's O.K."
- Richard Dudanski - drums on "Dancing in My Head"
- Charles Hayward - drums on "Family Treet" and "Go Away"
- Ingrid Weiss - drums on "Shouting Out Loud" and "Odyshape"
Cover versions
"Only Loved at Night" was covered by Softboiled Eggies for the Rough Trade Shops - Counter Culture 08 compilation (2009).[5]
References
- 1 2 Power, Chris (2011). "Review: Post-punk outfit's ambitious second LP of 1981 should be considered a classic". BBC.
- ↑ Reynolds, Simon (1998). Energy Flash. Faber & Faber.
- ↑ http://www.wikiart.org/en/kazimir-malevich/peasant-woman
- ↑ Neyland, Nick (12 September 2011). "Review: The Raincoats, Odyshape".
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Various-Rough-Trade-Shops-Counter-Culture-08/release/1654406