Moving

Moving

Punk was long over in 1983 England when The Raincoats released their third and final studio album, Moving. Softening the art-school inclinations of Odyshape, the four young women used the rough-edged folk of their first album and a confident vision of forward-thinking pop in crafting the songs on Moving. “Ooh Ooh La La La” was the original opening track, and its careful layering of Middle Eastern and reggae-influenced flavors and nuanced vocals produced a sound that's delightfully cool and sophisticated, yet still skewed to off-kilter musical tastes. “Dance of Hopping Mad” works in the same ethnicity-melding mode, with guitars tweaked to sound like Chinese instruments and funk bass lines weaving in and out of sustained violin notes quivering like hummingbird wings. With vibraphones, piano, and saxophone on board, The Raincoats cemented their place in the timeline of critical developments in the post-punk era; Moving closed out their first chapter. Future re-releases deleted several original tracks and added others, such as the opener here, “No One’s Little Girl," and a cover of Sly Stone’s “Running Away,” both of which make this version truly indispensable.

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