Woah. I was dying for this book when I saw in on NetGalley and I cannot express how excited I am that I was able to read this.

It may have taken me a while to pick it up, but once I did I was sucked back into the punk scene. I had the privilege of watching Punk move from the 80s to the emo bands in the 2000s. It was fantastic and this book was perfect.

My thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advance copy of this new look at a revolutionary band that has spawned not only imitators, but were inspirations for many who entered music, as well as a comfort, a source of pride, and a reason to keep living and keeping causing good trouble for legions of fans.

Punk was never a music form I was into. The music was sloppy, the bands ugly, the people who liked it weird, and frankly I am not a fan of short songs. Working at a music store when I was older my mind was changed for many reasons. I grew up. Punk was political, punk was about living life, and living life the way you wanted to. Growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut, what did I understand about life. To me it was good. Not great, but good. As I got older, read more, and meet different people, I found that wasn't true for a lot of my fellow humans. In punk there was well not trust, but people who were angry with no way to channel it, mad, but unfocused. The music gave them community. Hope even. Especially for women. I knew a lot of female punk lovers, two of them, maybe three in bands. Were they good, not really. Did they have fun, yes really a lot. My co-worker Katrina was a punk rocker, From her I first read England Dreaming by Jon Savage, and first heard both The Slits and The Raincoats, and how cool they both were. And in the Raincoats continue to be. Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats by Audrey Golden is a history, an examination, and tour of the archives of this band, focusing not only on the members, the music and the scene, but on their impact, and all those the Raincoats influenced.

The book begins with the author discussing the ideas behind doing band biographies, and the problems that come from doing oral histories. People have a habit of misremembering. Not out of malice, sometimes, not out of stealing praise, sometimes, but just because people forget. Golden than discusses the fact that their is an archive for the band, kept in a few rooms, one that turned out to be a treasure trove of information, shows, pictures, tapes, and more. Both an archivist's dream and nightmare. What follows is a history of the band starting with the key members. Ana da Silva was born in Madeira, an Portuguese Island. Gina Birch, was born in Nottingham England. Fate brought them together in that both attended the Hornsey College of Art in London, at a time, the mid 70's that England was coming apart. Unemployment was rampant, people were squatting in houses, which was a pressure cooker for change, and for music. Watching The Slits, a female punk band, made both want to form a band, even if instruments were a new things. Members, especially drummers came and left for a variety of reasons. Albums were made, mistakes also. By 1984 the band had broken up, and that would have been that, except that an up-and-coming musician wanted to meet the band, shared his love for them. Kurt Cobain's interest soon made the Raincoats interesting again, sparking a reunion of sorts that continues today.

A really well-written and well-researched book, with lots of photos, and lots information that doesn't only count on fading memories, but real items from the archives that Ana da Silva kept. Golden is really good at setting the scene, why punk, why reunite, why continue, without falling back on clichés. Women in music also seem to get short shrifted by biographers, even the one that profess to enjoy the band. This book does not. Golden writes honestly, not a hagiography, looking at mistakes, attitudes and reasons why problems came about, and what could have been done differently. Golden also looks at the music, and the albums, explaining parts about songs, and why certain songs sound like they do, and how labels interfered, in many ways.

A great book for music historians. Also an instructional book for woman who want to enter the music business. Not much has changed, sadly. A fun reading experience, with a great soundtrack.