The Raincoats and completism

The album I've listened to the most over the last 12 months is almost certainly the first, self-titled, Raincoats album. I first bought it as a teenager and massive Nirvana fan after reading it was one of Kurt Cobain's favourite albums, but at the time I didn't get it, it's structure and rhythms were just too far from the indie, punk and grunge that formed the bulk of my musical taste at the time.

Some years later I returned to the album, my musical tastes had changed and I started to appreciate it far more. The fragile vocals, the interplay of instruments, the sense of tearing up rock's 4/4 verse/chorus/verse structures are building something new. Over time it grew to be one of my all time favourite albums.

The strange thing is, I've never felt the need to rush out and buy the other Raincoats albums. As a teenager if I found a new band I loved, I had to rush out and everything they'd ever released. At the heart of it was a sense that I was missing out on something, that was wonderful music out there that I'd not yet heard. I think this is the same thing which drove my endless need to seek out new bands and new types of music.

Now I'm a bit more relaxed about the whole thing. I know that if there's great music out there I haven't discovered yet it's not going anywhere, and I have plenty of life left to find it. There may be far too much for me ever hear it all, but even the music I own now is enough to keep me happy for a lifetime.

The other thing I came to realise is that even if I love an artist it doesn't mean that every part of their back catalogued is packed full of moments of genius. This is especially true of Neil Youngs like me. No one releases 35 studio albums without their being a few stinkers amongst them, so why not be a selective fan rather than a completist? I got very excited when Neil Young released the first 8cd box set of his archives, but then I thought do I really need 8 hours of outtakes and unreleased songs? There might be the odd gem, but the chances of them comparing to his best albums are slim to say the least.

So, while I may get those other Raincoats albums one day, and maybe I'll love them as much as the first one, for now I'm happy with what I've got.