The debut album from barmy scousers The Coral is as enthralling as it is odd. Nautical references abound.
James Skelly - guitar , vocals
Ian Skelly - drums
Nick Power - organ ,vocals
Bill Ryder-Jones - guitar, trumpet
Lee Southall - guitar, vocals
Paul Duffy - bass , sax
John Duffy - Percussion
It starts with the strangely catchy 'Spanish Main', a song with ghostly harmonies and guitar work, introducing the album in a wonderful way. 3/5
The next song, I Remember When, is a haunting ballad, with added Russian-flavoured 'hey, hey' cossack section in the middle which is simply pure fun put onto a cd. 5/5
Shadows Fall is next, a spooky reggae song heavily reminiscent of The Specials' Ghost Town, similar to Spanish Main with its simple but very atmospheric guitar work. Fairly good song. 3.5/5
And next, in my opinion the highlight of the entire album, the ska tinged anthem about a breakup, Dreaming Of You, with a catchy bassline and Beach Boys-esque backing vocals. This song seems perfect, the melody, the bass, the organs all working together. The great thing in this is a prime example of how a guitar solo SHOULD be done, not complicated, but fitting completely with the mood and sound of the song. Not a show of technical expertise, but a true addition to this great song, which also boasts of the catchiest chorus I've heard in years. 6/5
Then, of course, a strange one. Simon Diamond is a bizarre song about a man turning into a tree. A typically haunting melody adorns the backing of folky finger-picked guitars and reggae organ. 3.5/5
The loud guitar at the beginning of Goodbye seems to herald a more standard rock direction, but is mostly misleading. The song has an odd barbershop quartet feel in the choruses, then it erupts into a distorted guitar solo, played in a hard rock style, which gives off an impression of being original for some reason, though it is perfectly ordinary in most aspects. It could simply that it is out of context, for the song seems unlikely to have a solo until one actually appears. 3.5/5
Waiting For The Heartaches has a great bassline which keeps the song moving, a xylophone-like instrument seems to be playing it as well. The title explains the theme of the song, which explodes into a faster, distorted guitar section towards the end. 4/5
Skeleton Key is the strangest song on the album. A squealing guitar heads this song, an absolutely insane wig-out, raspy vocals lending an evil air to the song, until it breaks down hauntingly, then suddenly restarts with screams. The end is very strange, but enjoyable, some quite random music and voices. 4.5/5
Many of the individual parts to Wildfire are great: the 'wooo' backing vocals, the brass, but they add up to a song fairly weak by the album's standard. 2.5/5
Bad Man sounds simply exciting, a fairly sparse musical backdrop with quite interesting guitar gives James Skelly a chance to really utilise his voice, amazingly raspy for a 20 year old, to make the song sound debauched and primal, the middle section is quite pointless, a slow bit with some talking, but it leads to a great guitar solo which sounds very like something from Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss). 3.5/5
Calendars And Clocks is really quite odd....A song which starts off with deep quiet, choir-like vocals and some nice tribal-sounding drumming and then goes to a very odd part, with brass, some hoo-hahs and then warbling 'oo-oo' vocals. It changes after that again into a bare section, one vocal, an acoustic guitar, drums, some bass and occasionally another guitar and a strange instrument adding something. Changing back to the main part again, more instruments are added, creating a complex web of sounds, until they fade away. 3/5
The secret song in Calendars and Clocks comes after a long pause, starting with just guitar and bass, then some brass, drums, repeating the same thing for quite a while. This fades to leave some reggae with a very odd instrument adding the occasional twang, then an odd guitar comes in, flange added. It doesn't change much for while until it enters a faster section, reggae based, with random parts added all the time and a very tradtional reggae 'never give up the fight' vocal refrain. 4/5 (this song isn't on the tracklist because on a cd it is still technically the same song as Calendars And Clocks)
This is a very impressive album, original, entertaining and sometimes just plain daft. But always tuneful and haunting. The singing is great, James Skelly having both a good grating voice and a softer voice. The harmonies are ethereal, adding a great vibe to the songs when needed, and can also be more normal (Dreaming Of You) and still effective. The organ work is suberb, adding to the texture to make a fuller sound, and it always complements the music as a whole. In short, no instrument on the album is ever wasted, everything is used together very well to create the great sound this album has.
), why does the coral have no recognition on this site? 
