It Points To The West And Leaves Out The Rest (The Coral - Coral)

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	The Coral - Coral
Date:	26/11/03 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good solid debut album

Disadvantages: None really

To carry on my new theme of reasonably new bands I now move onto the Coral, who burst onto the scene in 2002 with the self-titled debut album, Coral. It was almost exactly a year ago The Coral released this album, choosing to release current album, Magic and Medicine, exactly a year after the debut. Coming straight out of Liverpool the Coral are the latest in a long line of bands coming out of Merseyside.

They have actually drawn on influences of past bands like the Beatles, The Lightning Seeds and even enlisted the help of Ian Broudie to produce both albums. The influences are plain to see throughout the album, as the Coral mix styles of music that really shouldn?t go together but somehow come out with an album that sounds really good. Described as one of the albums of 2002 the six piece should be proud of their debut achievement.

The album opens up with the musically superb ?Spanish Main?. Starting with a guitar bringing the song in the drums suddenly burst into life to join it, and after a short burst the tune changes and the intro continues to vary in tune but speeding up all the way. The almost a minute in the vocals join in over the top of a simple beat as the guitars take a back seat for a short time. This suddenly changes again and the guitars speed up in the background as the two lines of the song are repeated over and over again, before the whole song comes to a sudden stop.

Next up is ?I Remember When?, a much slower track than the opener. It opens again with the guitar being joined by the drums and the keyboard before the vocals come in quite quickly. Now where lyrically the last track was quite weak, this one is a lot better with the verse sounding superb. Just as the song gets to the chorus the pace is picked up and a faster beat and guitar, mean the vocals also pick up to catch up. Then after the chorus it?s back to a slower speed for the verse. Continuing like this for verse and Chorus.

?Because I?m better than him
,
And I know Where I?ve Been?

The track has a nice easy going beat to it even in the places where it has sped up a bit. Then towards the end it suddenly turns into almost a Greek Zorba dance for a minute before the Guitars, drums and keyboards bring it back into the original song. Following on from that is ?Shadows Fall? another slower start to a track, which actually stays this way for a short time. Opening with the now familiar guitar, this time sampled a little and left on its own for a short time before the drums kick in.

The vocals are quite weary and drift along nicely with the calm, relaxing pace of the track. Picking up a little the returning to the instruments a little louder than during the verse. Then dropping the volume a bit it?s back to the vocals. The next track, ?Dreaming Of You? is probably one of the best recognized from this album and admittedly it is my favourite as well. It opens with a pounding bass line, quickly joined by the guitars and drums, before the vocals come in quite quickly. The song is pretty fast paced and is definitely one of the highlights on the album.

?Up In My Lonely room,
When I?m dreaming of you?

Next up we come to one of the first Coral tracks I heard, ?Simon Diamond?. It?s a very slow track starting off with just the guitar before the vocals come in with an echo effect and then the bass joining in. After a short while the drums and keyboard also come in and the song picks up the pace a little. Like a lot of Beatles tracks, The Coral really do have some bizarre lyrics in their songs. All the tracks are reasonably short, but the complexity of the music and lyrics really make for enjoyable tracks.

On we go again and the next track is ?Goodbye?, a more upbeat number than Simon Diamond, the mixture of pace on the album is a very welcome one. Again the opening is with the guitar before the drums and bass come in. Then shortly after they are followed by the vocals. The verse
slows it down a little from the intro but not too much and then everything comes alive for the chorus to really get the song going again. The vocals on all the tracks are superb, and the lyrics, although a bit psychedelic really do relax you a lot.

A slower start to the next track with the drums and Bass giving us the opening line to ?Waiting For The Heartaches?. A nice easy going intro with the vocals coming in slowly bringing the song to live as the guitars join in before really lifting off for the chorus with a solid drumbeat and then back to the slower more relaxed feel for the verse again. Towards the end it starts to quieten down leading you to believe you are at the end but then the vocals come back in and it carries on to become the loudest part of the song.

The next track starts almost instantly out of Waiting For and is a track described by a lot of Coral fans as their favourite, ?Skeleton Key?. This is a pretty short song but gets straight to the point from the start. Opening with a guitar and keyboard, with the drums and Bass coming in quickly before the vocals come in quite shortly afterwards. The vocals are a bit strange in places with odd samples added into the track and the lyrics kind of repeat themselves, but it?s a very easy song to sing along to. The drums really carry the track, with the samples taking away a little from the overall quality of the track, and the little musical bit at the end is quite funny, but you need to hear that yourself.

?Solid boned Skeleton Key,
Opens the most intricate locks?

With only 3 tracks remaining we come to ?Wildfire?. I actually feel this is a better song than Skeleton Key, opening with a sample on the keyboard. It is quickly joined by the bass and then the vocals, bringing the song properly to life. Then the guitars come in for a short burst before it goes back to just the bass and keyboard for the verse. The vocals again are quite solid and lyrically the song fits tog
ether well. A very nice melody kept in the middle of the song and the drums keep time very well, but it has to be the Bass that really makes this song.

Onto the next song we come to ?Badman?. Starting with a drumbeat before the guitars come in to accompany the drums for the intro. The vocals come in strong, quite quickly for the verse before slowing slightly for the chorus. If there was one thing about The Coral that really stood out it would have to be the actual music for each track. The vocals are very important but the actual talent on this album at least lies in the musical abilities of each member. This song combines everything from the fast paced intro and ending to a slow, relaxing middle section.

The last track again is one of the best on the album, ?Calenders And Clocks?, is another chilled out relaxing song. It opens up with a slightly different guitar intro before the drums come in the background and sound like it could be bongos. I mean how many albums do you get nowadays with Bongos on them. The vocals reach high notes throughout the track, which is quite impressive. The song is really held together by the drums and the bass. A short section in the middle changes the speed and pace of the song briefly before it returns to the way it started.

Right so that is the debut album from The Coral, there is a bonus track at the end of track 11 about 2 minutes after it finishes but I won?t ruin that for you. This album is available from www.CD-wow.com for £8.99 as is the second album from the band. Hopefully you will like the band, ideal music to put on and chill out.

www.thecoral.co.uk

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