Its got average written all over it
Written: Apr 09 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Some good tracks. Skelly's vocals
Cons: Bad tracks and plenty of filler tracks. Amateurishness
The Bottom Line: A solid if uninspiring debut album followed by more much better albums from the band.
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| jf-gb's Full Review: The Coral by The Coral |
This is the self-titled debut album from the British Band The Coral. Now they might not be doing very well over in the USA but they are now pretty famous back in blighty. Their fame in Britain was mainly due to there follow up to this album Magic & Medicine and then the limited edition, chart topping album Nightfreak and the sons of Becker. Anyway this is where it all started spawning one big radio hit and providing the coral with a starting block to move on to better things.
The album itself is a standard debut album. It has a few really good tracks that show promise, plenty of filler material and the odd amateurish track. The album consists of eleven tracks and a hidden track which took me ages to realise it was there (I discovered it by accident by leaving the Cd running). The coral have a strange sound to talk about being of equal parts alternative and pop(ish) and have a habit of churning out very strange songs that you would find hard to attach a genre to, but for the most part they are a strange sounding alternative band.
The Tracks are:
We start off with Spanish Main which is a glorified sea shanty. The song starts with synthesized noise and typical for the band, a jangling guitar. The song consists of 11 words repeated over and over in a chanting type way "we'll set sail again/were heading for the Spanish main” its a short track lasting under two minutes and its quite a nice start to the album.
The next track is my personal favourite I remember when The verses are quiet with front man James Skelly not putting much effort in and then we get a really nice eruption of the chorus where Skelly puts on an impressive snarl and really sounds emotional. The music is fairly minimalistic apart from during the chorus when bass and guitars work together nicely. Some really strange lyrics, some that work and some that are just plain odd "The Farmers dog wags his crippled tail". Yes. Right..... Anyway the song also turns into abit of a strange Russian or Greek dance for a short while.
Shadows Fall is one of the odd filler songs. It again makes use of chanting in the verses with more vague lyrics "lamp lights a blaze, paves my way/'Till Jesus saves my early grave". The song has a really spaced out guitar solo part, which is actually quite cool.
The big Radio Hit of the album was Dreaming of you and I have to admit it is a cracker. Thumping bass, trumpet and the usual jangling guitars start the song and makes one of the catchiest songs ive ever heard. Skelly sounds fantastic in this song especially in the chorus where he uses the snarl once more. The guitar solo is great and is paired with a xylophone of all instruments to sound bloody great. The lyrics this time are a lot more free flowing and make more sense. A fine Song
Simon Diamond is a musical atrocity and should never ever have happened. Its a slow acoustic track about the title character and features some of the most oddball lyrics ever committed to song - "He couldn’t take the public scorn/Changed from Human to plant form/Now he’s swapped his legs for roots/His arms and soil are in Cahoots". Avoid this song at all costs.
Goodbye is another good song with really nice guitar that is again possible to get stuck in your head quite easily. The chorus is also nice in this song and once again it’s more straightforward lyrically. It features the usual strange patched where the music changes that almost all songs by the band seem to have. Good but not great.
Waiting for the heartaches is on the other hand a great song. Starts with more thumping bass and jangling guitars and the background synthesized and sampled noises. Skelly starts off singing slowly but speeds up throughout the song. The chorus is possibly the best on the album with an effortlessly cool guitar in the background which then comes to the forefront in a rousing guitar solo that is the best on the album.
Following on is the favourite of most fans off this album Skeleton Key which is a very fast and strange number but also very infectious. The guitar is great but keeps itself mostly in the background. Skelly sings with the rest of his band again and it does sound fairly good. As usual plenty of sampled noises and the usual changed of pace for a short while occurs including something that sounds like a disco. Strange but good.
Wildfire is again good and makes use of the xylophone and trumpet once more as well as more cool background guitar. Has a fairly unusual trumpet solo part and again Skelly's voice sounds really good. Although its good its a fairly generic song and one that could be called filler.
Badman is fast paced and about a bad man obviously. This song does however cross the line into irritating instead of fun for me and so one of the worst on here. The music once more consists of background guitar and sampled noises and the change of pace and music on the song (which is getting a bit repetitive now).
The closer is Calendars and clocks which is again strange. It’s acoustic and has drums that may be bongos but I can’t tell. It’s very slow and repetitive and does get boring until the usual change in the music that happens in all these songs where a synthesizer speeds it up. The lyrics are strange but also interesting "There's Nothin' more / than the church bell that rings no more". Strange.
The hidden track is possibly the best on the album but ill let you find out about it.
This album is really only worth buying if your a fan of The Coral's other two releases. It’s definitely not as good as the next two and is a fairly weird overall album. It also suffers from the same thing that affects most debut albums in the over use of filler and the general amateurishness of it. An average album.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Driving
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Epinions.com ID:
jf-gb
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Member: Tom Haskell
Location: London
Reviews written: 53
Trusted by: 21 members
About Me:
This week: if i dont move you cant see me
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