Search - The Coral :: The Coral

Whoa....trippy man...

Matt London | Indianapolis, IN | 02/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I had never heard of The Coral but their song Dreaming of You is featured in an episode of Scrubs. It is a damn fine pop song and I had to check out the rest of the album. So...no other song on the disc sounds remotely like it. This disc seems like something put together by late 60's and early 70's acid/psychedelic bands. I hear influences by early Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Santana, Donovan, maybe some Moody Blues and Jefferson Airplane. No one song has the same exact sound influence but it is all so groovy and funky. You would never guess by listnening that it was a modern artist or recording.



So that is a description, but does it rock? Hell yeah. I first listened to it in my car but if you have a pair of headphones, jam it on your MP3.



I am just old enough to recognize the roots of this stuff but not quite old enough to have been in my musical prime while those roots were in the forefront. I like bands like Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and the like and as another reviewer said, this is not that sound at all. I do see some minor connection to the White Stripes, but mostly due to a persistent heavy bass line throughout this album.



So to summarize:This is real retro rock. The era is 60's/70's psych rock as opposed to 80's punk & garage, but truly cool music. I am going to definitely try another disc from The Coral after completely digesting this one. And "Dreaming of You" is probably one of the better pop songs I have heard recently."

Brave Old World

Tezcatlipoca | Espinho,Portugal | 08/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Imagine Arthur Lee and Jim Morrison sailing across the world in Captain Beefheart's ship, wreaking havoc and looting the musical riches they encounter in order to concoct the best, most bizarrely tuneful music on earth and you might be close to what the Coral's brand of psych pop sounds like.



They composed this unnaturally assured debut while no one in the band was even 20 and that surely lends their music a youthful effervescence rivalled by nobody in these days of studied posturing and mechanical songwriting- they put across the tremendous fun they must have had making this album.



I was initially drawn to this band because it was the very first time I saw anyone being actively influenced by my favourite band- Love, but I've become a Coral fan basically due to their blending formula in which the only rule seems to be that, as long as there's quality in it, every genre can be absorbed and consequently transformed in heady and highly entertaining pop music.



In addition to their adventurous nature they write truly memorable songs, of which the supremely catchy "Dreaming of You", "I Remember When" and "Goodbye" are sterling examples, without totally abandoning a more gnarly and obscure side ("Skeleton Key", the bonus track "Time Travel").



Who would have thought that the best album of the 21st century would mostly reach for inspiration from almost 40 years in the past?

The Coral's debut does just that and settles the band not as promising hopefuls but as more than qualified contenders for the title of most vital band in the world.



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