Sony
2002
The Coral
About This Album
The Coral's jocular self-titled debut kicked up quite a flurry of excitement when it washed ashore in the summer of 2002. Many reviewers gave a hearty cry of "Avast Ye Maties" when they discovered the band was from the picturesque seaside village of Hoylake, a deep-water anchorage in the borough of Wirral. Not since the Beatles, or perhaps even Echo & the Bunnymen, has a young band from England's blustery western coast caused this much commotion. Other critics have focused on their ages; at 21, lead singer/guitarist James Skelly was the oldest when this album was recorded, but the rest of these landlubbers were considerably younger, averaging somewhere closer to 19. The fantastic voyage that is The Coral, however, is the real discovery. The album begins with a two-minute psych-rock sea shanty, "Spanish Main," which bursts forth with a frothy and joyous refrain that sounds inspired by Treasure Island or Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, perhaps. Along the way, the boys pick their way through somewhat-discarded flotsam and jetsam genres (mostly from the '60s), including 1964-era Merseybeat, horn-driven ska, fuzzed-out acid rock, and Brit-pop psychedelia.
Track List (try tracks 1,4 and 6)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.