The Coral

Oh, yay, another random 2000s British indie rock album. For some reason, this is a weird mix of 1960s psychedelic rock and sea shanties-two things that did not need to be mixed. The album is easily one of the worst things I've heard in recent memory, with incredibly annoying songs full of terrible lyrics and grating dynamics. There are very few redeemable songs on this album, and most of it is just straight up awful. Why is this on the list?

This album is ranked #11 of 16 albums for 2002 globally. Other 2002 albums rated by me:
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots(2/16)-5
Sea Change(6/16)-2
Highly Evolved(11/16)-2
A Little Deeper(15/16)-2
Justified(16/16)-2

This album just kinda comes and goes. I listened to it three times because it’s short enough. Nothing here really sticks with me which is strange because I like this kind of music. I like the doo-woo inspired melodies on Dreaming Of You. Some of this just felt repetitive.

This did nothing for me. If I want carnival vibes I go for Tom Waits, this is nowhere near.

Was going to give it a 3 but I can't say I got average enjoyment out of it.

Leave it in the ocean.

Definitely and eclectic album. I kept feeling like it was a more analogue Thievery Corporation. Didn't quite light me up the same way but it was a decent departure from the mundane.

There's some interesting stuff here in the back half but the singer and the lyrics really impart a cornball aquabats kind of vibe that I grew to resent even when the songs decided to develop a backbone near the end

Indescribably terrible. I don't have the words.

I don't think I recognize this artist or any of these tracks by title. So I'm going into this blind.

There are some albums on this list where I wonder "How have I never heard about this before? This is great!" This is _not_ one of those albums. Thoroughly meh, and that explains why I'm completely unaware of this artist and the tracks on this album. At least this album is kind of short.

Oooh indie music, the 00s avenue for men to be mediocre. We've not had much of it so far on this list so far. There was one song I recognised on here from being a youth, but I couldn't give you a name of a song or a tune from the rest of it x

It was fine, nothing to write home about.

This one was a lot of fun. A lot of psych bands reach into thr same bag of reverb-y tricks, but The Coral have a pretty unique identity. They opt instead to dip into an incredibly colorful mix of psych-folk, pop rock, and perhaps most importantly, a variety of world music, including Eastern European, Latin, and Jamaican music, plus more. The result is not *especially* psychedelic, but it is enjoyable, colorful and unique. Holding this together is a theatrical presentation and kind of vaguely nautical aesthetic. To be honest, this *could* have been ridiculous, but The Coral sell it, in particular because of their energetic songwriting, and in part because they manage to deliver this album with a straight face. The Coral *are* quirky, but they're not a joke. Spanish Main, Skeleton Key, Wildfire, I Remember When, and Calenders and Clocks are some thst stick out to me as being particularly fun and eccentric. Also, it's not on Streaming (that I know of), but Time Travel is one of the best songs on the album. It was originally a secret track, and has a really unique sound, and equally unique lyrics. While this maybe isn't the psych album I was looking for, it is something else that I like just as much. The Coral is creative and weird, and honestly *probably* a little underrated in contemporary music listening circles.

Solid upbeat scally rock with ‘Dreaming of you’ the obvious standout

Yesterday I watched an old episode of Scrubs with a Coral song in it, and I thought to myself, I really should listen to some more of their songs: the generator is getting too powerful.

I love his gravely voice. The rest is good but not earth shattering. I would happily listen to it as background music without turning it off, and I may even choose to put it on sometimes, but it's not something I will continually return to. I think The Zutons fill essentially the same niche but do it better.

Still, not bad:

3/5

Lots of pop music. Nothing special for me.

I own this album and still have a soft spot for the Coral’s psychedelic sea shanty indie but I’m also kind of surprised it made the list.

I was not familiar with this, but I thought it was pretty good. Fun, melodic, colorful, soulful, a little trippy. Some bad reviews at the top, do these guys root for the wrong football team or something?

I’d never heard of The Coral before, and I don’t think that was a bad thing. Their self-titled album isn’t terrible, but on the other hand, I can’t really see why it should be on this list. You could think of it as Mando Diao playing songs that, for good reason, hadn’t gotten much attention up until then.
For me, that’s a 5/5 for the sound and a 1/5 for the songwriting. That makes it one of those 3-star albums that actually shouldn’t be on the list.

Pretty odd at times but I could feel it growing on me as I did quite like a few songs

Did think Dreaming of you was actually going to be love cats and I’d just somehow horribly misread the track listing

3.5

who up coraling their coral