The Coral

Very 1960s and very Liverpool.
Bearing in mind I don’t care too much for either then this is pretty listenable. Obvious influences mentioned by other reviewers so I won’t bother.
Nothing on it I didn’t like.

This started slow but as the music got progressively more unusual I enjoyed it more. There's a lot going on musically even if most of it is really simple.

3.0/5.0: Good

nothing groundbreaking but an interesting listen. to me they sound like an indie version of the doors.

This Britpop sounds way too much like Ameri-rock. I guess it's OK. Maybe a few more listens would improve it, so I'll give it a 3. The middle third of the album is definitely the strongest third.

Highlight: 'Dreaming of You'

Another one I own but had forgotten about .. it was fine.

This what happens when someone good at Karaoke is off-handedly told they could start a band but takes it way too seriously and only bloody goes and does it, but just stole a bunch of songs from those compilations put out by record labels that scour the third world for obscure Peruvian cumbia synthpop, Zambian circus psych, or Balkan disco jazz vinyl to re-release.

Wildly derivative of various (great) sounds of yesteryear, but full of joy and musical talent. A very solid three stars

Never heard this before but enjoyed it a lot. Will listen to this one again. Not sure if this is the "return of rock" the critics thought it was, but it was good.

This is actually not too shabby. I was half expecting some run of the mill "lads causing havoc in Tesco, great banter innit" album, but this is much more psychedelic and nuanced than that. There is some genuinely decent 70s throwback style riffage here, combined with the off-kilter energy of British indie and almost sea-shanty like glockenspiel.

The problem for me is that it doesn't breach the threshold between "decent" and "great" often enough to be an experience that I'd actively seek out again. It's consistently very listenable, interesting at points even, but it doesn't really get me off my seat.

These are the moments when I really love this project. I've never heard of this band before. Their music is exactly my taste. I'll definitely listen to it again. 5/5

Sneaky good hooks jangley guitar interplay and powerful voice sums it up nicely.

Oooh, another album I'd never heard of before that really works well for my brain. Excellent. This sort of thing is why I signed up for this project in the first place.

This gives off internet-age vibes, sort of like the kind of music someone mostly on Tumblr would listen to back in 2013, which is impressive considering this came out a decade prior, however that circus music-esque design just sounds goofy, especially when paired with a garage rock-lite sound. It has its moments of solid melodies where everything comes together, but then the singer will decide to make his voice sound like gravel, or they'll repeat the same lyric over and over, and it'll get tiring quickly. It isn't a bad album, it blows by pretty quickly, but there's nothing special here, or if there is, its buried under layers of mid.

I feel bad because The Choral are putting a lot into this album to add flavour, to titillate, to entertain, but because I’m not wowed by the core ingredients it ultimately adds up to a boring listening experience for me. There are gorgeous guitar licks here and there, but there’s tepid guitar chords too, paired with plodding bass lines. No amount of unexpected sea shanty harmonies can solve that for me.

There’s then Dreaming of You, gleaming from the middle of a beige tracklist, so obvious in its brilliance. It’s a finely crafted piece of pop which has earned every second of its airtime.

YABA
(Yet Another British Album)
Ska-ish, kinda fun, but nothing outstanding enough to be on here. Liked it more than expected. 4*
Highlights: dreaming of you

Enjoyed this very much, the obvious highlight being Dreaming of You.

It's listenable enough. But it's also incredibly forgettable. I can't imagine a scenario when I would listen to this album a second time

Like ska mixed with indie rock and polka music.

Favorite songs: I Remember When, Waiting for the Heartaches, Spanish Main, Skeleton Key, Dreaming of You, Simon Diamond

Least favorite songs: Calendars and Clocks

4/5

Definitely has a unique sound to it, just not sure if it’s for me

At the time, I dismissed these guys as Cast for the 21st century, but there is something interesting and fun and experimental going on here, even if it is just a little bit too indebted to classic psych-rock. They're Space for the 21st century.