While the fiery rock & roll spirit of The La's Lee Mavers courses through their veins, the debut album by youthful Liverpudlian mystics the Coral proves they are far more than Merseybeat chancers. The opening "Spanish Main"--"We've set sail again! / We're heading for the Spanish Main!"--casts the sextet as marauding scally pirates, out to pillage musical history for any loot they can lay their hands on. Magnificently, it's possible to hear the influence of everything from Captain Beefheart to Miles Davis, from Spanish mariachi guitar to rambunctious Cossack dance rhythms surfacing between the tight, ragged grooves of "I Remember When" and "Shadows Fall". But the staggering thing about The Coral is that it's stuffed to bursting point with ideas, yet presents them all in such stark clarity. It's hard to pick an album highlight, but it's probably a toss-up between the curious, swooping fable of "Simon Diamond" and the unfettered insanity of "Skeleton Key", which finds frontman James Skelly croaking "Solid gold skeleton key / opens the most intricate lock / Brother roll another for me/ I am shipwrecked on the rocks!" as his bandmates caw like parrots in the background. The Coral are off on a totally mental trip. It would take a fool, however, to choose not to join them. --Louis Pattison

'The Coral' appealed to me immediately, with their off-the-wall tales of pirating, maurauding, love, drugs and general tomfoolery, though it took me a few listens before I truly appreciated the depth and craft of this unbelieveably brilliant album. The lyrics read like twisted fables (see 'Simon Diamond' and 'I Remember When') but with plenty of panache and confession to get their message across. This, incidentally, appears to be how crazy it is to live in our crazy world!

But The Coral display impressive emotional accessibility behind the tangle of musical influences and general lunacy. This is best reflected in the simple but wonderful 'Dreaming Of You', which is as perfect a song as you can get. But 'Skeleton Key' has an awesome tempo and will make you both laugh and stomp your feet in joy simultaneously, 'Shadows Fall' is a gloomy, haunting tale of relationship breakdown (done in idiosyncratic fashion) while 'Waiting For The Heartaches' is a gloriously skewed take on falling in love. So there's plenty to enjoy on this album and anything with pirate references can never be bad!

A much underrated work, no weak songs and will be a true treasure to fellow lunatic 'mateys' out there!

I got this album for one reason, like most people, Dreaming of You, - magic!

The other songs on the album dont realy compare to that track, but are still reasonably good.

Yes, there is definitely something there. I don't think it's full released with the music but it's a very interesting album and worth a listen. I bought it mainly for the fact that it has 'Dreaming Of You' on it, one of my favourite songs, but the rest of the album doesn't quite match that for me.

Three words...Dreaming of You. Pure magic. You could buy the album just for that one song and think you got a deal. The rest of the album is a bit of a hotch potch but one can't deny its inventiveness, uniquness and that these are songwriters with imaginations. If you want a change but don't know where to look, this might be what you're after.

This album gave me a shock from the first track, with a distorted crash of cords, I knew immediately that this was going to be one unusual album. I was not disappointed. It is a thoroughly enjoyable collection that I would recommend any folk-music or rock-music lover to buy. It is non-conformist and offers something new in each track. My personal highlight, Dreaming of You, combines everything I love about music. Folk-balad 'wailing', catchy tune, excellent percussion (particulary drums and glockenspiel)and exciting rhythms.

If you like steriotypical music with little change and regular rhythms, perhaps this is not for you- it is true, some of the tracks (particularly 'Wildfire') cna get a little irratating, especially if you listern to them (like me)non stop on a 6 hr car journey. But I think the fact that after the 6 hrs 95% of the tracks were as fresh and enjoyable as ever says more about the album then words could.

Look out for the pirate behind you in Skeleton Key, feel the ghostly nostalgic atmosphere in Shadows Fall and skip anything that gets too repetative and annoying. Well worth the money- I have not regretted buying this once.