The Coral are a band who seem to deny the existence of any decade of music beyond the 1960s, which - depending on your point of view is either a great or frustrating thing - and their last album 'The Invisible Invasion', as decent as it was, had left me growing slightly tired of their sound. This album, however, restores all faith in their ability as songwriters and musicians - it's a fantastic listen, full of vintage, top-class songs seeping with craftsmanship and quality.
On 'Roots & Echoes', The Coral have controlled their excesses and tendency to throw in the odd sea-shanty or two and, instead, produced an album with shades of late 60's psych-pop reminiscent of The Zombies. In fact, has this album been released in 1968/1969, it would probably be talked about as a classic but, instead, it is compared alongside it's influences and the obvious charges of unoriginality and being derivative are, whilst perhaps valid, slightly frustrating given the fact that this really is brand new, well-written, fantastic music.
If anyone doubts the songwriting ability of The Coral, they should check out the dreamy 'Rebecca You', the catchy 'Who's Gonna Find Me' or the beautifully touching 'Not So Lonely'. In fact, this could quite easily lay claim to being The Coral's best album. It's certainly on a par with my previous favourite, 'Magic & Medicine' and the two albums certainly share similarities in terms of direction and consistency. There are no weak songs here, just track after track of soaring melodies performed with passion, pure love for music and the very aurally-pleasing acoustic, late 60s sound, with touches of organ, strings and wonder.
