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The title is more than explanatory: "Magic and Medicine". The talented twenty-somethings from around Liverpool (famous for more than just the football team...) know what they want: to coexist inspiration and rationality; innovate without making instrumental and not very credible revolutions; to write new songs with an old flavor, without being too influenced by current trends.
The second chapter of the Coral continues, expanding on the discourse set forth with their rightly acclaimed debut. In the eleven tracks that make up the album, the doctors/shamans mix into their golden cauldron all the genres that have contributed to their admirable formation.
Listening to "Magic & Medicine" is a bit like retracing paths you think you know by heart, only to suddenly find yourself in new places (there's the magic...) that our young apprentice wizards have fun letting us discover.
The overall result, let's say it right away, is surprising. The work does not sound at all like "old time music", as some might think. Despite, in essence, all the clear references are identifiable, the record is fresh, inspired, engaging.
It starts with "In the Forest", a track that clearly indicates the direction, with a Hammond organ leading the slowed-down dances. With "Don't Think You're The First" we're in a Morriconian west that is colored with psychedelic hues; if today Stan Ridgway and his Wall of Voodoo were in their twenties, they might have written songs similar to this one.
"Leizah" sounds wonderfully country, but it's not an idyll: clouds and lightning loom on the horizon.
"Talkin' Gypsy Market Blues" is a Dylan-esque piece to the bone, an electric blues in "Highway 61 Revisited" style, "bad" just enough, but which, like many of The Coral's pieces, possesses unsuspected branches. In "Secret Kiss" the 60s organ reappears to "season" a song with French influences (Jacques Brel?). "Milkwood Blues" is the most spiced, the richest in those characteristic deviations of the band; even jazz and vaudeville make cameo appearances in a track that, in any case, could be defined as neopsychedelic.
"Bill McCai" is a wild country-western ride, with Roger McGuinn and his Byrds leading the colorful caravan, which decides to stop at the Creedence ranch. "Eskimo Lament" starts like an intense King Crimson ballad, but new scenarios soon open up and it ends with the accompaniment of trombones, borrowed from the passengers of the "Yellow Submarine".
"Pass it on" is a Neil Young-like track of disarming simplicity, but it possesses warmth and intensity to spare.
In "All of our Love" the atmospheres become more rarefied and disturbing: Skelly's voice whispers; a piano, harmonica, acoustic guitar, and a menacing bass weave a lysergic melody.
In "Confessions of A.D.D.D." the best Californian pop of the golden years and the less self-indulgent progressive meet, not without first inviting the fathers of the blues; a Can-like ending makes it all the more appetizing.
What more can I say? I realize that there are too many names, too many references, but the magic of the young men from Liverpool is in making you forget them, having a sound of their own nonetheless.
The medicine of the Coral may not be miraculous, but it certainly represents an excellent restorative for pop music.
P.S. The album in question was the best of 2003 for me.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Don't Think You're the First (04:03)
Don't think you're the first
In the whole universe
To follow your heart
Or gaze at the stars
To stare at the night
To the clear daylight
Don't think you're the first
In the whole universe
To feel sorrow or shame
As you walk in the rain
Do I love you?
Yes I love you or I wouldn't tell you
So don't think you're the first
In the whole universe
To be caught in the act
Numbered and wrecked
Put in your place
Made to feel like a fake
Don't think you're the first
In the whole universe
To be untouched by the time
Think you're one of the kind
Do I love you?
Yes I love you or i wouldn't tell you
So don't think you're the first
Don't think you're the first
In the whole universe
To dance with the light
From the meak to the might
As the birds in the trees
Sing their sweet melodies
Don't think you're the first
In the whole universe
To hear a thousand violins
As the trial begins
Do I love you?
Yes I love you or I wouldn't tell you
So don't think you're the last
To be tied to the mast
While you watch from afar
As your world falls apart
You hang on for help
But the rest help themselves
Don't think you're the last
To be tied to the past
While you future's controled
While the present untold
Do I love you?
Yes I love you or I wouldn't tell you
So don't think you're the first
03 Liezah (03:31)
I had a girl her name was Liezah
She had only one desire
To walk the cobbled streets alone
Heading anywhere but home
With Crowley as her close companion
His Diaries went hand in hand with
All the men that she has known
She leaves their silver but keeps their gold
So lawyers, doctors please beware
Of that girl with wavy hair
For she will cut you down to size
Reveal the truth behind your disguise
Liezah
Just passed by yer
Now you're standing
Empty handed
Liezah
Can't despise her
She'll change your look
She'll have you hooked
The city sleeps as she's arriving
Tongue tied and twisted was her timing
Her eyes glazed in deep despair
Those crocodile tears they don't care
Don't turn your back cos she'll be gone
Chasing shadows in the sun
All along the dusty road
Where she goes well we'll never know
And everytime I think of Liezah
I break down and I start crying
Although she tore me apart
There's still a place for that girl in my heart
Liezah
Just passed by yer
Now you're standing
Empty handed
Liezah
Can't despise her
She'll change your look
She'll have you hooked
04 Talkin' Gypsy Market Blues (03:07)
Talkin’ gypsy market blues
I was too late but I never got to choose
Talkin’ gypsy market blues
I was too late but I never got to choose
Got to have them gypsy boots
Followed them by familiar root
Rambled round from town to town
Sleeping in a doorway as still as a mouse
Saw the bullfighters last stand
I've been drinking dust
I've been kicking cans
All my family, they went home
Let me in Portugal, all alone
Thought I saw that caravan
But it was just a car park man
Said to me as I stood in line,
There's nothing in the world as sad as time
Well if nothing comes to nothing
Then what's the point?
I sat right down and I built my joint
Flat caps they just pass me by
The dust pneumonia left me dry
Talkin’ gypsy market blues
I was too late but I never got to choose
Talkin’ gypsy market blues
I was too late but I never got to choose
3 days later when I awoke
My dust filled lungs could hardly cope
Realised I was not alone
I was in the old car park man's home
Looked out the window at the local scenes
One the ledge were some grilled sardines
Then through the door in came the maid
Said Maria was her name
Long dark hair and copper skin
Washed away my seven sins.
Said senor what's this bad news
Told her of my gypsy blues
Maria laughed and said your cute
You don't need no gypsy boots
Picked myself up off the floor
I don't need them boots no more
I don't need them boots no more
I don't need them boots no more
Said I don't need them boots no more (don't need them boots baby)
05 Secret Kiss (02:56)
A secret kiss,
Reminded me of what I miss,
Some kind of forgotten bliss,
On this summers eve,
Though the seasons deceive.
??? of my honesty,
You still make me believe,
Is this the rock,
That your daring me to cross,
Down the river to the docks,
That's where we'll meet,
Where the bayline(?) creeps(?)
Into her majesty
You still make me believe
So far away (so far away)
So far away (so far away)
Can't get away (so far away)
So far away
But that's alright
But that's alright
Jewels and pearls,
And all the wonders of the world,
Mean nothing until I return,
In time for tea,
Sit on my settee,
Lost in my memories,
You still make me believe,
You make me believe,
You make me believe,
You make me believe
07 Bill McCai (02:37)
Family taught him right from wrong,
Local tales and children's songs,
Sunday school was his shelter,
With his friends Joe and Walter,
Now those days so far away,
An empty swing where he once played,
Now he's got so fat and bald,
He never thought that he'd grow old.
Everyday when he gets the train
Looks out the window and he thinks in vain
If I could only be that boy again
He's got a sales job and it gets him down
Same old faces, same old sounds
Heart attacks, orthopaedic backs
Documents and labelled racks
His wife can't stand the sight of him
With his routine glass of gin
She makes his lunch of processed ham
Waiting for the meter man
Everyday when he gets the train
Looks out the window and he thinks in vain
If I could only be that boy again
(Take it away Bill)
He could be that boy again
Another day, another gin
His kids don't even notice him
Something different about his face
His happy smile seems out of place
Family gathered round for tea
Eyes fixed on the new telly
A news flash came and then it said
Bill McCai was just found dead
No more windows, no more trains
Hung himself out in the rain
Now he'll never be that boy again
And we say...
Bye, bye Bill Mccai
Bye, bye Bill Mccai
Bye, bye Bill Mccai
09 Careless Hands (04:14)
Don't put your heart in careless hands,
Those careless hands they don't understand.
Sugar and spice and all things nice,
You won't think twice about sacrifice,
You'll put your heart in careless hands,
Those careless hands they don't understand.
They'll lift you up and they'll put you down,
Having you running round this one horse town.
Those careless - hands,
Those careless - hands,
Won't understand,
Those careless - hands.
Don't warm your hands in this cold heart,
Cos this cold heart won't play that part,
The choice is yours to hesitate,
Threw his line and you took the bait,
And warmed your hands in his cold heart,
But his cold heart won't play that part.
Open your eyes and look around,
Any chance they get to put down,
With careless hands,
Those careless hands,
Won't understand,
Those careless hands
10 Pass It On (02:19)
Every day I recognise
What's deceased and what's alive
But don't repeat what I just said
Until gold has turned to lead
Then all the tales will be told
Whilst you and I are in the cold
But don't think this is the end
Cos it's just begun my friend
And when it's done
And all this is gone
Just find the feeling pass it on
For every tear cried in shame
There'll be someone else to blame
And every crime that I commit
There'll be a punishement to fit
But I'd accept what's coming round
If I could only lose this sound
That's been ringing in my ears
And tormenting me for years
When it's done
And all this is gone
Just find the feeling pass it on
And when it's done
And all this is gone
Just find a feeling pass it on
Just find the feeling pass it on
Just find a feeling pass it on
Just find the feeling pass it on
11 All of Our Love (03:06)
All of our love we give to you
Can you see what we see
Can we see it too?
All of our hate we give to you
Can you do what what we do
Can we do it too?
All of our joy we give to you
Can you say what we say
Can we say it too?
All of our pain we give to you
Can you be what we be
Can we be it too?
All of our love
We give it to you
All of our hate
We give you that too
All of our pain
We give you that too
All of our love
All of our hate
All of our joy
All of our pain
Love
Hate
Joy
Pain
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Other reviews
By giov
"In The Forest" is undoubtedly one of the best tracks the band has written so far, offering truly dark atmospheres.
If they continue at this pace, soon it’ll be Coldplay opening their concerts and not vice versa.
By gluca1985
Magic and medicine, sacred and profane, a universe teetering between a past never entirely forgotten and a sometimes foggy future.
'Eskimo Lament' is a ballad, punctuated by a few piano notes, that suddenly turns into a post-binge saloon march.
