[.ca] Invisible Invasion

Fantastic Album. Horrible CD.:
Having just got into the Libertines and other British bands I asked for recommendations based on that. Someone casually mentioned The Coral and I fell in love with them after listening to their new CD, the Invisible Invasion, just once. Just a fantastic album that doesn't get old. The downside? This isn't a CD. This is a Content Protected Coaster with what is called XPC protection. Do you want to copy this CD onto your harddrive? Sure! As long as you use protected WMA and install software on your computer. OH! You want to put it on an iPod? SORRY! Sony attempts to blame Apple for only allowing MP3, AAC (both protected and non), and Apple Lossless Codec files onto the most popular player in the planet. "We're working with them", they say, "to make Apple embrace our open standard". Their "open standard" however, is a crippled and lossy format (protected WMA) that is only supported by Microsoft and associated players. There is a happy ending to this, however. I have found a program that lets me rip the songs from this CD to unprotected MP3 (Exact Audio Copy) so I can put it on my iPod. Sad when people who buy the CD are treated like criminals, and when its easier to just download, isn't it?

They sing the mourning:
Nobody can accuse the Coral of not evolving. With every release, the Merseyside band has revamped their sound and made it all seem new, whether it's rough B-sides, rollicking pirate rock or pastoral pop-rock. So what have they gotten up to now? In their fourth album in as many years -- if you count the halfway-album "Nightfreak and the Songs of Becker" -- they change it yet again. This time, there's no pirate rock or bizarro pop songs. Instead, "The Invisible Invasion" relies on dark art-rock with a twisted psychedelica vibe, with hints of what they have done before, but never with deja vu. It opens with a wonderfully sinister, twangy opener, which quickly falls into the dark, catchy rock of "She Sings the Mourning" and "Cripples Crown." James Skelly intones eerily over the music, "Blood red love knot, temptress eyes/cuts right through the family times," which add a strangely supernatural edge to the music. These two are probably the strongest and most polished songs on here. There's a brief and ill-advised foray into folk-rock, which the Coral quickly veers away from. Good thing, too -- it's too cheery and sunny for this record, as are one or two other catchy little songs. So then it's back to undulating keyboard, crunchy riffs and hammering drums. Not to mention those ghostly "woo woo" synths that pop up every few minutes. "Invisible Invasion" is very catchy. Not in a bad way -- instead, it sounds like a cheery pop singer in a haunted house, who is about to be overcome by the ghosts. It borders on kitsch in places; having Skelly moaning "cooooome hooooommme" over a twisting riff sounds silly. But with Skelly's pleasantly smooth voice, the Coral actually makes it sound sinister. And the Coral stretches further into experimentation with "Arabian Sand," a Pink-Floydian song that is only four minutes long, but feels at least three times as long. It's rough, ragged and brims over with sound. And at the end of it, I'm still not sure whether it's a disaster or pure brilliance. One thing is sure: It'll get your heart rate up as it accelerates to a climax. How do you judge an album by a band that does nothing twice? Just take it for what it is -- and in "Invisible Invasion's" case, it's a rough, ghostly, distorted mass of catchy rock'n'roll.

Invisible Invasion:
Even though the British rockers had already put out three albums, I hadn't heard of The Coral before giving a listen to 'Invisible Invasion', their latest. So while I can't comment on the progress the band's made over the years, I can say I like 'Invisible Invasion' enough to look forward to The Coral's next album. About 'Invisible Invasion' itself: I like the diversity. The band doesn't pick a sound and milk it mercilessly through twelve songs. There's a general indie-rock-meets-psychedelia tone to all the songs, but there are ample variations on that theme. There are also a few "kinda reminds me of" songs. For example, "So Long Ago" sounds like something that didn't quite make it onto The Beatle's 'Rubber Soul' and "Far From the Crowd" (my favourite) is a mellow-ish affair that was no doubt influenced by Simon & Grafunkel. It's neat without being derivative. "In The Morning" comes in as the most conventional song on the album, with a playful sound and a catchy melody. It's also one of the least psychedelic tracks and the one that's gotten the most radio time. The truest psychedelic cut is "Arabian Sand" -- with it's pounding rise-to-climax -- which you can't help but crank up the volume on. And the way the craziness of that song melts into the melancholy "Late Afternoon", with its smoke-filled rooms and teary eyes, is the album's best moment. It's not extraordinary by any means, but The Coral's 'Invisible Invasion' is consistently good.

• She Sings The Mourning
• Cripples Crown
• So Long Ago
• The Operator
• A Warning To The Curious
• In The Morning
• Something Inside Of Me
• Come Home
• Far From The Crowd
• Leaving Today
• Arabian Sand
• Late Afternoon