In 1996, school-friends Ian Skelly and Paul Duffy began jamming together in the basement of Flat Foot Sams pub in Hoylake, and over the following months they were joined by Bill Ryder-Jones on lead guitar, Ian's older brother James Skelly on vocals and main song-writing duties, and then Lee Southall on rhythm guitar. The band were known briefly as Hive before choosing the name The Coral, and the line-up was completed with the addition of Nick Power, who joined as keyboard player in 1998. After seeing the band live, Alan Wills was impressed enough to put his dream of startig a record label into action, so that he could release music from ther band, and as he couldn't find anyone else to take on the job, he reluctantly offered to manage them as well. After founding his Deltasonic label, Willis released the band's first single, 'Shadows Fall' in 2001, which was followed by two EP's. 'The Oldest Path EP' later that year, and the 'Skeleton Key EP' in 2002. Their eponymous debut album 'The Coral', came out in 2002, reaching number five on the UK Albums Chart, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize the day after its release. A successful UK tour and festival slots followed, along with the singles 'Goodbye', which just failed to crack the UK Top Twenty, a feat which 'Dreaming Of You' managed by reaching number thirteen. After a hectic year they recorded their second album 'Magic And Medicine' in 2003, and when it was released it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and garnered much critical praise. It was largely made up of dreamlike acoustic ballads rather than the aggressive psychedelia of their debut, and the band were praised for their new-found maturity.
They followed the release of the record with UK, European, American and Japanese tours, and a one-off festival Midsummer Nights Scream, held in a big top on the New Brighton promenade, and all four singles from the album reached the UK Top Thirty. Later in 2003 the band quickly recorded the mini-album 'Nightfreak And The Sons Of Becker, which was released in early 2004 with little promotion and no accompanying singles, and it marked another change in direction for the band, showcasing a darker, funkier and more lo-fi sound. In 2004 they began recording 'The Invisible Invasion', with Portishead's Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow as producers, and when it came out the following year it entered the UK Album Chart at number 3. A second CD containing live versions of songs from this and previous albums was included with early copies of the album. In June 2005 guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones took a break from the band and it was announced that he would not tour again, but might continue to help with future recordings, and he was replaced by David McDonnell for the tour supporting 'The Invisible Invasion'.
In late 2005 the band had written an album without Ryder-Jones entitled 'The Curse Of Love', but before it could be released Ryder-Jones was persuaded to rejoin as a full-time band member at the start of 2006, and so the band shelved those songs in order to begin work on another album, 'Roots & Echoes'. During the summer of 2007 the band toured with Arctic Monkeys, and in July the released the single 'Who's Gonna Find Me' as a taster for the album, which came out the following month. In contrast to their frenetic early material, this album was a much more laid-back affair, and emphasised the maturity to the band's song-writing. Tracks such as 'Rebecca You' and 'Music At Night' were embellished with string arrangements written by Ryder-Jones, and they even opened the BBC Electric Proms on 24 October 2007 with 'Who's Gonna Find Me' and 'In The Rain', where they were joined on stage by celebrity friend Noel Gallagher. In January 2008 Ryder-Jones left the band again, apparently due to experiencing panic attacks before playing live, and finding that his desire to be part of a commercially successful band had disappeared. Drawing a line under the first chapter of their career, the Coral released a three-LP and two-CD compilation album 'Singles Collection' on 15 September 2008, featuring all but two of their singles to date, and a second CD entitled 'Mysteries & Rarities' contained 19 previously unreleased songs, demos, outtakes and live recordings of earlier songs.
In July 2010 The Coral released their sixth album 'Butterfly House', which was produced by John Leckie, of The Stone Roses and Radiohead fame, and for this record the songs had been crafted over a two-year period, during which the band fine-honed and road-tested the material. The deluxe version of this album came with a bonus CD of five additional songs, and critical reception was largely positive, with Record Collector Magazine stating that it was a contender for "2010 album of the year". Six months after the release of 'Butterfly House', they released 'Butterfly House Acoustic', which was a limited edition acoustic re-recording of the entire album, which they completed in a single day, after positive reviews of their acoustic live performances, and as predicted by Record Collector, 'Butterfly House' was named UK Album Of The Year 2010 at the Music Producers Guild Awards in February 2011. In a March 2012 interview, bassist Paul Duffy reported that a new album was in progress at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Bristol, but in the Spring the band announced an indefinite hiatus in order to concentrate on individual projects, and their half-finished seventh album was shelved.
On 24 August 2014, Geoff Barrow announced, when standing in for Stuart Maconie on the BBC Radio 6 Music Freak Zone show, that the Coral were to release 'The Curse Of Love' the abandoned album recorded after Ryder-Jones left the group. This had been produced by Barrow, an after some remastering, it appeared later in 2014 on James Skelly's own record label, Skeleton Key Records.
On 23 November 2015, the band announced their return after five-year hiatus, and a new studio album, 'Distance Inbetween' would be released in March 2016, accompanied by UK and European tours in the Spring. Guitarist Paul Molloy joined the band during the recording of the album, replacing Lee Southall who had chosen to take a break from the band in order to focus on his personal life and solo project. In April 2018, the band announced their ninth studio album, 'Move Through The Dawn', which was then released on 10 August 2018, and they followed this in January 2021 with a new single, 'Faceless Angel', which heralded the release of their fairground-inspired double album 'Coral Island', which was released on 30 April. Despite being hailed as part of the "guitar group revival" of the early 2000's, they had little in common with their peers, and their music was a hybrid of psychedelia, dub reggae, Merseybeat and country, and their lyrics betrayed an obsession with the sea. This is particularly evident when listening to this collection of non-album b-sides from their career up to their temporary split in 2010, and to me these songs are so good that these three discs actually sound like proper albums in their own right.
Track listing
Disc I - 2000-2003
01 The Ballad Of Simon Diamond (b-side of 'Shadows Fall' 2000)
02 A Sparrow's Song (b-side of 'Shadows Fall' 2000)
03 The Oldest Path (from 'The Oldest Path' EP 2001)
04 God Knows (from 'The Oldest Path' EP 2001)
05 Short Ballad (from 'The Oldest Path' EP 2001)
06 Flies (from 'The Oldest Path' EP 2001)
07 Good Fortune (b-side of 'Goodbye' 2002)
08 Travelling Circus (b-side of 'Goodbye' 2002)
09 Answer Me (b-side of 'Dreaming Of You' 2002)
10 Follow The Sun (b-side of 'Dreaming Of You' 2002)
11 Dressed Like A Cow (from the 'Skeleton Key' EP 2002)
12 Darkness (from the 'Skeleton Key' EP 2002)
13 Sheriff John Brown (from the 'Skeleton Key' EP 2002)
14 Simian Technology (bonus track from Japanese edition of 'The Coral' 2002)
15 See-Through Bergerac (b-side of 'Don't Think You're The First' 2003)
16 Run Run (b-side of 'Pass It On' 2003)
17 Heartaches And Pancakes (b-side of 'Pass It On' 2003)
Disc II - 2003-2005
01 Witchcraft (b-side of 'Don't Think You're The First' 2003)
02 Teenage Machine Age (b-side of 'Don't Think You're The First' 2003)
03 Tiger Lily (b-side of 'Don't Think You're The First' 2003)
04 Who's That Knockin' (b-side of 'Secret Kiss' 2003)
05 See My Love (b-side of 'Secret Kiss' 2003)
06 Not The Girl (b-side of 'Secret Kiss' 2003)
07 Boy At The Window (b-side of 'Bill McCai' 2003)
08 Nosferatu (b-side of 'Bill McCai' 2003)
09 When The Good Times Go Bad (b-side of 'Bill McCai' 2003)
10 From A Leaf To A Tree (b-side of 'Bill McCai' 2003)
11 The Case Of Arthur Tannen (b-side of 'Something Inside Of Me' 2005)
12 The Box (b-side of 'Something Inside Of Me' 2005)
13 The Conjurer (b-side of 'Something Inside Of Me' 2005)
Disc III - 2005-2010
01 Gina Jones (b-side 'In The Morning' 2005)
02 The Image Of Richard Burton As Crom (b-side 'In The Morning' 2005)
03 Leeslunchboxbyblueleadandthevelcrounderpants (b-side 'In The Morning' 2005)
04 Who's Gonna Find Me (single 2007)
05 Ghostriders In The Sky (b-side of 'Who's Gonna Find Me')
06 Laughing Eyes (b-side of 'Who's Gonna Find Me')
07 The Voice (b-side of 'Who's Gonna Find Me')
08 Far From The Crowd (Acoustic) (b-side 'Jacqueline' 2007)
09 Pictures From The Other Side (b-side 'Jacqueline' 2007)
10 The Visitor (b-side 'Jacqueline' 2007)
11 The Dance Lingers On (b-side of 'Put The Sun Back' 2008)
12 One Winter's Day (b-side of 'Put The Sun Back' 2008)
13 Being Somebody Else (single 2008)
14 Depth Of Her Smile (b-side of 'Being Somebody Else' 2008)
15 The King Has Died (b-side of '1000 Years' 2010)
16 Feel A Whole Lot Better (b-side of 'Walking In The Winter' 2010)
