The Coral : Goodbye

At a time when packs of wicked rock'n'roll thrills are prowling the fields with an eye on your jugular, those whimsical egg-loving boys in seem all the more peculiar. They might have fallen through some psychedelic time-slip but happily, 'Goodbye' finally sounds more like a band on a mission than a bunch of 'characters' trying to hold a conversation with the contents of their fridge. A puff of Haight Ashbury harmonies and Love-like melancholy, there's enough second-hand benefits left for passive smoking pleasure. It's a little insubstantial, sure, but it's thankfully shanty-free and it might well convince a few more non-believers to run away and join 's flying circus.

Victoria Segal