The Coral

Rock revivalism is only half the story on this eponymous debut from psychedelic Wirral peninsula sextet The Coral. It’s hard to look beyond “Dreaming of You”—an absurdly catchy blast of kicking drums and rough-edged, lovesick harmonies—but there’s a strange unpredictability to this record’s most potent moments. From the frantic rum-swigging sea shanty that is “Skeleton Key” to the way “Simon Diamond” suddenly morphs from chanted pagan spookfest into slinky organ-driven groove, this is an album that gushes with a Mersey of ideas and nails the trick of sounding both timeless and newly minted.

The Coral's self-titled 2002 debut kicked up quite a flurry of excitement when it washed ashore from the picturesque seaside village of Hoylake, a deep-water anchorage in the borough of Wirral.