Magic and Medicine
Its an unfortunate thing (in my opinion, at least) to be directly associated with Liverpudlian bands. The first that come to mind are either simply incomparable (Beatles), or, more recently, The La’s, who, after descending into Cast, just plain sucked. You’ve just got to hate their frontman (John Power). He’s an idiot. You don’t need reasons, he just is. If I were a Gallagher, I’d have started a big battle of words with him instead of Damon.
Anyway… So whilst The La’s were able to write a half-decent pop song in their time, Cast leave a fair amount to be desired if you actually try and take them seriously. And that, if you ask me, is enough reason for The Coral to be shifting in their boots.
Actually listening to the album though, I praise the almighty Jesus for telling cast to fuck off back from whence they came and have nothing to do with the boys from the Coral. In modern reference, Magic and Medicine seems to have more in common with Beck's Mutations or maybe Gomez than their old geographical kin. It is bluesy, and even helps to give the current 'alt-country' uprising a good nudge towards the spotlight. At times it sounds like something off a Tarantino soundtrack, and overall, you could shut your eyes and imagine yourself time-warped into a bar in the old west. Its got the cowboy-blues, alright (There’s even a little Elvis moment at the end of 'Gypsy Market Blues').
Like their self-titled debut, M&M is stuffed full of different ideas, and yet the band (and producer) have managed to rope in most of the loose ends and form a reasonably cohesive disc. You definitely couldn’t imagine any of the members of Cast having anything to do with it, anyway. Lyrics on tracks like ‘Leizah’: "every time I think of Leizah/ I break down and I start crying" is too honest and, well, girly, for the swagger of the likes of them. The best tracks here are simple, well-produced ballads, including the lead single ‘Pass it on’, the rather unfortunate ‘Bill McCai’, the aforementioned ‘Leizah’, and, well, all of them, really. Although a couple are less satisfying than others, they each fit nicely into the sphere of the album’s focus, and most of them will put a smile on your face.
7.6
MD - 12:29 07/08/2003