| View Larger Image | The Invisible Invasion | Audio CDby The Coral
| List Price: | $7.99 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Audio CD | | Studio: | Sony | | Release Date: | August 30, 2005 | | Sales Rank: | 159,604th |
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TRACK LISTING |
Disc: 1
- Track 1: She Sings The Mourning
- Track 2: Cripples Crown
- Track 3: So Long Ago
- Track 4: The Operator
- Track 5: A Warning To The Curious
- Track 6: In The Morning
- Track 7: Something Inside Of Me
- Track 8: Come Home
- Track 9: Far From The Crowd
- Track 10: Leaving Today
- Track 11: Arabian Sand
- Track 12: Late Afternoon
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Album Description
Work on the Coral's The Invisible Invasion began back at the start of 2004. It's produced by Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow(Portishead). The band hired a house in the Lake District for two weeks and rehearsed the 18 possible songs for the album, tweaking and developing them there, before they were ready to set them to acetate. The first single to be taken from the album is entitled 'In The Morning'. Sony. 2005 |
Amazon.com
On their fourth outing, the Coral are anything but obvious or heavy-handed. On the contrary, delicacy and understatement define the British septet’s latest. The 1960s shake hands with the 1980s in their wistful pop, yet they never--or very rarely, at any rate--come across as a retro act. At their best, they sound like Madness circa "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)" (must be that organ) or Echo & the Bunnymen circa "Lips Like Sugar" (James Skelly could be Ian McCulloch’s little brother). With its chugging, train-like rhythm and haunting chorus, "She Sings the Mourning" sounds like the theme to a lost Tom Courtenay film, while the enchanting "So Long Ago" evokes Sondre Lerche's gentle folk-pop. Then there are others, like the perfectly pleasant "Leaving Today" and "Come Home," where the Coral almost cross that fine line dividing tasteful from dull, but there are no real duds on The Invisible Invasion. --Kathleen C. Fennessy |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.0 based on 17 reviews)
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The Coral Improves On Success by allismile0 (Washington, DC)  5 Stars
May 27, 2006
Invisible Invasion has the immediacy of the Coral's first album with the maturing song writing of Magic And Medicine.
The music is a hybrid of 60's/80's psychedelic rock and present day art rock. Each song has a sharpness and character to it that makes it fun to listen to more and more.
I don't know how this band hasn't taken off more in the US.
The Operator? That song is as crunchy as anything that the Queens of Stoneage have done. Just about all the songs are awesome- but that song grabs me the most.
I agree with another reviewer that Egyptian Sand isn't up to par with the rest of the album- mainly because it sounds exactly like a mix of songs Syd Barrett wrote on Pink Floyds first album.
Also I like how this album mixes a good amount of pop tunes with more aggressive/progressive songs. That was one thing that disappointed me about my initial listenings to Magic And Medicine; it felt pastoral and slightly poppy. Were as the debut album was nothing but emotional highs and fun wacky tunes. It would have been dissapointing in the long run if they would have made a part ii to their debut. They were what, 19 when they made that album? I like that they keep extending themselves.
Invisible Invasion shows a band that is refining their expression of sound.
ps
The e.p., Nightfreak & The Sons Of Becker, was a sign of the transition the Coral was making towards this album, but Medicine Magic already felt transitional- so it seemed mostly like a set of b-sides. Although Grey Harpoon is a personal favorite.
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They sing the mourning by E. A Solinas (MD USA)  4 Stars
March 30, 2006
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.
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A great album spoilt by Malicious Software by Just Joe  1 Stars
November 17, 2005
Let me first say that this album and the Coral are great and this items would have received 4/5 had it not been for SonyBMG using the underdeveloped and highly dangerous "First 4 Internet XCP DRM" software.
Once it is installed, it "Hides" itself from detection in the same way a virus would, and it has now been shown to create a legitimate threat to consumers PC's running certain Windows OS. It has been shown that malicious software such as viruses and ad-ware could use this programs "Hide" capability to become almost untraceable. Unfortunately XCP DRM is very difficult to remove without damaging the reliability of your computer system.
SonyBMG have accepted little responsibility, have been very slow to act and have made it difficult for consumers to protect themselves. Although they have created a "upgrade" for the software it has been advised that users should not do this as the "upgrade" actually makes matters worse.
If you like the Coral and you are not going to play this on a PC then go ahead and buy it. If you are going to use it on a computer however, I'd advise trying to pick up an Import or Unprotected copy.
If you have already bought this product and have installed the "malware" XCP DRM, do yourselves a favour and don't download the "upgrade". Microsoft, Symantec and many others are working on a "proper" fix.
If you have already installed the "upgrade" from the Sony site then unfortunately you're in limbo... you might be able to take legal action if something happens but the EULA provided with the "malware" pretty much negates any legal rights you may have had. You can thank congress for that...
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DRM + EULA = Don't Buy! by Brendan Ribera (Seattle, WA) 1 Stars
November 14, 2005
As many other reviewers note, these CDs install MALICIOUS software WIHTOUT REQUIRING CONSENT from the user.
This is not the only problem, howerver. Sony's End User License Agreement requires the following things of all consumers who purchase this "content protected" music:
1. If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That's because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.
2. You can't keep your music on any computers at work. The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a "personal home computer system owned by you."
3. If you move out of the country, you have to delete all your music. The EULA specifically forbids "export" outside the country where you reside.
4. You must install any and all updates, or else lose the music on your computer. The EULA immediately terminates if you fail to install any update. No more holding out on those hobble-ware downgrades masquerading as updates.
5. Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy protection software or media player to "enforce their rights" against you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability if this "self help" crashes your computer, exposes you to security risks, or any other harm.
6. The EULA says Sony-BMG will never be liable to you for more than $5.00. That's right, no matter what happens, you can't even get back what you paid for the CD.
7. If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.
8. You have no right to transfer the music on your computer, even along with the original CD.
9. Forget about using the music as a soundtrack for your latest family photo slideshow, or mash-ups, or sampling. The EULA forbids changing, altering, or make derivative works from the music on your computer.
Refer to the following for details:
List of Affected CDs
EULA analysis
Rootkit analysis
Continued rootkit analysis
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Boycott - This CD installs virus on your computer that makes other viruses attack by D. Garcia (Los Angeles) 1 Stars
November 14, 2005
If this screws up your machine do you think Sony will pay to fix it?
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