THE CORAL share the remastered audio and video for their April Fools Day 2002 single ‘Skeleton Key’

THE CORAL share the remastered audio and video for their April Fools Day 2002 single 'Skeleton Key'
Hoylake Beach 2002 Credit: Kevin Power

Drawing one of their most successful years as a band to a close, The Coral sail from their widely-acclaimed, No.2-charting double album, Coral Island, back into familiar waters with the release of the remastered audio and video for their April Fools Day 2002 single, Skeleton Key.

The frenetic freak-out jam that raised eyebrows as the band, then aged between just 18 and 21 years of age, cannoned into public consciousness brings the curtain down on 2021 and sets the scene for next year’s 20th Anniversary celebrations.

Already anchoring themselves into esteemed critics’ end-of-year best album lists for their themed, double album inviting listeners into a world of rusted fairground rides and jukebox jives, the re-energised five-piece get no closer inland by returning to Skeleton Key. Filmed around Leasowe Lighthouse in the cold, early months of 2002, with director, Laurence Easeman plus former members Bill Ryder Jones and Lee Southall, and concluding around the band’s dinner table, it crackles with three minutes of finely-tuned, punk-psych madness.

Watch the video for ‘Skeleton Key’ – BELOW:

As the earliest cuts from the band’s two-decade archive is drawn up from record company vaults, Skeleton Key’s original B-Side, Darkness, also re-emerges in remastered form. A more intimate view on the world of the ascendant Coral, the track returns in all its low-lit, brass-gilded folkish glory, layered with a deep pile of subtle instrumentation.

The Coral’s first headline tour in over three years kicks off in March 2022, coinciding with the reissue of the band’s self-titled, debut album, released on Fri 4 March 2022 on Run On Records in assoc. with Modern Sky. Playing the album in full over twelve UK-wide nights, followed by other classics and fan favourites, all upcoming dates are as follows:

• Thu 3 March 2022 Sheffield, Leadmill
• Fri 4 March 2022 Birmingham, O2 Institute
• Sat 5 March 2022 Manchester, Albert Hall
• Thu 10 March 2022 London, O2 Forum Kentish Town
• Fri 11 March 2022 Bristol, Marble Factory
• Sat 12 March 2022 Oxford, O2 Academy
• Thu 17 March 2022 Leeds, Beckett Students Union
• Fri 18 March 2022 Nottingham, The Level
• Sat 19 March 2022 Glasgow, Barrowland
• Thu 24 March 2022 Newcastle, Riverside
• Fri 25 March 2022 Liverpool, The Invisible Wind Factory – SOLD OUT
• Sat 26 March 2022 Liverpool, The Invisible Wind Factory – SOLD OUT

All remaining tickets for The Coral’s 20th Anniversary Tour are available now via  www.gigsandtours.com  and www.ticketmaster.co.uk

The Coral was originally released on Monday 29 July 2002 and, with the help of the singles Dreaming Of You and Goodbye, catapulted the band to mainstream success at the first attempt, landing a Mercury Prize nomination and Platinum-certification.

Remastered from the original mixes and reissued on standard and special-edition collectors’ vinyl pressings, as well as extended CD, cassette and digital formats, the album also features two, unreleased, never-before-heard-tracks, She’s The Girl For Me and Tumble Graves. Produced by album producer, Ian Broudie, as part of the 2001 album recording sessions, they appear on an all-formats bonus disc, complete with a singles B-sides collection and the band’s pre-album EP The Oldest Path.

Announcing the tour and reissue plans by dropping a remastered version of their 2001 Shadows Fall EP  in September, featuring The Ballad Of Simon Diamond and A Sparrow’s Song, the three-track EP receives it’s first, ever vinyl release as part of the now SOLD OUT, super-limited, Dinked Edition vinyl version of the reissue.

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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