The Coral reveal new album details

by Kev Geoghegan
Radio 1 music reporter

Noel Gallagher joined the band on stage at the BBC Electric Proms

The Coral have been talking about their plans for a fifth studio album.

The Merseyside band are releasing a collection of their singles, which includes a new track Being Somebody Else on 15 September.

Their last album Roots & Echoes, released in August 2007, debuted at number eight in the UK chart.

The new record will include titles like Green Is The Colour and Rovin In The Jewel - which the band have already started playing live.

"We've only played the new single live, like three or four times", said singer James Skelly ahead of a show at London's Coliseum on 29 July.

He continued: "It's sounding good but you always get it how you want it about a year after you've recorded it.

Skelly revealed the band worked with Irish musician and songwriter Sean O'Hagan on the track.

He said: "We did some strings with Sean from the High Llamas who does Beach Boys type stuff and then went into the studio with Broudie."

The "Broudie" Skelly referred to is Ian Broudie, one time member of The Lightening Seeds and co-writer of England World Cup song Three Lions.

Broudie has produced three of the band's albums and joined them on stage at the Coliseum show.

The Coral count him as one of their close industry friends alongside such musical luminaries as Noel Gallagher, who joined them on stage for their gig at the BBC Electric Proms, and the Arctic Monkeys who were rumoured to be joining them at the Coliseum.

We've got a good one called Coney Island James Skelly

The Coral zipped through a 21 track set list in a little over an hour proving, if nothing else, that they certainly know how to write snappy 3 minute pop songs.

They even managed to fit in cover of Everybody's Talkin', though Skelly pointed out that it was a tribute to the song's writer Fred Neil than any of the artists who have since covered it.

Alongside hits like In The Morning and Dreaming Of You, there was a good crowd response for the new tracks like Green and Rovin'.

Skelly revealed they have written "13 or 14 tracks but you can always write more".

He said: "We've got a good one called Coney Island. It's about a day when we mastered the last album in the US and we just got the train up to Coney Island. There was no-one there and I just love stuff like that.

"We're lucky to see stuff like that, being in a band."

But Skelly reckons that, despite having most of the album written, it will be a while before fans get to hear it.

He said: "I'd like to play the tunes live before we record them because loads of the last album we played about four times before we recorded it.

"For some reason I just though that was better."

So for now, it looks like fans will have to be contented with the singles collection, though Skelly says they should have some added extras, including a documentary made up of footage the band have recorded since they formed 12 years ago.

He said: "There's not really any talking in it. It's just loads of little films we made. There are performances and stuff and we did a new song called The Watcher, which doesn't appear anywhere else."

The Coral are due to perform at the Connect festival on 30 August and Bestival in the Isle of Wight on 5 September.

Set list

Spanish Main

Who's Gonna Find Me

Jacqueline

Simon Diamond

'Shadows Fall'

Goodbye

Pass It On

Liezah

Green Is The Colour

In The Morning

Bill McCai

Fireflies

Being Somebody Else

Don't Think You're The First

Put The Sun Back

Rovin In The Jewel

Everybody's Talkin'

Dreaming Of You

Careless Hands

Calendars And Clocks

Bye Bye Love