In thrall to the 60's beat generation of pop musicians since the scallywag bag of bones that was their debut, The Coral have stuck steadfastly to a tried and tested formula which has, on occasion, left them sounding jaded.
Never more so than on 2005's 'The Invisible Invasion', the Scousers 4th album in just 3 years, and on which their odyssey to recapture the spirit of their swinging sixties forefathers ran desperately aground.
Since giving themselves some breathing space however, they've returned with the admirable 'Roots & Echoes' and now, three years on, 'Butterfly House' sees them at something approaching their barnstorming best.
The influence of producer John Leckie is clear - the man responsible for the much adored Stone Roses debut album - and, although it isn't fit to wash the feet of that masterpiece, there is an air of majesty to the pop hooks here that may similarly echo through the ages.
Both album opener 'More Than A Lover' and the succeeding 'Roving Jewel' sparkle with a renewed sense of purpose and lead single 'A Thousand Years' is instantaneously memorable for its brazen pop sensibilities.
Perhaps surprising, considering the departure of guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones, is the continual existence of those jangly guitar lines synonomous with the verve and infectious cascade of past glories.
'Butterfly House' is the best example with its rolicking coda of electric sqeals and riffing mastery, it's clear The Coral haven't lost any of the creative edge that so often blights those who lose a founder member.
James Skelly's lyrics, although rarely substantive, manage to capture an ethereal charm, turning "scarlet curtains hanging in the window" into a portent symbol of melancholy and the flickering lamp from behind a blind into a Dickensian suggestion of wistful existence.
The only disappointment then is that, with The Coral maturing into indie-pop stalwarts, the surrealism initially displayed on their much acclaimed debut has now all but vanished. There's not a single trace of those shambling sea shanties come 2010 and I, for one, miss them just a little bit.
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