Patti Smith and Kevin Shields - Coral Sea (mp3 inside)

I've listened to the first 15 minutes and there are some amazing bits were Patti Smith starts to sing. It's brilliant.

around 34 minutes is a segment of Shields by himself.

The return of Kevin Shields

However, most comments were about getting a copy of the performance and there was hardly any discussion about the actual music.

I finally listened to this all the way through ... it's incredible, 60 minutes of hazy guitar ambience, and Patti's chants blend in nicely so you don't have to try to understand the words if you don't want to. Damn. Now I gotta follow that up by listening to some Tim Hecker ...

Having been at the Meltdown show, I bought tickets for both shows last night - believe me, it's worth going into yr overdraft for.

Kevin Shields had said in the past that people overstate how studio-based an album 'Loveless' is, but only seeing 'The Coral Sea' convinced me that there's very little studio trickery going on in 'Loveless'. I damn near wept. I can't wait to see this again. Twice.

Getting a formal release:

PATTI SMITH AND KEVIN SHIELDS SET TO RELEASE THE CORAL SEA
EMOTIONAL SPOKEN-WORD REQUIEM RECORDED LIVE IN 2005 & 2006
DOUBLE-DISC RELEASE SET FOR JULY 11. 2008

Legendary artist Patti Smith and My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields are set to release a double-disc set of their live performance of The Coral Sea on July 11, 2008 on their own PASK imprint. The Coral Sea is Patti Smith's posthumous homage to her friend and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and the title to her 1996 book. Kevin Shields accompanies her on guitars and effects and creates a haunting backdrop to the spoken prose.

The recordings were made June 22nd 2005 and September 12th, 2006 respectively at sold-out performances at the QEH in London. The set will run almost two-hours with a different stylistic approach to each performance. The UK's Guardian upon reviewing the 2005 performance gave it 5 stars and called it "magical."

One critic said of the live performance: A kind of screaming requiem, The Coral Sea describes Mapplethorpe's terminal illness. Intense, layered electronics surged to a discordant climax as Patti Smith read her poem, the words sailing over the noise like an ocean liner, with the black-and-white video showing the ocean, the liner and the grey twilight of grief. The poem tells the story of M (Mapplethorpe) on a final voyage to see the stars of the Southern Cross before he dies.

Long-rumored to be released on CD, this first official issuing of these live recordings have been curated with care by both Patti Smith and Kevin Shields. Whether the duo will reprise this performance in the future is still unknown.

what label is this going to be on? this is Kevin Shields' best work since Loveless! :D

their own PASK imprint

I want to assume it stands for "Patti and Shields (Kevin)"

oops yeah, i can read. but this IS very good stuff -- I look forward to hearing it in pro sound quality ...

Yeah, it's great--and here's as much about it (a tiny bit) as I could figure out how to get into this space (if the link doesn't work, just do an Advanced Google with Coral Sea as exact phrase, villagevoice.com as domain name)
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-07-09/music/patti-smith-amp-kevin-shields-s-the-coral-sea/

I approached this record with some doubt, but this is actually a wonderfully moving trip.

Anybody who is a fan of either should lap it up.

Shield's guitar is reminiscent of those lovely glides which segue the Tremelo ep

Patti Smith delivers her poetry so beautifully too.

A totally harmonious blend

Think I'll wait for the Scooter remix.

Have you heard Shields' remix of Scooter's ,'Move yer Ass'?

It's fucking sublime. Verbed up pan pipes and all

I'm thinking of getting this but am suspicious that it's all going to be tasteful Ralph Towner shit. Still I suppose I'd better check the mp3 out.

I approached this record with some doubt, but this is actually a wonderfully moving trip.

This ^^^

Just picked this up today, it's pretty damn good. And frankly, I couldn't give two shits about Patti Smith, but she's alright on this. Shields' guitar is very distinctively... Shields. It almost sounds like Stars of the Lid in some of the quieter parts -- makes me wonder how influential MBV was on them, if at all. The similarities certainly come through here.

i like this quite a lot but it's very heavy going to take in one sitting..

Finally got around to getting this on CD yesterday. I've only listened to the 2005 recording so far (CD1) but it's jaw demolishingly brilliant. Mastered beautifully so all Patti's words are audible even when K turns up the heat towards the end.

So far it's up there with Blue Notes For Mongezi in terms of searing extended musical requiems and one of the albums of 2008 without a doubt.

Ha, I only just picked this up the other day myself, but I had an mp3 from an audience recording kicking around. It is quite something.

Yep, this is really good.

CD2 is fantastic as well. Structured completely differently from the first reading and its power subtly sneaks up on you. The last five minutes or so are explosive.

A masterpiece.