The Coral Sea
Live album by Patti Smith and Kevin Shields
Released	July 7, 2008 (2008-07-07)
Recorded	June 22, 2005 (CD1) September 12, 2006 (CD2)
Venue	Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Genre	Spoken word
Length	64:39 (CD1), 54:43 (CD2), 119:22 (Total)
Label	PASK
Producer	Patti Smith, Kevin Shields
Patti Smith live albums chronology
Horses/Horses (2005) The Coral Sea (2008) Outside Society (2011)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
allmusic	[1]
The Guardian	[2]
The Independent	[3]
Mojo	[4]
The New York Times	(favorable)[5]
Pitchfork Media	(6.8/10)[6]
PopMatters	[7]
Q	[8]
Spin	(favorable)[9]
The Village Voice	(favorable)[10]

The Coral Sea is a live recording of two performances by Patti Smith and Kevin Shields from 2005 and 2006.^[11] The set consists of Smith's homage to the photographer, her friend and former lover Robert Mapplethorpe, and consists of the text of her epic 1996 poem of the same title. Shields accompanies in an improvisational manner on guitar.

Recording

The performances were recorded on June 22, 2005 and September 12, 2006 (with a third, unreleased performance the previous night) at Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank. In terms of music the two performances are stylistically different, but the words remain the same. The poem tells the story of M (Mapplethorpe) on a final voyage to see the stars of the Southern Cross before he dies.

Track listing

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from The Coral Sea's liner notes.^[12]

Performers

• Patti Smith – vocals
• Kevin Shields – guitar, mixing

Technical personnel

• Ben Thackeray – engineer
• Emery Dobyns – engineer

Design personnel

• Xiaofei Zhang – art direction, design

Release history