Sessions were produced by the Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie, with co-production from the Coral; recording continued in-between tours of the United States and Europe, finishing in April 2003.

The album's third and fourth singles, "Secret Kiss" and "Bill McCai", were released on 6 October 2003 and 24 November 2003, respectively; the latter coincided with a UK tour in the same month.

Magic and Medicine received generally favourable reviews from music critics, with some finding it an improvement over the Coral's debut album.

The Coral released their self-titled debut studio album in July 2002, through Deltasonic; it charted at number five in the United Kingdom, where it was subsequently certified gold.

[5] By October 2002, they were recording material for it; Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds as the main producer, with co-production from the band, and Jon Gray acting as engineer.

[7] In early 2003, the band supported Supergrass on their tour of the United States, which featured appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Last Call with Carson Daly, and then went to Europe.

Additional musicians appeared on the recordings: Louis Baccino with a flute on "Don't Think You're the First"; Megan Childs of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci with a violin on "Milkwood Blues"; Martin Smith, Simon James and Andy Frizell with brass on "Eskimo Lament" and "Confessions of A.D.D.D.

[18] Skelly said the chorus lyrics were adapted from a Woody Guthrie track; bassist Paul Duffy said his part was influenced by the work of the Beach Boys.

[20][21] "Don't Think You're the First" begins similar to songs by the Doors, with a key change during the middle section, accompanied by a melodica, before leading into dub reggae.

[24] While Duffy said it influenced by a song by Nat King Cole, the rest of the band said the music was a homage to the sound of Joe Meek, with guitarist Lee Southall using part of his instrument to make Meek-like percussion.

[25][26][27] "Liezah" is an acoustic song, with a melody evoking Belle and Sebastian, that talks about a character that was influenced by The Sun Also Rises (1926) by Ernest Hemingway.

[28][29] The band compared the Moby Grape-indebted "Talkin' Gypsy Market Blues" to work of Cheech & Chong and "Motorpsycho Nitemare" (1964) by Bob Dylan.

[32] "Secret Kiss" is a slower song with an organ part in the vein of the Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and a clipping guitar riff styled after Pink Floyd.

[13] "Eskimo Lament" features gentle piano, plucked guitarwork and a trumpet; Power said he wanted it to have a "funeral procession feel", attempting to emulate "I'm Only Sleeping" (1966) by the Beatles and "Rockin' Chair" (1969) by the Band.

[45] Two versions were released on CD in the UK: the first with "Witchcraft", "See-Through Bergerac", and the music video for "Don't Think You're the First", while the second featured "Tiger Lily" and "Teenage Machine Age".

[63] Two versions were released on CD in the UK: the first with "Who's That Knockin'", "See My Love", and the music video for "Secret Kiss", while the second included "God Knows" and "Not the Girl".

[67] Two versions were released on CD in the UK: the first with "Boy at the Window", "Nosferatu", and the music video for "Bill McCai", while the second featured "When the Good Times Go Bad" and "From a Leaf to a Tree".

[73] In a review for Entertainment Weekly, Greg Kot wrote that it lacked "the self-titled debut's exhilarating peaks," though found Magic and Medicine to be "more consistent.

[75] In a review for Rolling Stone, Jenny Eliscu wrote that with a number of the "flower-power rockers" the Coral imitate, they "seem to have run out of material after they recorded their debut."

[82] Pitchfork contributor Neil Robertson noted the "frenetic freakout leanings" of their debut had been removed "in favor of a more humble approach", with more emphasis on the song writing, "[i]t all sounds far less interesting.

"[80] David Peschek of The Guardian referred to the album as "an ultimately frustrating piece of work", while "more often than not this music feels like a tasteful collection of lovely sounds rather than songs.