Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker is a mini album and third studio album by English rock band the Coral, released on 26 January 2004 by Deltasonic. The Coral began writing the record less than a month after releasing their second studio album, Magic and Medicine (2003). Recording for the album took place over 12 days at Bryn Derwen Studios in Wales with producer Ian Broudie, frontman for the Lightning Seeds; the Coral served as co-producers. Described as a lo-fi neo-psychedelia release, Nightfreak is a concept album about German tennis player Boris Becker.

Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker received generally favourable reviews from music critics, with particular compliments for the songwriting. Comparisons have been made to the work of Captain Beefheart and to the Mwng (2000) era of Super Furry Animals. Commercially, the album reached number four on the Scottish Albums Charts and number five on the UK Albums Chart, while also charting in France, Ireland, and Japan. The album received little promotion and no single releases, as the Coral viewed it as a stop-gap release between Magic and Medicine and their next full-length studio album. Only 75,000 copies of Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker were initially released in the UK.

Background and recording

The Coral released their eponymous debut studio album in July 2002. They quickly followed this with their second effort, Magic and Medicine, in July 2003. Both albums were certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). A month after releasing Magic and Medicine, the Coral had begun writing material for a follow-up release.

Recording for Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker took place in September 2003. Sessions were held at Bryn Derwen Studios in Wales, with Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds serving as the main producer, and Jon Gray serving as the engineer. Gary Butler mastered the album at RTS Onestop in Prescot, Merseyside. It is followed by the dance song "Venom Cable", with a funk guitar line and an organ heard during the middle eight. The beginning of "I Forgot My Name" channels songs by the Animals and Them, before shifting in a section similar to the Mothers of Invention. "Song of the Corn" is a folk song, with a changing time signature in the vein of the Beta Band. "Why Does the Sun Come Up?" acts as an interlude, consisting of snippets that the band recorded from cable television while they were on tour in the US. The album closes with "Lover's Paradise", a homage to music hall that has drawn comparisons to the Beatles. Two performances had to be canceled when Skelly lost his voice. Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker was released in the UK on 26 January 2004, via Deltasonic. A limited release, only 75,000 copies were pressed.

Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker is a mini album, intended by the band to serve as a stop-gap release before their next studio album. Ryder-Jones told reporters that the band did not want audiences to view Nightfreak as "a big third album [...] It's like a mini-album that we just sort of rushed into, and it [...] looks smaller, doesn't it? It looks like less of a deal." On 10 February 2004, the album was released in the US as a two-CD package alongside Magic and Medicine. The record label Music on CD later reissued the album in 2016.

Reception

Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker was met with generally favourable from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 62, based on 12 reviews. A guest writer of Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that the band "tend to refer to many musical styles" across their albums, which was an "approach [that] works again on this record". They added that it "boils with energy, excitement, and a passion to experiment", though a song such as "Keep Me Company" "may not be in line with the overall tone of the album". Toledo Blade Richard Paton wrote that the mini-LP's runtime was "long enough, because at times [it] sounds like a bad musical flashback". Billboard writer Susanne Ault referred to the album as "experimentation for experimentation's sake [...] wherein special effects drown out too many of the harmonies". Pitchfork contributor Neil Robertson called Nightfreak "a flatulent, irrelevant, self-indulgent attempt at recapturing the hotwired spontaneity of their debut through a dirge of sub-par psychedelia and try-hard freakouts".

The Coral

  • James Skelly – vocals, guitar
  • Lee Southall – guitar
  • Bill Ryder-Jones – guitar
  • Paul Duffy – bass guitar
  • Nick Power – keyboards
  • Ian Skelly – drums

Production and design

  • Ian Broudie – producer
  • The Coral – co-producer
  • Jon Gray – engineer
  • Gary Butler – mastering
  • Ian Skelly – sleeve illustrations
  • Kevin Power – photography, design
  • Juno – design

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Chart performance for Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker

! scope="col"| Chart (2004)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

|-

|-

|-

! scope="row"| Japan (Oricon)

| 68

|-

|-

|}

References

  • Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)