This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Say what you will about psychedelic retro-rockers The Coral, they’re not lazy.
Barely a year after their stunning self-titled debut album — and less than six months after its sophomore-slump sequel Magic And Medicine — these Scouse geezers are back with their third release. You’ll notice I didn’t say third album; with 11 cuts that clock in at barely 28 minutes, it’s hard to tell if Nightfreak & The Sons Of Becker is meant as an EP or a full-length. But there’s no confusion when it comes to the quality of these cuts.
Freeing themselves from the sluggish low-wattage murk of their last disc, the lads have made a triumphant return trip to the sounds of the Sunset Strip circa ’66 — the glory days of Love, The Mothers Of Invention, Captain Beefheart and The Seeds. Numbers like Precious Eyes and Auntie’s Operation are pitch-perfect nuggets of trashy garage-rock and psychedelic swirl, complete with tom-toms a poundin’, cymbals a crashin’, fuzztone guitars drenched in reverb, tape-speed manipulations and lyrics about gargoyles, grey harpoons forgetting your name on Memory Lane. Even if it is just a glorified EP, it’ll hold you over till their next release — which oughta be what, a few months from now?
