Norfolk Coast (album)

After four albums in the 1990s where the Stranglers struggled commercially, and with a growing inter-band conflict that left bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel's enthusiasm for the band at an all-time low, Burnel decided to step up and regain control of the band. On 1998's Coup de Grace, he had already had a greater writing input than on the previous albums. "At one point we were a bit lost, direction wise, and musically," Burnel said in 2014. "I hadn't contributed much and suddenly I had this revival of interest." In 1999, Burnel retreated to the secluded Norfolk village of Holme-next-the-Sea, bringing along his guitars and recording equipment, looking for inspiration to write songs. Inspired by the beautiful coastline, the seclusion, and what was going on in his head at that time, "I just wrote a body of work which we used in the Norfolk Coast album." The title track and "Big Thing Coming" were the first two songs he wrote for the album, The songwriting partnership of Burnel and Warne started two months after Warne had joined the band. They kept writing and working on songs for the album until 2002–2003, and then the band started recording the album in Mark Wallis' Good Luck Studios in London. The band made the decision to play every song live before recording it, which meant that they were in the studio for very little time, according to Burnel. Although some songs were co-writes, many songs were mainly individual efforts. In addition to "Norfolk Coast" and "Big Thing Coming", Burnel also wrote "Lost Control", and Warne contributed "Long Black Veil", "Dutch Moon", "Into the Fire" and "I've Been Wild", the band's manager Sil Willcox bought the farm house in which Tucker died, Charlton Farm, which would house the band's rehearsal and recording studios. Norfolk Coast was also the name of a short film starring Jean Jacques Burnel, which premiered in March 2006. It is available on the 2006 DVD On Stage on Screen and features rearranged music from the album. Directed by Robin Bextor and co-starring Susannah York, the film won a number of awards. ==Album cover==

The cover photograph was taken on Hunstanton Beach in Norfolk in the summer of 2003 by American music photographer Harrison Funk. ==Track listing==

;Canadian CD bonus track ;Japanese CD bonus track • "Peaches 2004" is taken from the "Big Thing Coming" single. "Cruel Garden" is taken from Laid Black, an album of acoustic re-workings, which was issued by the band as a mail order-only release in 2001. ==Personnel==

The Stranglers • Paul Roberts – lead vocals, percussion • Jean-Jacques Burnel – bass, vocals • Baz Warne – guitar, vocals • Dave Greenfield – keyboards, vocals • Jet Black – drums, percussion Additional musicians • Jon Sevink – violin solo (track 10) Technical • Mark Wallis – production, engineering, programming • David Ruffy – production (except track 1), engineering, programming • Peter Glenister – production (track 1) • Steve Proctor – additional programming • Louie Nicastro – pre-production engineering • Max Bisgrove – pre-production engineering • Harrison Funk – photography • Darren Evans – design Bonus tracks • Mark Wallis – production, engineering ("Peaches 2004") • Peter Glenister – production, engineering ("Peaches 2004") • Max Bisgrove – production, engineering, mixing ("Cruel Garden") ==Charts==