VELVET THUNDER

If you are a fan of Curved Air, or indeed any of the musicians on display here, this is well worth your time to seek out. It gives you this overlooked band’s full discography in one nicely presented helping, with an excellently put together booklet. The band have never been better served.

Most prog fans will surely remember that Darryl Way made his name as the violinist with Curved Air, before he left that band after three albums. What they might not remember was that the band he launched at that time, Wolf, recorded three albums themselves in quick succession, had a very talented line-up, and were tipped for big things by many at the time. That of course didn’t happen, and this fascinating three-disc set of all of their material (including a live radio recording) manages to show simultaneously why that was on the one hand an unfortunate state of affairs, yet also an understandable one. Wolf certainly remained a second division band, and while they certainly had some Premier League qualities, they also had failings which ultimnately cost them that promotion.

The band’s line-up is a startlingly impressive one now, with hindsight. As well as Way and guitarist John Etheridge (later of Soft Machine of course, the drummer was none other than Ian Mosley, whe went on to spend seemingly about a century with Marillion, where he remains to this day (well, 42 years – but that’s still a pretty significant time). Completing the rhyhm section was bassist/vocalist Dek Messecar, who went on to Caravan from here. For the third and final album, John Hodkinson came in as dedicated vocalist, having himself been a founding member of jazz-rock outfit If, appearing on five albums with them. That’s a fairly hefty array of talent for a band who slipped into semi-obscurity, it has to be said. Leet’s have a look at the pros and cons as we go through the three discs here.

The first album, Canis Lupus, is regularly singled out as the band’s best work, but I’m not so easily convinced that it’s quite as straightforward as that, as all three have their different charms. This first release might certainly have claim to be the most consistent listen for sure, with no really poor tracks among its seven. The band’s signature song, Wolf, is certainly a highlight – much of their material is instrumental, but this one contains some very effective singing by Messecar, who seems to be used for the most part as an occasional voice only, either because they didn’t feel it was too strong, or else they just favoured more instrumental material – it’s a bit like Greenslade with the sparingly used Dave Lawson contributing some vocals. Go Down is quite reminiscent of Curved Air (in fact, it’s the track which recalls them the most to these ears), and Cadenza is a wild sort of instrumental solo showcase packed into a quite short piece, as all members get a turn in the spotlight in what sounds a little like Yes being booked to play at a barn dance hoedown! The two most successful tracks are probably the final two, Chansons Sans Paroles and the exquisite Macdonald’s Lament (its title inspired by Ian Macdonald from King Crimson). There is also the splendid bonus of a radio ‘In Concert’ broadcast, featuring great versions of four of the album cuts (showing extra fire in the playing), along with one which would crop up on the sevcond album. A single B-side called Spring Fever, and we’re at the end of a very entertaining first disc.

The follow-up album Saturation Point, released quite soon afterin November of the same year, takes a slightly different direction. The material this time round is almost entirely instrumental, dominated to a greater extent by Way’s violin, and also displays a more jazz-rock fusion approach through many of the tracks. If that makes it sound like an inferior album, that’s not really the case, as its best material is the equal, or perhaps greater, than the first album. The opening track is the instrumental showcase previewed in that live recording, called The Ache, but here it is in a more fully developed form, and is superior. It showcases the band’s collective abilities without doubt. Again the best tracks are loaded onto the end of the album, with the final two being the high points once again. The penultimate title track is a good one, but the real star is the closing Toy Symphony, which has a claim to be Wolf’s finest moment. A fairly lengthy, fully prog, instrumental tour-de-force, it really shows what these guys could do. The lack of vocals doesn’t actually hurt things, as Messecar was not a singer by choice, and in fact the only really lyric-based song here, Two Sisters, is comfortably the weakest as it aims for catchiness but only succeeds in being mildly irritating. There’s a single version of it as well, which understandably flopped, and is only notable for being shorter. The two sides of another, non-album, single are both much better, however, being the oddly ‘five’-connected Five In The Morning and A Bunch Of Fives. Both entirely instrumental and both with no commercial appeal whatsoever, they are however both excellent pieces in their own right and could have replaced Two Sisters and one other album track to make a better record to these ears.

For the third album, the following year’s Night Music (whose cover photo adorns this collection) brought a change, with dedicated singer John Hodkinson coming in to make the band into a five-piece. This caused the material to be more vocal-based, understandably, but this is no bad thing, as Hodkinson possessses a very good voice. Many have written this album off as where the band lost their way, but I wouldn’t agree. It is unsurprisingly far more vocal-driven throughout, but although a couple of the songs are a little weak, the instrumental sections make up for it, Etheridge is in superb form throughout, and really makes the album his own, while Way contributes more keyboards and is less dependent on the violin. It may be the weakest of the three albums, but not by very much, and is still a good listen.

Wolf were probably never going to take the prog world by storm, but they do remain a fascinating listen – not least for the personnel involved. If you are a fan of Curved Air, or indeed any of the musicians on display here, this is well worth your time to seek out. It gives you this overlooked band’s full discography in one nicely presented helping, with an excellently put together booklet. The band have never been better served.