Darryl Way’s Wolf -

Darryl Way’s Wolf was an English jazz-rock band responsible for the 1973–74 Deram albums Canis Lupus, Saturation Point, and Night Music. Way led Wolf between stints as Curved Air‘s violinist.

Members: Ian Mosley (drums), Dek Messecar (bass, vocals, 1972-74), Darryl Way (violin, viola, keyboards), John Etheridge (guitar), John Hodkinson [Tony Allen] (vocals, 1974)

Background

Darryl Way (b. December 14, 1948) studied classical violin at the Royal College of Music. In 1969, he co-founded Curved Air, which signed to Warner Bros. for the 1970–72 albums Airconditioning, Second Album, and Phantasmagoria. For creative reasons, he left the band in late-1972 and formed Wolf with guitarist John Etheridge, bassist Dek Messecar, and drummer Ian Mosley.

John Etheridge hailed from Icarus, which sparked litigation from Marvel Comics over the 1972 Pye International release The Marvel World of Icarus.

Messecar was part of the duo Dek & Jerry, which cut the 1966 Philips single “What’s The Matter With Me” (b/w “Don’t Waste Your Time”).

Canis Lupus

Darryl Way’s Wolf released their debut album, Canis Lupus, in 1973 on Deram. Way composed “The Void” and co-wrote the rest of Side One (Vocals) with Dek Messecar.

Side Two (Instrumental) contains co-writes with Ian Mosley (“Cadenza”) and John Etheridge (“Chanson Sans Paroles”) and closes with the group-composed “McDonald’s Lament,” an ode to producer (and ex-King Crimson keyboardist) Ian McDonald, who plays piano and tambourine on “Chanson.”

A1. “The Void” (4:35)
A2. “Isolation Waltz” (4:37)
A3. “Go Down” (4:45)
A4. “Wolf” (4:06)

B1. “Cadenza” (4:48)
B2. “Chanson Sans Paroles” (6:28)
B3. “McDonald’s Lament” (7:10)

Sessions occurred in Central London at Advision Studios, where Ian McDonald produced the album in sequence with Lonesome Stone, a cast recording of the Jesus musical. These were his first sound credits after the 1970 post-Crimson release McDonald & Giles. Advision’s Mike Dunne engineered Canis Lupus in sequence with Yessongs and 1973 albums by Badger, Flash, Hugh Hopper, and Sundance.

Canis Lupus appeared in a gatefold that shows close-up wolf pics by wildlife photographers Bruce Coleman (front) and Jane Burton (back). The inner-gates feature shady monochrome performace pics and liner notes by Melody Maker journalist Chris Welch.

On March 16, 1973, Deram issued “Wolf” as a single backed with “Spring Fever,” a non-album track credited to band manager Peter Hadlow.

B. “Spring Fever”

Saturation Point

Darryl Way’s Wolf released their second album, Saturation Point, in November 1973 on Deram. Way composed everything apart from two John Etheridge numbers, “Slow Rag” and “Game of X.”

A1. “The Ache” (4:50)
A2. “Two Sisters” (4:20)
A3. “Slow Rag” (5:17)
A4. “Market Overture” (3:38)

B1. “Game of X” (5:48)
B2. “Saturation Point” (6:45)
B3. “Toy Symphony” (7:16)

Saturation Point was produced by Curved Air associate Sean Davies and engineered by Decca staffer Derek Varnals, a soundman on recent albums by Caravan (For Girls Who Grow Plump In the Night) and Thin Lizzy (Vagabonds of the Western World).

Saturation Point appeared in a single sleeve with a framed photo of a wolves den under gunfire, backed with a sketch of a wolf/fox encounter.

Deram lifted a single edit of “Two Sisters” (3:21) backed with the earlier “Go Down.” Later CD reissues add the edit with two additional Way-tracks, originally released as a non-album 1973 single under the name Wolf.

A. “A Bunch of Fives” (3:31)
B. “Five In the Morning” (2:40)

Darryl Way hired singer John Hodkinson, fresh off a four-year stint with If, the brass-rock ensemble responsible for the 1970–72 Island–UA titles If 1, If 2, If 3 and If 4 [aka Waterfall].

Night Music

Darryl Way’s Wolf released their third album, Night Music, in 1974 on Deram.

Way composed three tracks (“Anteros,” “We’re Watching You,” “Comrade of the Nine”), and co-wrote songs with John Hodkinson (“Black September,” “Steal the World”) and Dek Messecar (“The Envoy”). John Etheridge submitted “Flat 2-55.”

A1. “The Envoy”
A2. “Black September”
A3. “Flat 2-55”

B1. “Anteros”
B2. “We’re Watching You”
B3. “Steal the World”
B4. “Comrade of the Nine”

Wolf recorded Night Music with the Saturation Point sound-team: Davies (identified as ‘Shaun’ instead of ‘Sean’) and Derek Varnals, who engineered mid-Seventies Moodies-solo titles by Justin Hayward, Ray Thomas, and the Graeme Edge Band.

Night Music appeared in a single sleeve design by the post-psych graphics firm Hipgnosis. It shows the band in a cramped dark space illuminated in red by candlelight. Hollies illustrator Colin Elgie designed the album’s band logo, which shows the head of a domestic house cat over twin circles with the word “WOLF” spelled with wolves claws.

Post-Wolf

Darryl Way rejoined Curved Air for their 1975–76 albums Midnight Wire and Airborne. In 1978, he released a solo album, Concerto For Electric Violin, and played on titles by Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithfull, Pierre Moerlen’s Gong, and Wayne Country & The Electric Chairs. He reteamed with onetime Curved Air bandmate Francis Monkman for the 1981 album Dweller On The Threshold. In 1984, he re-teamed with Sonja Kristina for the single “Renegade” (b/w “We’re Only Human”), released as Curved Air ’84.

John Etheridge joined Soft Machine for the 1976–77 recordings Softs and Alive and Well: Recorded in Paris. In 1980, he formed 2nd Vision for the Chrysalis jazz-rock album First Steps.

Dek Messecar joined Caravan for their 1977–80 albums Better By Far and The Album.

John Hodkinson cut three albums with the folk-pop trio Rogue.

Ian Mosley joined the Dutch symphonic trio Trace for their 1975 second album Birds. After a stint in Gordon Giltrap‘s backing band, he played on early Eighties albums by Steve Hackett, Sally Oldfield, and Renaissance. In 1984, he joined Marillion as their permanent drummer.

Discography: