Night of the Wolverine

Night of the Wolverine is the third album by Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes (also seen as Dave Graney with the Coral Snakes). The album was released in April 1993 on Mercury Records. With Graney on vocals, the Coral Snakes line-up included his wife Clare Moore on drums and percussion; Robin Casinader on keyboards, violin and mandolin; Rob Hayward on lead guitar; and Andrew Picouleau on bass guitar. Tex Perkins of tour mates, The Cruel Sea, guested on lead vocals for "Night of the Wolverine II" with Amanda Mitchell on backing vocals. The title track and "You're Just Too Hip, Baby" reached No. 48 and No. 59, respectively, on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 1993. Night of the Wolverine earned an ARIA Award nomination for 'Best Alternative Release' at the 1994 ARIA Music Awards.

Night of the Wolverine
1993 Mercury digipak front cover
Studio album by
Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes
ReleasedApril 1993
Recorded20–22 December 1992
GenreRock
Length53:40
LabelMercury
ProducerDave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes, Tony Cohen
Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes chronology
The Lure of the Tropics
(1992)		 Night of the Wolverine
(1993)		 You Wanna Be There But You Don't Wanna Travel
(1994)
Alternative Cover
1996 re-release

Background

At the end of 1992, Graney signed a publishing deal with Polygram music and used the advance to finance the recording of Night of the Wolverine.

It was going to have to be cheap so we recorded what we'd been working on as "the soft'n'sexy shows" and got Andrew [Picouleau] in to guest on bass. On Saturday December the 19th we played at the Lounge, on the Sunday we recorded 9 songs at Metropolis, on the Monday and Tuesday we recorded two more songs and then mixed the whole lot at Atlantis. Adam Yazxhi, who had worked at MDS, who imported My Life on the Plains and I Was the Hunter... and I Was the Prey into Australia, was now setting up a small label at Mercury and wanted to put the album out. The title track was an attempt to make something in the style of Lou Reed's "Street Hassle". That was a long story song which featured a sweet middle section where Bruce Springsteen came in to read a few lines of lyrical stuff. In the middle of ours, Tex Perkins from the Cruel Sea came in and did something similar, "The King of Adelaide".

— Dave Graney[1]

It is described as "a certified Australian rock classic. It captured Graney at the peak of his songwriting powers ... [tracks were] full of elegant and eccentric detail".[2] Tex Perkins (The Cruel Sea) guested on lead vocals for "Night of the Wolverine II" with Amanda Mitchell on backing vocals.[2] No singles were released but a video was made by Tony Mahony for the song "You're Just Too Hip, Baby". The title track and "You're Just Too Hip, Baby" reached No. 48 and No. 59, respectively, on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 1993.[3] The band undertook a six-week national tour with Hunters & Collectors, followed by another national tour with The Cruel Sea; this raised their profile with mainstream music critics.[4] The album earned an ARIA Award nomination for 'Best Alternative Release' at the 1994 ARIA Music Awards.[5]

Night of the Wolverine was re-released in 1996 in Australia with a different cover, and in the United Kingdom on the This Way Up label. Two singles, "Three Dead Passengers" and "You're Just Too Hip, Baby" were released at that time. It was also re-released on the Cockaigne label in 2004 with extra tracks from albums after Coral Snakes disbanded.

Reception

Professional reviews
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [6]

Allmusic's Jonathan Lewis said the album was "Part lounge, part country, and part straightforward pop... A disarmingly likeable mixture of gently humorous lyrics backed by the impeccable musicianship of the Coral Snakes, this album deserved to be huge".[6] Ed Nimmervoll described the album, "[it] revealed, the fertile imagination of its primary songwriter, shedding the cowboy clothes for the mysteriously elusive character of the 'Wolverine'. The album is one of the classic records of Australian music, Graney dipping into his own past as well as literature and film for inspiration. The album's contents, and high profile tours... set Dave Graney up to become a firm favourite with Australian music critics. Night of the Wolverine had been written and recorded without a conscious plan of attack. It just was".[4] Ian McFarlane said it was "a certified Australian rock classic. It captured Graney at the peak of his songwriting powers... [tracks were] full of elegant and eccentric detail".[2]

Track listing
  1. "You're Just Too Hip Baby" (Dave Graney)[7] – 4:20
  2. "Mogambo" (Graney)[8] – 3:49
  3. "Night of the Wolverine I" (Graney)[9] – 4:46
  4. "I'm Just Havin' One O' Those Lives"(Graney)[10] – 3:47
  5. "I Held the Cool Breeze" (Graney)[11] – 4:24
  6. "I Remember You (You're the Girl I Love)" (Graney)[12] – 3:40
  7. "Three Dead Passengers in a Stolen Second Hand Ford" (Graney, Stephen Cummings)[13] – 4:00
  8. "That's the Way It's Gonna Be"(Graney)[14] – 3:56
  9. "Maggie Cassidy" (Graney)[15] – 4:11
  10. "You Need to Suffer" (Graney)[16] – 3:19
  11. "Night of the Wolverine II" (Graney)[9] – 8:32
    (i) "If I Could Have Stayed at Home"
    (ii) "The King of Adelaide"
    (iii) "You Could Always Make the Band Laugh"
  12. "Out There (In the Night of Time)" (Graney)[17] – 4:56

Bonus tracks

  1. "Death by a Thousand Sucks" (Graney)[18] – 3:36
  2. "All of Me" (Clare Moore)[19] – 2:58
  3. "Don't Mess with the Blood" (Graney)[20] – 3:28
  4. "All Our Friends Were Stars" (Graney)[21] – 3:53
  5. "Are You Wearing Despair?" (Robin Casinader)[22] – 5:59
  6. "La Nuit du Wolverine" (Graney)[9] – 4:46

Personnel

Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes members

Additional musicians

  • Amanda Mitchell – background vocals on "Night of the Wolverine II"
  • Tex Perkins – lead vocals on "Night of the Wolverine II"

Production details

  • Producer – Tony Cohen, Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes
  • Engineer – Tony Cohen
  • Studio – Metropolis (recording); Atlantis, Melbourne (recording, mixing)

Art work

  • Cover art – Tony Mahony

References
  1. "Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes-1987/1997". Dave Graney. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  2. McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on June 4, 2004. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  3. "1993 | history | triple j hottest 100". Triple J (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)). 2008. Archived from the original on 2015-06-22. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  4. Nimmervoll, Ed. "Dave Graney (with the Coral Snakes, and The Dave Graney Show)". Howlspace – The Living History of Our Music (Ed Nimmervoll). White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 27 July 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  5. "ARIA Awards 2010 : History: Winners by Artist: Dave Graney". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  6. Lewis, Jonathan. "Night of the Wolverine > Review". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  7. ""You're Just Too Hip Baby" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  8. ""Mogambo" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  9. ""Night of the Wolverine" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  10. ""I'm Just Havin' One O' Those Lives" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  11. ""I Held the Cool Breeze" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  12. ""I Remember You (You're the Girl I Love)" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  13. ""Three Dead Passengers in a Stolen Second Hand Ford" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  14. ""That's the Way It's Gonna Be" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  15. ""Maggie Cassidy" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  16. ""You Need to Suffer" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  17. ""Out There (In the Night of Time)" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  18. ""Death by a Thousand Sucks" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  19. ""All of Me" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  20. ""Don't Mess with the Blood" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  21. ""All Our Friends Were Stars" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  22. ""Are You Wearing Despair?" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 14 January 2011.
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