Night of the Wolverine
Encyclopedia
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
. It 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 Graney and Moore's own Cockaigne label in 2004 with extra tracks from albums after Coral Snakes disbanded.
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". Tex Perkins
(The Cruel Sea
) guested on lead vocals for "Night of the Wolverine II" with Amanda Mitchell on backing vocals. No singles 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
. The band undertook a six week national tour with Hunters & Collectors
, followed by another national tour with The Cruel Sea
; which raised their profile with mainstream music critics. The album earned an ARIA Award nomination for 'Best Alternative Release' at the 1994 ARIA Music Awards
.
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 Cockaigne in 2004 with extra tracks from albums after Coral Snakes disbanded.
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". 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".
Bonus tracks
Additional musicians
Production details
Art work
Dave Graney
David John "Dave" Graney is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter from Mount Gambier, South Australia. Since 1979, Graney is generally accompanied by drummer, Clare Moore...
'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
Clare Moore
Clare Christina Moore is an Australian musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and performer whose principal instrument is the drums. She has also performed as a keyboard player, singer and vibraphone player...
on drums and percussion; Robin Casinader
Robin Casinader
Robin Romesh Casinader is an Australian composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist.He has been a member of many bands including Plays With Marionettes with Hugo Race, The Wreckery with Hugo Race and Nick Barker, and Dave Graney And The Coral Snakes...
on keyboards, violin and mandolin; Rob Hayward on lead guitar; and Andrew Picouleau on bass guitar. Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins is an Australian singer-songwriter, who is widely known for fronting the popular Australian rock-band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many...
of tour mates, The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (band)
The Cruel Sea are an Australian indie rock band from Sydney formed in late 1987. Originally an instrumental-only band, they became more popular when fronted by vocalist Tex Perkins in addition to Jim Elliott on drums, Ken Gormly on bass guitar, Dan Rumour on guitar and James Cruickshank on guitar...
, 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
Triple J Hottest 100, 1993
The 1993 Triple J Hottest 100, counted down in January 1994, was the first countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J...
. Night of the Wolverine earned an ARIA Award nomination for 'Best Alternative Release' at the 1994 ARIA Music Awards
ARIA Music Awards of 1994
The Eighth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 30 March 1994 at the State Theatre in Sydney...
. It 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 Graney and Moore's own Cockaigne label in 2004 with extra tracks from albums after Coral Snakes disbanded.
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 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". Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins is an Australian singer-songwriter, who is widely known for fronting the popular Australian rock-band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many...
(The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (band)
The Cruel Sea are an Australian indie rock band from Sydney formed in late 1987. Originally an instrumental-only band, they became more popular when fronted by vocalist Tex Perkins in addition to Jim Elliott on drums, Ken Gormly on bass guitar, Dan Rumour on guitar and James Cruickshank on guitar...
) guested on lead vocals for "Night of the Wolverine II" with Amanda Mitchell on backing vocals. No singles 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
Triple J Hottest 100, 1993
The 1993 Triple J Hottest 100, counted down in January 1994, was the first countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J...
. The band undertook a six week national tour with Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk...
, followed by another national tour with The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea or Cruel Sea may refer to:*The Cruel Sea , a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat*The Cruel Sea , a 1953 film made of the above book, starring Jack Hawkins...
; which raised their profile with mainstream music critics. The album earned an ARIA Award nomination for 'Best Alternative Release' at the 1994 ARIA Music Awards
ARIA Music Awards of 1994
The Eighth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 30 March 1994 at the State Theatre in Sydney...
.
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 Cockaigne in 2004 with extra tracks from albums after Coral Snakes disbanded.
Professional reviews
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". Ed NimmervollEd Nimmervoll
Edward Francis "Ed" Nimmervoll is an Australian rock music journalist, author and historian. He worked on rock magazines Go-Set and Juke both as a journalist and as an editor...
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". 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".
Track listing
- "You're Just Too Hip Baby" (Dave GraneyDave GraneyDavid John "Dave" Graney is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter from Mount Gambier, South Australia. Since 1979, Graney is generally accompanied by drummer, Clare Moore...
) – 4:20 - "Mogambo" (Graney) – 3:49
- "Night of the Wolverine I" (Graney) – 4:46
- "I'm Just Havin' One O' Those Lives"(Graney) – 3:47
- "I Held the Cool Breeze" (Graney) – 4:24
- "I Remember You (You're the Girl I Love)" (Graney) – 3:40
- "Three Dead Passengers in a Stolen Second Hand Ford" (Graney, Stephen CummingsStephen CummingsStephen Donald Cummings is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and writer. He was lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band, The Sports, during 1976–1981, followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but has had limited commercial success...
) – 4:00 - "That's the Way It's Gonna Be"(Graney) – 3:56
- "Maggie Cassidy" (Graney) – 4:11
- "You Need to Suffer" (Graney) – 3:19
- "Night of the Wolverine II" (Graney) – 8:32
- (i) "If I Could Have Stayed at Home"
- (ii) "The King of Adelaide"
- (iii) "You Could Always Make the Band Laugh"
- "Out There (In the Night of Time)" (Graney) – 4:56
Bonus tracks
- "Death by a Thousand Sucks" (Graney) – 3:36
- "All of Me" (Clare MooreClare MooreClare Christina Moore is an Australian musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and performer whose principal instrument is the drums. She has also performed as a keyboard player, singer and vibraphone player...
) – 2:58 - "Don't Mess with the Blood" (Graney) – 3:28
- "All Our Friends Were Stars" (Graney) – 3:53
- "Are You Wearing Despair?" (Robin CasinaderRobin CasinaderRobin Romesh Casinader is an Australian composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist.He has been a member of many bands including Plays With Marionettes with Hugo Race, The Wreckery with Hugo Race and Nick Barker, and Dave Graney And The Coral Snakes...
) – 5:59 - "La Nuit du Wolverine" (Graney) – 4:46
Personnel
Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes members- Robin CasinaderRobin CasinaderRobin Romesh Casinader is an Australian composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist.He has been a member of many bands including Plays With Marionettes with Hugo Race, The Wreckery with Hugo Race and Nick Barker, and Dave Graney And The Coral Snakes...
– keyboards, violin, mandolin - Dave GraneyDave GraneyDavid John "Dave" Graney is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter from Mount Gambier, South Australia. Since 1979, Graney is generally accompanied by drummer, Clare Moore...
– vocals - Rob Hayward – guitar
- Clare MooreClare MooreClare Christina Moore is an Australian musician, songwriter, arranger, producer and performer whose principal instrument is the drums. She has also performed as a keyboard player, singer and vibraphone player...
– drums, percussion - Andrew Picouleau – bass guitar
Additional musicians
- Amanda Mitchell – background vocals on "Night of the Wolverine II"
- Tex PerkinsTex PerkinsTex Perkins is an Australian singer-songwriter, who is widely known for fronting the popular Australian rock-band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many...
– lead vocals on "Night of the Wolverine II"
Production details
- Producer – Tony CohenTony CohenTony Cohen is an acclaimed Australian record producer and sound engineer based in Melbourne, best known for his work with The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in the 1980s...
, Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes - Engineer – Tony Cohen
- Studio – Metropolis (recording); Atlantis, Melbourne (recording, mixing)
Art work
- Cover art – Tony Mahony