“Largely ignored – but formidable, masterly and substantial”: Darryl Way’s Wolf released three albums in two years. The Cadenza box set proves they should never have been out of the spotlight

Despite releasing three albums of well-crafted songs and exceptional performances over just two years via Decca’s Deram imprint, Darryl Way’s Wolf remain largely ignored in most histories of progressive rock’s 70s heyday.

At the time, they enjoyed enthusiastic reviews and live popularity, but failed to break into the charts – a fact that may have contributed to their subsequent invisibility.

Their formidable 1973 debut, Canis Lupus, features the ex-Curved Air maestro Way’s masterly use of violin and keyboards, alongside John Etheridge’s frenzied legato-style guitar, Dek Messecar’s supple bass and Ian Mosley’s whip-cracking drumming. A nuanced production from King Crimson co-founder Ian McDonald refines the music’s subtler points.

This edition also features a live radio session showcasing their exhilarating musicality, as well as a couple of numbers that went on to appear on their second album, Saturation Point, released later that same year.

Adrenaline-fuelled in a way that gives peak-era Mahavisnu Orchestra a run for their money, the guitar and violin solos here retain their lyrical nature amid that G-force velocity.

Night Music from 1974 aims for a noticeably rockier orbit, bringing in ex-If vocalist John Hodkinson, whose impressive pipes add reach and depth on material that’s more song-orientated but no less impressive.

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Yet by its release in November that year, Way was back in Curved Air, with Messecar bound for Caravan and later Soft Machine, and Mosely ultimately finding a different audience with Marillion a decade later.

Criminally neglected in the years after the group’s break-up, and certainly today, Cadenza rights that wrong by bringing a well-deserved spotlight to bear on these albums.

Along with the radio tracks and a couple of stray singles, and a sympathetic remastering, Darryl Way’s Wolf demonstrate they are more substantial than their overlooked status suggests.

Cadenza – The Complete Recordings is on sale now via Esoteric.