Wolf (Hugh Cornwell album)

Wolf
Studio album by Hugh Cornwell
Released June 1988
Genre Alternative rock
Post-punk
Label Virgin
Producer Ian Ritchie
Hugh Cornwell, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley
Hugh Cornwell chronology
Nosferatu
(with Robert Williams)
(1979)Nosferatu1979		 Wolf
(1988)		 CCW
(with Roger Cook, Andy West)
(1992)CCW1992
Singles from Wolf
  1. "Another Kind of Love"
    Released: April 1988
  2. "Dreaming Again"
    Released: July 1988

Wolf is Hugh Cornwell's first solo album, released in June 1988 on Virgin Records[1] and produced by Ian Ritchie, with additional production on two tracks by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley.[2] The other musicians involved included Graham Broad, Simon Clark, Steve Dawson, Manny Elias, Alex Gifford, Haywoode, Jools Holland, Gus Isadore, Melanie Newman, Chris Sheldon, Pete Thoms and Don Weller.[3]

Reception

Cornwell was still in The Stranglers when Wolf was released; writing in Trouser Press Record Guides, Ira Robbins described the album as “a dull stab at playing lightweight dance-pop outside the Stranglers’ sphere” adding that it “contains nothing the Stranglers couldn't have done just as well”.[2] That opinion was shared by the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, which described it as “a hugely disappointing affair, a limp attempt to carve a pop niche”.[4]

Though the album failed to chart, the single "Another Kind of Love", released in September 1988, reached No. 11 on the US Alternative charts.[5][6] The accompanying music video was directed by the acclaimed surrealist film maker Jan Švankmajer.[7] The Los Angeles Times described the combination as a "fun song and a visual treat".[8] Another review of the live action/stop motion clip suggests that it is the only music video made by Švankmajer,[9] though his work is known to have strongly influenced the Brothers Quay, who worked on the video for Peter Gabriel’s "Sledgehammer" two years before.

Interviewed in February 1998, Cornwell claimed that a number of tracks on Wolf had been so well-received by American radio stations that Virgin US had wanted him to go over on tour to promote the album.[10] It was arranged for him to support A Flock of Seagulls, who had taken their name from a Stranglers song and offered to act as his backing band as well as playing their own greatest hits set, but the tour fell through when Cornwell was sacked by Virgin UK.[10] Cornwell was in New York for promotional interviews at the time.[10]

Appropriately enough, Wolf was re-released in the United States on Velvel Records in December 1999[4] (appropriately since Velvel means 'wolf' in Yiddish). The same label had already released and re-released a number of Cornwell's other albums during the course of the year.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Hugh Cornwell

Wolf
No.TitleLength
1."Another Kind of Love" (Produced by Hugh Cornwell, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley)3:33
2."Cherry Rare"4:09
3."Never Never" (Produced by Hugh Cornwell, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley)3:37
4."Real Slow"3:54
5."Break of Dawn"4:30
6."Clubland"4:11
7."Dreaming Again"4:10
8."Decadance"4:15
9."All the Tea in China"2:49
10."Getting Involved"5:22

Personnel

  • Hugh Cornwell - guitar, keyboards, vocals
  • Gus Isidore - lead guitar
  • Clive Langer, Jools Holland - keyboards
  • Ian Ritchie - bass, keyboard & drum programming, saxophone
  • Simon Clark - bass & keyboard programming
  • Manny Elias - drums, drum programming
  • Chris Sheldon - percussion
  • Graham Broad - drums, percussion
  • Don Weller - baritone saxophone
  • Alex Gifford - saxophone
  • Steve Dawson - trumpet
  • Pete Thoms - trombone
  • Melanie Newman - "wolf" whistle
  • Haywoode - backing vocals

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalogue
United Kingdom June 1988 Virgin Records Vinyl V 2420
Cassette V 2420
CD CDV 2420
Europe June 1988 Virgin (France) Records Vinyl 124201
United States 1988 Virgin (USA) Records Vinyl 790947-1
CD 790947-2

References

  1. ↑ "Hugh Cornwell Discography". Official Hugh Cornwell website. Invisible Hands Music. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  2. 1 2 Ira Robbins, "The Stranglers" Trouser Press Record Guides link. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  3. ↑ Wolf, Hugh Cornwell website link
  4. 1 2 "Hugh Cornwell Biography". Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  5. ↑ Howard Drake (ed.). "Songs by Hugh Cornwell – Chart Singles Discography". Music VF. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  6. ↑ "Hugh Cornwell – chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  7. ↑ Clarkson, John (22 October 2006). "Hugh Cornwell: Interview". Penny Black Music. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  8. ↑ Chris Willman, "Sound & Vision: Sam Kinison Reaches for a New Low", Los Angeles Times, 18 December 1988. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  9. ↑ Michael Brooke "Another Kind of Love" Illuminations website link. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  10. 1 2 3 Kinson, Tony, "Hugh Cornwell Interview", The Torture Garden. Retrieved 15 June 2011.

Further reading

  • Cornwell, Hugh, A Multitude of Sins. London. Harper Collins Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-00-719082-4
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