The Verlaines - Some Disenchanted Evening ( 1990 )

      Record Store Day 2025 will be here on April 12th and, like the past few, there is a reissue from The Verlaines to look forward to. In recent years, they have reissued Bird Dog (1987) and Way Out Where (1993). In 2021, they released a live album, Live at the Windsor Castle, 1986. This year, The Verlaines will be reissuing their 1990 album, Some Disenchanted Evening, on seaweed green vinyl. It's limited to 750 copies and mostly a regional release, so hopefully my record store can get it in stock. 

     Of all the Flying Nun bands from New Zealand, The Verlaines are the most musically challenging and my personal favorite. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Graeme Downes is a music professor and genius level composer. His chord structures and rhythmic decisions are unconventional and an acquired taste. Their compilation album, Juvenalia (1987), is a great entry point and mostly features the classic lineup of Downes, Jane Dodd on bass, and Robbie Yeats on drums. Jane Dodd was the secret weapon of those early records, but by 1990 she was replaced by Mike Stoodley. He does a fine job, but it's a hard ask to follow Jane Dodd. 

     Some Disenchanted Evening isn't just the title of this album, it's its raison d'etre. Disenchantment is the overarching theme of this set of songs. The opening track is "Jesus What a Jerk". Other titles include, "We're All Gonna Die", "Whatever You Run Into" and "Damn Shame". Musically, this record would be classified as jangly Chamber pop. However, it's less jangly and bass-driven than their previous work. Downes is more front and center with his quirky vocal range, most notably on the track, "Anniversary". His lyrics are a bit depressing, but also fantastically literate and tinged with dark humor. The album closer, "It Was" is a stark, heart-breaking songs about a "dreamer" who was a "monumental failure". It's just Downes singing and a piano. The final line is, "He should have had the sense to keep his dreams to himself". 

     While disenchantment lurks in every song, it's not a completely depressing listen. "The Funniest Thing" is upbeat and sounds like classic Verlaines. "Jesus What a Jerk" is a rapid-fire rocker. The song isn't actually about Jesus. It's a commentary on a character who is a jerk. Jesus, is just an expletive. "This Train" is the most bass heavy track on Some Disenchanted Evening and rocks quite a bit. It's been great that these reissues have been coming out every year. It's almost impossible to find albums by The Verlaines in the wilds of American record stores. I love this band. Peace.