The Verlaines

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The Verlaines
Background information
Origin	Dunedin, New Zealand
Genre(s)	Rock
Years active	1981-1997
Former members
Graeme Downes Craig Easton Philip Higham Jane Dodd Greg Kerr Alan Haig Caroline Easther Robbie Yeats Mike Stoodley Paul Winders Darren Stedman Gregg Cairns Russell Fleming

The Verlaines were a rock band from Dunedin, New Zealand notable for combining rock passion with classical compositional ideas. The Verlaines formed in 1981 and released their last studio album in 1997. In 2003 a career retrospective You're just too obscure for me was released.

The band were named after French poet Paul Verlaine - not, as is occasionally suggested, after Tom Verlaine (front man for the New York punk band Television).

The Verlaines were noted for their angular, "difficult" song structures, wordy and downbeat lyrics, unusual subject matter all contained in often frantic up-tempo playing. The Verlaines were led by songwriter and vocalist/guitarist Graeme Downes although many other New Zealand musicians played guitar, bass, drums and brass instruments during the different stages of the band.

Their signature songs included Death And The Maiden, C.D. Jimmy Jazz & Me, Bird-dog and Ballad of Harry Noryb.

The band's recorded debut was on the seminal Dunedin Double EP released by Flying Nun Records to debut several bands who would go on to be central to the mythology of the Dunedin Sound.

Downes is an academic at the University of Otago teaching contemporary music and with research interests in Mahler and Shostakovich and has released one solo album, Hammers and Anvils, released on Matador Records in 2001.

1 Discography
- 1.1 Featured appearances
- 1.2 Singles
2 Notes
3 External links

[edit] Discography

Cover	Date of Release	Title	Label	Charted	Certification	Catalog Number
Albums
	1985	Hallelujah All The Way Home	Flying Nun/Homestead	-	-	FN040/HMS138-2
	1987	Bird Dog	Flying Nun/Homestead	-	-	FN077/HMS095-2
	1987	Juvenilia	Flying Nun	-	-	FN COMP 02
	1989	Some Disenchanted Evening	Flying Nun	-	-	FN129
	1991	Ready To Fly	Slash	-	-	C30718
	1993	Way Out Where	NRG	-	-	D31032
	1996	Over The Moon	Columbia	-	-	486880.2
	2003	You're Just Too Obscure For Me		-	-
EPs
	1981	Dunedin Double EP^[1]	Flying Nun	-	-	FN DUN1
	1983	10 O'Clock In The Afternoon	Flying Nun	-	-	FN022

[edit] Featured appearances

The group have appeared on several compilations over the years in New Zealand and overseas. The following is a list of these albums that have featured tracks by The Verlaines.