1982 Dunedin Double EP
1983 Death and the Maiden single
1984 Ten o'Clock in the Afternoon EP [ poster ]
1985 Doomsday 12" single [ poster ]
1986 HALLELUJAH ALL THE WAY HOME (FN 1985 & Homestead 1989)
Tracks:
It Was Raining, All Laid On, The Lady and the Lizard, Don't Send Me Away, Lying in State, Phil too?, For the Love of Ash Grey, The Ballad of Harry Noryb
Graeme: "This was one of the greatest experiences. We had toured and saved money for about two years to pay for this recording and every hour of the day for the ten or so days that it took was meticulously planned out, guitar overdubs 3-4pm, horn player from 4-6, vocals from 6 to 11, etc. I remember almost conducting Robbie through the drum parts. Because we never demoed in those days we used to finalise the parts in the studio. He was magnificent. I was studying instrumentation at university by this stage, so I was starting to flex my imagination. It was a big thrill to hear things realised in sound after sweating over things for months before. Very emotionally draining experience. We did the vocal for "The Ballad of Harry Noryb" last; I couldn't face another take by that stage, so the vocal you hear was the first and only attempt."
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1987 BIRD DOG (Flying Nun, 1987 & Homestead, 1988)
Tracks:
Makes No Difference, You Forget Love, Take Good Care of It, Just Mum, Slow Sad Love Song, Only Dream Left, Dippy's Last Trip, Bird-Dog, Icarus Missed, C.D. Jimmy Jazz and Me
Graeme: "More instrumentation, etc. After "You Say You" [10 O'clock in the Afternoon] I lost all faith in guitars or my ability to get a decent sound out of one in the studio so I started using more orchestral instruments. Like Hallelujah..., we had worked a long time to pay for it. We had tried to record "Slow Sad Love Song" live many times with mixed results. Finally tried to do it in the studio. It had been waiting in line for a long time, and was the first song I had ever written. We took some guitars from "Jimmy Jazz," played it backwards and sped it up in order to transpose it from D to E, to create some of the mayhem at the end. "Jimmy Jazz" itself we had to sync up two 16-track machines in order to fit all the string and brass parts on. No automation for the mixing, so we needed about 8 sets of hands on deck, took us about 18 hours to mix, and the mix was a performance in itself. Everybody had about ten tasks each to perform (pan this left at the chorus, ride the guitar up here and back again at the next verse, etc). Felt good when it was done. Victor and Jane remixed "Just Mum" about ten times to get it right (Jane was living in Auckland by this stage and I had gone home to Dunedin). They hated it by the end, not surprisingly. When I got it home I thought, this is the best record I've done so far. I also thought it would be an absolute lemon, I didn't think people would get it at all."
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1987 JUVENILIA - compilation of early singles & EP
(Flying Nun, 1987, Homestead Records, 1988; Flying Nun re-release, 1993)
Tracks:
Death and the Maiden, Doomsday, Joed Out, Baud to Tears, Crisis After Crisis, Burlesque, You Cheat Yourself of Everything That Moves, Pyromaniac, Wind Song, Angela, You Say You, New Kind of Hero, Instrumental (live), Phil Too? (live), CD Jimmy Jazz and Me
Graeme: "We remastered "You Say You." "You Cheat" was entirely remixed because it was done really badly on the Dunedin Double EP. I also sang a new vocal over it, which is louder but not entirely satisfactory, but at least you can hear the guitars at the end. It's radically different on the Juvenilia edition to what is on the original, much closer to how it was intended to sound. When we did Dunedin Double I knew nothing about making records and the concept of mixing was completely foreign. I couldn't afford to go to Auckland to do it anyway so left Sneaky Feelings in charge of mixing the songs (they were heading up that way); they did okay with the first two but took my instructions regarding "You Cheat" rather too literally. [Homestead's version of Juvenilia featured 5 tracks unavailable on the Flying Nun version -- "Doomsday," "New Kinda Hero," "Instrumental," "Phil Too?," and "CD Jimmy Jazz and Me." That latter song is the b-side version of Death and the Maiden, not the superior version later covered on Bird Dog.] The only other difference that I can remember between the NZ and US editions was in the colours used on the cover of the original vinyl release. Homestead thought the whole thing too messy and changed the colours to make the title more legible. I don't think they succeeded. The illegibility was the point after all."
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1989 SOME DISENCHANTED EVENING
(Flying Nun & Homestead, 1990)
Tracks:
Jesus What A Jerk, The Funniest Thing, Whatever You Run Into, Faithfully Yours, Damn Shame, This Train, Down the Road, We're All Gonna Die, Anniversary, Come Sunday, It Was
Graeme: "A very difficult album, with new bass player and a bit of a change in style. After the excesses in instrumentation on the previous two, I decided to strip this one down to the 3-piece as much as possible. In hindsight, I should have listened to the songs a bit more and thought about it longer rather than conceive a policy on how they should be recorded a priori. Very stressful. I got very ill and tired and sang badly for most of it. Drank a lot of whisky to keep my spirits up. Probably didn't help. A lot of people like this record because it does sound frail. It was!"
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1991 READY TO FLY (Slash Records, 1991)
Tracks:
Gloom Junky, Overdrawn, Tremble, Such As I, Hurricane, War In My Head, Inside Out, See You Tomorrow, Hole In the Ground, Ready to Fly, Moonlight On Snow, Hold On
Graeme: "First Slash album; again a very stressful affair. We decided to do it on our own as usual without a producer. In hindsight, we would have been better to use a producer at that stage. I'd gone about as far as I could go with my own studio expertise, and I think Victor found it stressful as well in a foreign environment and with more depending on the outcome. If we'd used someone like Joe Chiccarelli on this record it would have turned out quite different I think (Greg would have been sacked in the first few days I suspect, and the tempos would have all been slower. We tried to make up for lack of groove with excessive speed, again in hindsight not a good idea). Fun working with a harp player."
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1993 WAY OUT WHERE (Slash Records, 1993)
Tracks:
Mission of Love, I Stare Out, This Valentine, Blanket Over the Sky, Cathedrals Under the Sea, Aches in Whisper, Way Out Where, Lucky In My Dreams, Black Wings, Stay Gone, Incarceration, Dirge
Graeme: "This was a joy. Chiccarelli gave us a hard time for ten days in pre-production and nearly killed Darren. I finally learned how to get some better guitar sounds (hence, in hindsight I wish we had used Chiccarelli for Ready To Fly). A bit stressful in mixing process, tempers got flared but it turned out fine in the end. Didn't sell enough for Slash which was sad, but I learned so much doing this record, I am very thankful for the opportunity to have done it. A few of the songs turned out pretty much as I would have liked them to, particularly "Dirge," "Incarceration" and "Way Out Where," in fact most of it."
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1997 OVER THE MOON (Sony/Columbia NZ, 1997)
Tracks:
Hanging by Strands, Bonfire, Sky-Blue Window, Jailhouse 4:00am, Feather Fell, Perfect Day, When I Fall, Uncle Big Jaw's Late-Night Farewell, Dunderhead, Dawdling on the Bridge, Writing on the Wall, Reasons for Leaving, Coming Back to You
Graeme: "Very cool, relatively stress free, and pretty much happy with the outcome inasmuch as it sounds pretty good next to Way Out Where even though it was recorded in Dunedin on stuff-all money. Mixed the whole thing in 4 days (started smoking again during it). The final day went from about 10.00 am to 6 the next morning. Two litres of whiskey and six packets of cigarettes later me, Jo (Keith - partner) and Nick (Rowan - mixer) slid down the wall and passed out. Did a great job I think, given the circumstances."
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**
2007 POTBOILER ((Flying Nun, 2007)
Tracks:
Midlife Crisis, Stop Messing Around, It's Easier To Harden a Broken Heart (Than Mend It), Don't Leave, Forgive Thine Enemies (But Don't Forget Their Names), Tragic Boy, Sunday in Sevastopol, All Messed Up, 16 Years, If You Can't Beat Them, Real Good Life
Graeme: [ pending ]
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**
Other Verlaines appearances
1983 and 1986 "Death And The Maiden" - Tuatara (Flying Nun)
1988 "Slow Sad Love Song" - In Love With These Times (Flying Nun)
1988 "Doomsday" - Human Music (Homestead)
1991 "Pyromaniac" - Getting Older 1981-1991 (Flying Nun)
1991 "The Funniest Thing" - Pink Flying Saucers Over The Southern Alps (Flying Nun)
1993 "Heavy 33" - No Alternative (The Red Hot Organization)
Graeme: "We had only just come off tour when Paul Heck from Red Hot approached me with the project and the approaching deadline. We'd pretty much emptied the cupboard recording Way Out Where so I had to write quickly. I worked on "Heavy 33" and a version of what would eventually become "Uncle Big Jaw's Late-Night Farewell" [Over The Moon]. We initially decided that "Big Jaw" was the better option but the lyrics were crap (I don't even think it was called that at that stage) and so despite having wasted one days pre-production and only having half-a-day left we canned it and went with "Heavy 33." The song was lyrically all there but the arrangement was a bit hazy. But with Joe Chiccarelli's help -- bless him, he also took the tapes back to L.A. and remixed it on his own time -- as well some hard work on our part, we managed to get it pretty well sussed. I've often felt we could have performed it better with more time and familiarity, especially the vocal, but that's the way it is. I'm proud of it anyway."
1993 "Mission Of Love" - Kiwi Hit Disc Vol. 4 (NZ On Air):
1993 "Mission Of Love" - CMJ Magazine CD
1993 "Bird Dog" - Let Them Eat Pavlova (Les Inrockuptibles)
1994 "This Valentine" - Kiwi Hit Disc Vol. 8 (NZ On Air)
1995 "Some Fantasy" (with Shayne Carter) - Red Hot + Bothered
Graeme Downes solo:
1995 "Same Old New World" - Under the Influence: 21 Years Of Flying Nun Records (Flying Nun)
1998 "Patience is Gone" (lead vocals: Barbara Manning; backing vocals, guitar, bass, music, lyrics: Graeme Downes) on Barbara Manning's In New Zealand
1998 "Two Fat Sisters" - God Save the Clean (Flying Nun)
1995 "Front Row Centre" - Disturbed (IMD)
2001 HAMMERS & ANVILS (Matador)
Tracks:
Hammers and Anvils, Cole Porter, Alright By Me, January Song, Cattles Cars and Chainsaws, Day of the Dead, Shoreleave, Song For a Hollywood Road Movie, Gucci, Getting Out of It, Sunday Kickaround, Rock'n'Roll Hero, Mastercontrol
Graeme speaks . Album Reviews »
Credit for Graeme's quotes: David Fisher's article on the band.