HALLELUJAH ALL THE WAY HOME: REVIEWS

Q (10/96, p.191)
3 Stars - Good - "...angry and verbose....sounded like a classically trained Go-Betweens fronted by a manic depressive in a library..."

The scholarly sound of the Verlaines debut album, Hallelujah All the Way Home, is hardly a humble beginning. Although it received an "A" when originally submitted as part of a composition project for front-man Graeme Downes' honors-level music class, Downes had already been writing Verlaines material and releasing singles on Flying Nun since 1980. It was released in 1985, years before we would see a full release by such Flying Nun artists as The Clean, The Chills and Tall Dwarfs. Downes' too-clever songwriting approach is entirely his own, and one can easily hear how the Verlaines have influenced music and continue to influence music, with bands such as Superchunk, Yo La Tengo and Pavement a part of their devoted following.

The opener, "It Was Raining," is an epic tale which rises and falls several times until the astonishing finale. All Laid On," is a bit of a misstep, but "The Lady and The Lizard" is even more grandiose than "It Was Raining," and features a wonderful woodwind breakdown. "Don't Send Me Away" is a pretty and simple Medieval tale of drunken loneliness, which segues into the fantastic showstopper "Lying In State" (covered by Superchunk on Incidental Music) "Phil Too?" makes its first appearance on a Verlaines album (a great live version was tacked on to the CD version of Juvenilia, their early singles compilation). The final two tracks, "For The Love of Ash Grey" and "The Ballad of Harry Noryb," round out this excellent and highly influential debut from the Verlaines.