Hallelujah All The Way Home
1. "It Was Raining" 5:05
2. "All Laid On" 2:15
3. "The Lady and the Lizard" 5:58
4. "Don't Send me Away" 1:59
5. "Lying in State" 2:37
6. "Phil Too?" 4:41
7. "For the Love of Ash Grey" 3:38
8. "The Ballad of Harry Noryb" 7:37
The Verlaine’s debut is a rather monumental album. The title and the artwork evoke a certain epic journey, and I think the music reflects that quite well.
The musical arrangements give the songs colossal proportions, yet the jangle pop sound is quite present at all times. This manages to make them sound fresh, yet melancholy and grand.
Everyday situations seem to turn into glorious struggles in their lyrics, even if I can scarcely make any sense of them at times.
Sometimes I think they’re just bundles of references and private jokes which end up sounding rather elegant and articulate. Of course they would convey a certain meaning in the end, provided I understood the references in the first place, I’m not implying they’re shallow and meaningless.
All in all, though; as long as the lyrics don’t sound like something completely daft, and as long as, if they do need to take center stage in a song, they don’t create an atmosphere that’s off-putting or revolting by themselves, they’re not going to be too important in my “decision” to like or dislike a particular song. Sometimes lyrics can be good enough to be the only thing that grabs my attention in a song, but it’s usually not as such, and I do enjoy lyrics.
Regarding The Verlaines, I couldn’t even make out what they were saying most of the time. I didn’t really try as well, since I was so entertained and excited with the music. When I decided to discover what the bleeding hell the man was on about I was quite pleased though dazed and confused. I also realised then that they broke up the lyrics in order to sing them rather well. Another contribution to their peculiar sound.
But what can I say; each song is full of emotion. Graeme Downes seems like he’s about to fall over and die from exhaustion (or sometimes break down and cry) after every word he utters, which is also what he looks like he’s going to do after every live performance (not that I’ve seen many on Youtube...). It’s contagious and rather admirable, his voice feels a bit worn out at times, like he can’t do any better, and for some reason this feels like commitment, like love for music.
Here’s the album opener,
It Was Raining:
See what I mean?
This song both shows us the energetic side of The Verlaines and the mellow, rainy side (“It Was Raining”, *cough*, *cough*). It sounds like a music box suddenly gained life and started to play itself to death.
There are bits of the lyrics that I’d like to comment on as well:
“And the snow falls on the traveller's head
He puts his weary wings to flight
He staggers like Atlas asked to dance -
There are no truths in here tonight
And what a scene in the morning light
The bridge is burnt and he's standing on the wrong side”
This is an example of how the lyrics glorify certain normal situations, making everything seem like some epic poem. Note the insertion of Atlas and perhaps a reference to Icarus. It all emits a certain classical feel.
I’m quite frankly not sure what this song speaks of, but if what I wonder about is correct, this segment might be the essence of it:
“It was raining when you came here
Take it with you when you leave
And you can take your rain and your melancholia with you
Save it for the next one
When you're ready... I am”
So what does this mean? Perhaps it’s just a story between two possible lovers that went wrong. The subject glimpses someone who's rather haunting, fascinatingly so, and is rather enamoured by that someone. It goes wrong, and he resents ever enjoying what made him hurt. This is what this excerpt might suggest, but having a look at the rest of the lyrics makes it all rather puzzling, and I'd have to spend and inordinate amount of time and attention to figure them out, and it might not even be worth it. I'll take the illiterate way out and content with how good they sound.
Don't Send Me Away is a song that arrives in all it's troubadouresque, middle ages grace amidst the glory of The Lady And The Lizard and the loud, fantastic Lying In State:
The Ballad of Harry Noryb wraps up the album phenomenally, it's absolutely worthy of its ambitious seven minutes. The instrumental in the middle manages to grab your attention with its ups and downs and delivers you safely to the end of the album:
"From over the sea that never was...
He's more than just an immigrant that's been betrayed
From over the sea that never was...
He's more than just an immigrant
He's a sailor in an airplane... "
It’s a beautiful heartfealt album bathed by lush instrumentation and creative song structures. It's romantic, in a way, it's powerful, it's capable of making you go from feeling mopey and depressed to absolutely on top of the world and right back again.
The verdict? Outstanding.