Live At The Windsor Castle, Auckland, May 1986＜Sky Blue Vinyl＞

ニュージーランドのインディ・シーンを代表する名バンド、ヴェルレインズが1986年のライヴ音源が蔵出しリリース!

The Chills, The Clean, Bailter Space, The Bats, The 3D's, Straitjacket Fitsなどに代表されるニュージーランドのインディ・バンドを多数輩出した都市、ダニーデン。ヴェルレインズはその「ダニーデン・サウンド」の先駆者として知られます。本作が録音された1986年、未だ大学生だった彼らによる貴重な初期ライヴ音源です。アートワークは当時のギグのポスターを再現したもの。

Dunedin, New Zealand band the Verlaines were in between their 1985 debut Hallelujah All the Way Home and sessions for what would become their sophomore album Bird Dog when they played Auckland in May of 1986. The gig was recorded in hopes of capturing a releasable live version of their tune "Slow Sad Love Song" for inclusion on Bird Dog, which didnt end up happening as theyd hoped. The tapes of the full performance that surfaced more than 30 years later as Live at the Windsor Castle, Auckland, May 1986 find the trio of Graeme Downes, Jane Dodd, and Robbie Yeats burning through material from that early phase of their run in strong, scrappy form. The entire presentation of the set crackles with an unpolished bootleg energy, down to the thin applause between songs from what sounds like a small but enthusiastic audience watching an obscure band rock a tiny club. Add in the less-than-high-fidelity recording quality and the Verlaines generally shambling approach to melancholy melodic pop, and Windsor Castle is the perfect document of where the band was at on that May night. They tear through songs from their debut like the jumpy "For the Love of Ash Grey" and "Lying in State," as well as tunes from the yet-to-be-tracked Bird Dog. Some of the bands best songs from this era were their early singles, and live versions of "Doomsday," "Pyromaniac," and the slow-burning "You Cheat Yourself of Everything That Moves" are among the most exciting moments of this live set as well. ~ Fred Thomas