Lovingly packaged with heaps of photos and 19 great, great songs including the perfect love song "Joed Out" that was covered by folk singer Barbara Manning (though she changed "fox fur" to "cashmere"),"Heavy 33" from the charity album "No Alternative" (that takes its name from an airline baggage label), "This Valentine" (which drummer Darren Stedman describes as the great Broadway number in The Verlaines oeuvre), their only hit single "Doomsday" which flew to number 37 in the charts, the later version of "C.D, Jimmy Jazz and Me" from Bird-Dog (that's Claude Debussy and James Joyce buggering off to Paris, by the way), "Bird-Dog", "Ready to Fly" (which tells of Graeme's wracked decision to leave the Flying Nun label), "Blanket Over the Sky" (which, between the lines, describes the L.A. music industry), and closing with "Noryb", which ended so many of The Verlaines' live sets (after the cauterising crescendo the band members would leave one by one, with Graeme singing alone on stage - which is appropriate for in spite of recording with the five drummers, three bassists and the dueling guitar of Paul Winders, the Verlaines has been the singular vision of Graeme Downes).

Yet another essential purchase from the magnificent Flying Nun catalogue, and for the uninitiated with a liking for things of the thoughtful indie kind, work of genuine thought provoking musical beauty. Recommended.