The Verlaines - Ready to Fly (1991)

Ready to Fly kicks off with "Gloom Junky," a title that sets the mood for an album of glumly effective songs about lost love. While it's de rigueur to mention Downes' doctorate in music, it's a point that bears repeating when discussing an album that pulls off so many potentially disastrous songwriting styles and production details so successfully: "Tremble" and "Moonlight on Snow" feature orchestration; "Such as I" is drawn purely from musical theater (one can almost see the chorus line dancing behind Downes); "See You Tomorrow" is a blues. Throw in Downes' strongest bunch of guitar-pop tunes and you've got the Verlaines' best LP.