The Nerves – S/T E.P. 7″




What a perfect transition. From Olho Seco to some of the best powerpop platters ever released. If you haven’t heard Hanging On The Telephone by Blondie you’ve probably been without a radio the past 25 years or so. It took me a looooonngg time till I get to know that their mega hit was actually done by The Nerves and was way better rendered in it’s original form. Totally stripped down and super thin powerpop. Goose bumps every time. Rest of the tracks are hooked laden and highly 60s influenced pop songs that will make every punker cry and longing for their studs and glue bags. I can hear you scream “play faster”. This is more punk then any and all of the dis-clones out there. 

And now you fill in all the blanks about how important The Nerves where to the early L.A. punk scene and especially Peter Case.

Country: USA
Year: 1976
Label: Nerves
Format: 7″
Songs:
Hangin On The Telephone.mp3
When You Find Out.mp3
Give Me Sometime.mp3
Working Too Hard.mp3

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19,170 Responses to The Nerves – S/T E.P. 7″

  1. Get Nervous says:

    Working Too Hard was covered by Paul Collins’ Beat. Now that I hear the original, PCB’s version sounds much less exciting… Thnx for these gems, didn’t know these guys, but they sure got on my nerves!

  2. Get Nervous says:

    And now that I hear When You Find Out, I’m sure I heard it before as some kind of surf instrumental, but couldn’t remember who did it. Any idea ? And who wrote the song ?

  3. Get Nervous says:

    Oh, I got it, it was the b.side of the single “Now” by the Plimsouls !

    And oooooh, i’ve just looked up in wikipedia and found out that Peter Case of the Plimsouls was a member of the Nerves !! And Paul Collins was the Nerves’ drummer !!! Incredible!!

    Well sorry for all those comments but it’s been one discovery after the other. Now I’d like to find out more about the third guy, Jack Lee, who wrote songs, sang and played guitar…

  4. Hands down, the Blondie version is better. Sexier.

  5. This is EP so incredibly perfect. Such a shame it’s the only thing they put out, as they have some great demos as well, with plenty of future Beat and Plimsouls songs of course.

  6. Steve says:

    I think Discharge and Olho Seco might of covered ‘hanging on the telephone’ as well. (Wink)

  7. Steve says:

    Also I think Debbie Harry looked better in a dress than these Nerves lads!

  8. fred says:

    Blondie stole One Way or Another from the Lyres. I thought Mono sued, but don’t remember the outcome.

  9. hdvns says:

    This is a gem, and I agree with Erich.
    Cheers!

  10. Jay Thurston says:

    It must be old age setting in….I think I have fallen victim to the “powerpop” bug.

  11. Jon says:

    Yeah, one of the demos that’s on the extended version of the EP called “Are You Famous” is fucking great, even with the muddled recording quality.

  12. The Flakes // Drummer says:

    Pedro, I’m amazed and glad that people who do the HC route enjoys this kind of stuff too. Too many seems to be on the one or the other side.

  13. eek says:

    This EP is so amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you for introducing it to me.

  14. Although a really hard to find item, this was issued twice. Once with the rear sleeve having black print on a white background, and the other with white print on a black background.

    An awesome EP that hasn’t dated over the last 30+ years. I think that youtube has some footage of Case & Collins playing Hangin On The Telephone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px-QXkcqVgY

  15. Freddy says:

    Cool … thank you.

  16. 77 says:

    great record wow =)

  17. Damn it, I didn’t really listen to this one until now, and it truly is a fine record. Makes me wanna post some powerpop as well

  18. any information on which was the first press..white back or black back.. just curious cause i just picked up the one with the black back sleave and paid like 140 for it… ouch… one of my favorite records all the same

  19. 1999 says:

    peter case looked better in a dress than debbie harry

  20. Anonymous says:

    what a great record. thanks a lot for this!

  21. Chrisss says:

    one of these songs got covered by No Age on their Eraser 7″ recently
    everyone’s been spooging themselves over No Age, and whether it’s because they like them or because they were in Rolling Stone, good for them.

    great post

  22. El Tedro Diablo says:

    this is the shit. Thanx

  23. harrycross says:

    According to an email I received from Peter Case, the white back sleeve is the 1st pressing.

    However I also received an email from Paul Collins, he told me the one that says ” Hollywood Records” is the 1st. The back sleeve has “The Nerves Record Co.” with an address in Hollywood, so I assume this is the version Paul is talking about. He also said that Bomp pressed the other pressing. I can only assume that the black back sleeve is the true 1st pressing since the white one doesn’t list the Nerves Record Co info.

  24. Jaymuss says:

    >>>Thank RHINO RECORDS for facilitating this record’s SUCCESS(?)…those D.I.Y. compilation cassettes USUALLY ended up in “cut-out” Bins for a BUCK…that’s, at least how me and my Friends discovered so many of the bands that NO ONE WAS DISCUSSING at the time…No internet…just “MAIL-ORDER” !!!

  25. Paul Collins was the regular doorman at The Masque in late 1977 and I filled in for him on his nights off.

    I think Jack Lee’s downfall was trading off his authorship of the one song, rather than grind out another 1 or 100. Louis (Gregg) Gutierrez repeated the same mistake with “Walking Down Your Street”. You are welcome to post this e.p. :

    http://www.amazon.com/Louis-Clark-Hollywood-Capacity-Maximum/dp/B005JKT1Z6/ref=sr_1_43?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1338473151&sr=1-43

    Another group with amazing talents, but 10 years further than the road.

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