MAGNET doesn’t do holiday gift guides. We swore an oath against them long ago. But if you’ve ever loved anybody, or if you have any respect for yourself as a fan of power pop, take a moment to register the blessed news of the Nov. 25 reissue of the Nerves’ classic 1976 EP One Way Ticket (plus demos and live tracks). Now consider that it’s available on both CD and limited-edition yellow vinyl. Alive Records is now accepting orders from Secret Santas everywhere.
OK, a little exposition: L.A.-based trio the Nerves (1975-1978) featured guitarist Jack Lee, drummer Paul Collins and bassist Peter Case. Look how cool they are. They wrote “Hanging On The Telephone,” which is on One Way Ticket and was made popular by Blondie. We don’t know why. The Nerves’ version is so much better. Everything is better with the Nerves. Case and Collins went on to form the Plimsouls, who were the band playing the excellent “A Million Miles Away” in the film Valley Girl. Alas, the Nerves were better. We think some other music has been recorded by other bands after the Nerves, but it really doesn’t matter.
