The Nerves - Hanging On The Telephone

A1. Hanging On The Telephone


A2. When You Find Out


B1. Give Me Some Time


B2. Working Too Hard


THE NERVES (Los Angeles, CA)
Hanging On The Telephone EP
Nerves Record Co (N4501), 1976

The Nerves existed for just a couple years and only released a single EP, but today they are regarded as one of the most renowned and influential power pop bands in the world. The magnificent trio consisted of Jack Lee on guitar, Peter Case on bass and Paul Collins on drums. They formed in San Francisco, but soon made Los Angeles their home. All members contributed songs and vocal duties. Collectively, they made some of the most memorable and catchy songs the genre has heard.

The band financed and released their spectacular four-song EP, which featured the Jack Lee-penned "Hanging On The Telephone" that was later made famous by Blondie on their Parallel Lines album and covered by countless others. Paul Collins acted as manager and booked an entire tour in which they covered almost 25k miles of road across America in a mid-60s station wagon in the summer of 1977. They quickly sold 2,000 copies of their record before Bomp repressed another batch to help finance their tour. The way to differentiate the two pressings is that the first one has a black back cover and states "The Nerves Record Co" with a Hollywood address (shown above). The Bomp issue has a white back cover and no mention of the Nerves Record Co.

Unfortunately, through all their efforts and endless gigging, the band couldn't catch a break. Piling tensions forced the band to split in 1978 at which time Paul Collins and Peter Case continued playing together for a little while longer in a band called The Breakaways. After auditioning countless guitar players, Case and Collins eventually jumped on the six strings themselves, recruiting Mike Ruiz and Steven Huff in their place on bass and drums. The Breakaways produced many recordings in their short existence, including several songs that were standards in The Nerves' live set. None of them were released at the time, however the stellar "Walking Out On Love" and "One Way Ticket" were later featured on Bomp's "Roots Of Power Pop" CD compilation.

Peter eventually decided to branch out, forming The Plimsouls. The remaining guys morphed into The Beat (later changed to Paul Collins Beat due to confusion with the English Beat). They both took some of their Nerves and Breakaways-penned songs into their new projects and continued writing great power pop tunes, each having a moderate degree of success for a while. The Plimsouls were featured a couple times in the movie Valley Girl performing their song "Million Miles Away," while a Beat song made its way onto the Caddyshack soundtrack, though the scene it was featured in was cut from the movie.

Peter Case still tours on occasion. Paul Collins is very active, having put out several albums over the past few years and playing many shows across the US and all through Europe with different line-ups. Jack Lee's output after The Nerves was limited. He wrote songs for Blondie, Suzy Quatro and others. He released an album of reworked Nerves songs and some new material called Jack Lee's Greatest Hits, Vol 1. A second volume never materialized, though he did release a Self Titled album a few years later.

Bomp's subsidiary, Alive, has recently issued collections of Nerves and Breakaways material which are readily available. They will also be releasing a brand new Paul Collins record in August called "The King Of Power Pop."

Gary Valentine - The First One

A. The First One


B. Tomorrow Belongs To You


GARY VALENTINE (Los Angeles, CA)
The First One b/w Tomorrow Belongs To You
Beat (001), 1978

Gary Valentine joined Blondie in their early stages at the recommendation of his friend Clem Burke. He even penned their first hit, "X-Offender," but left the group in 1977 following the release of their debut album. Blondie's second LP, Plastic Letters, included another of Gary's songs, "Presence, Dear," though he did not perform on the recording.

After moving to LA, Gary commissioned members of the Mumps to help him record two songs that he had written shortly before leaving Blondie. Paying them in sandwiches, the group recorded two astonishingly perfect power pop songs, "The First One" and "Tomorrow Belongs To You." The single was released on the Beat label in two pressings, both of which came with a lyric insert that I've seen in atleast two different colors of paper.

It should be noted that "The First One" was performed live by the Blondie in the final days before he left the group, though they never did record it in a studio. In the years that followed, Gary's version of the song would be comped numerous times and hailed as a power pop masterpiece.

Shortly after the release of the single, Gary regrouped with Richard D'andrea from The Motels and Joel Turrisi to form The Know. Their song "I Like Girls" was recorded for a Planet Records compilation LP called Sharp Cuts and later released as a single backed with "Out Of Reach" on the same label.

The band divided their time equally between California and New York. But without being able to score a major label deal, The Know finally disbanded after a couple years of constant gigging. Gary went on to play guitar with Iggy Pop's touring band for a couple years and eventually moved to England, while Joel went on to play with 20/20 before trying his hand at acting.

Gary was asked to participate on Blondie's 1997 reunion tour and comeback album, but was ultimately given the boot. In 2006, he was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of Blondie, but fierce words were exchanged on stage and Debbie Harry refused to allow him to play the induction event, stating former members (including Nigel Harrison and Frank Infante) were not allowed to play in her band (more on that story here).

Valentine is now a full time writer, having recently published a book called New York Rocker, which documented the emerging NYC new wave scene in the mid 70s. He also has numerous books and papers published about the occult and other mystic topics.

Great Buildings - Combat Zone

Combat Zone


Hold On To Something


GREAT BUILDINGS (Los Angeles, CA)
Combat Zone b/w Hold On To Something
Columbia (11-02008), 1981

This single has two songs taken from Great Buildings' sole LP, Apart From The Crowd. The band features former Quick members Danny Wilde on guitar/vocals and Ian Ainsworth on bass. The band formed in mid-1978 but didn't release this single and their LP until 1981. Despite touring and having major label support, they never received critical acclaim and dissolved a year later. Several years after that, lead guitarist Phil Solem and Wilde started up the Rembrandts and had much success with their #1 hit and Friends theme-song "I'll Be There For You."

Both cuts on this single are great power pop intended for the commercial consumer. You could definitely hear how this is the transition between The Quick and The Rembrandts. My copy has the band's name misspelled on the label as Great Building, singular, on both sides. I've only ever seen other ones as promo copies which feature the same sleeve, but "Hold On" is on both sides and the band name is spelled correctly. A 12" also exists that has these two songs along with "Maybe It's You," which is another cut featured on the band's Apart From The Crowd album.

Last week, after nearly 30 years in the vault, the band's sophomore effort, Extra Epic Everything, was finally released on CD, along with a bonus track originally intended for the first record. Also, Mondo Deco, the monumental Quick LP from 1976 was recently reissued by Radio Heartbeat on vinyl!