Nerves

This Flying Nun release is a compilation of underground classics of New Zealand rock, collecting the three EPs that the group recorded in the early '80s and adding some additional unreleased and live tracks. Group member Shayne Carter went on to the great psychedelic pop group the Straightjacket Fits with drummer John Collie, where they developed their post-punk songwriting to a degree of mastery that is unsurpassed by other acts of the era. With the late Wayne Elsey, they produced these mini-albums of agitated power pop with distorted punk energy and attitude that were landmarks of the '80s New Zealand indie sound — and unjustly overshadowed by the likes of the Chills and the Clean at the time. "Big Fat Elvis" could be one of the greatest post-punk tunes of all time and the essential Carter-accented sneer is part John Lydon and part Elvis Costello — and one can certainly hear traces of the Straitjacket Fits in the dual-guitar meshing of Carter and Elsey. His "Anyone Else Would" is a classic punk ballad of the Kiwi indie scene.