Why, the nerve!
The Nerve open with a cover of The Nazz, "Open My Eyes," which in turn unapologetically channels early Who. Swap organ for 12-string Rickenbacker, and "House of David" begins with a melody almost exactly lifted from "If I Needed Someone"...which George Harrison wrote as a tip of the hat to The Byrds, whose entire early sound was a tip of the hat to George's playing in The Beatles. Needless to say, both Open My Eyes and If I Needed Someone spun off sounds of their own, and not just to The Nerves, who've simply done what you hear in those songs too: make clear-eyed, wide-eyed references to yet other references, each of them oddly fresh in their own ways. Not a whiff of cynicism in sight. Recursive much? Yes, please. I'll take two.
