Student Nurse Think for Yourself: Seattle Tour 1979-1984 CD
The complete works (and then some) of late ’70s/early ’80s Seattle art-punks STUDENT NURSE—of the 28 tracks on Think for Yourself, 18 of them(!!!) are previously unheard, and we’re not talking murky practice demos or live rehashes of studio-recorded material, either. Despite only leaving a handful of vinyl short-players behind, STUDENT NURSE still managed to hopscotch through a dizzying range of styles, from speedy, punky bruisers (the minute-long “Lies,” from their 1979 debut 7”), to eccentrically catchy new wave (the bizarro-world hit “Garbage,” from 1980’s As Seen on TV 12”), to upstroked ska-inspired rhythms (“Discover Your Feet,” off the 1981 Seattle Syndrome LP comp), to minimal weirdo pop sung in Dutch (“Recht Op Staan,” the A-side to their 1982 swan-song single). Taken as a whole, the course they charted was not entirely unlike that of SUBURBAN LAWNS, if SUBURBAN LAWNS had been transported from sunny Southern California to the shadow of the Space Needle, with their mixed-gender vocals (guitarist Helena Rogers’ alternatingly jittery/deadpan approach hits some definite Su Tissue angles), spiky riffs and Morse code beats, and a kitsch-minded willingness to not take themselves too seriously—see “Encounter,” STUDENT NURSE’s angular ode to alien abduction that’s an ideal thematic twin to the LAWNS’ “Flying Saucer Safari.” The treasure trove of unreleased archival material is what really elevates this collection to essential status; the stiff, almost GANG OF FOUR-ish funk of “Colonies,” the proto-K Records pop styling of “Letters,” and the robotic post-punk detachment of “Tough Guy in the Lab” are all especially great. True subterranean pop!