um hmm.

I just kinda wanted to give brief reasonings to explain my order of preference for the songs.

Dude Ranch Nurse is very unsettling. Win.

Well, great to have Jim there in the passages when they are all clicking. And there's definitely a lot of extended outros and instrumental improvs that are classic massive live Sonic Youth on the live recordings.

But as far as the show relative to the album tracks...hmmm.
Well, ironically (for me), the "I Love You Golden Blue" opener is a particularly strong part of those shows.

The songs were performed well by and large, but somehow a lot of the nuances found on the album didn't really translate well for me live.

And there are definitely some parts of some songs that they just rarely executed all that well live.

On the other hand, there are definitely some that they hit out of the park live.

Glad there's lots of 'em (Nurse shows).

Can I take the easy way out and say all of them?

i still feel murray street is their best full length this decade by about a mile or so though.

Erm... Dude Ranch Nurse.

If not, Unmade Bed or Pattern Recognition.

Pattern Recognition, Unmade Bed, and Golden Blue are probably my favorite ones.

Dude Ranch Nurse hands down. But for me, while I love the album for its songwriting, much of it seems a little contrived, like they were trying too hard (which makes me think of the Jim O. threads). I'm sure it's just a neurotic hang-up of mine, but I am super-sensitive to anything that doesn't seem authentic, or genuinely in the moment. "Nurse" is a great album for being well thought-out, but I actually much prefer "Rather Ripped," for the simple fact that it seems less planned and constructed. (That, and for the existence of "Jams Run Free.") While I hate to fall back on drug references to analyze music, "Nurse" is somewhat uncomfortable for me to listen to when I'm high (except for "Dude Ranch Nurse"). It just exaggerates the whole "oh, listen to how hard they're trying" thing (and sounding like they're trying to *not* sound like they're trying, etc). I'd much rather listen to a band not trying at all, just doing (and who am I, Yoda?), which I acknowledge is a conundrum for even the best bands to achieve. Yet there are those that do it (see the Breeders newest, Magik Markers, etc.) Well anyway, I've kind of gotten off-topic. But "Dude Ranch Nurse" is just spectacular.

I found the live version of "Golden Blue" to be fantastic..

exactly, that's the thing. noise outros and instrumental parts on Nurse material live is great, because of 5 piece band and Jim's brought a lot to that live sound. it's just sounds amazing live. something they evolved into as a 5 piece.

also maybe because Nurse was the first time ever material I've seen performed live (and it just blew me away seeing SY for first time ever doing Pattern Recognition outro, hehe) and also maybe there's few very good quality DVD out there from Nurse tour.

Now that I've had a proper listen, I can decide which tracks are the best:
Pattern Recognition
Dripping Dream
Kim Gordon & the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream
Paper Cup Exit
New Hampshire
I Love You Golden Blue
Peace Attack
That's nearly every song on the album.

ROBROBROBROBROBROBROBROBROBROBROB!

I agree.

Peace Attack for sure..

pattern recognition

GOLDEN BLUE !! no-doubt

the only songs i don't like in nurse are paper cut exit and dude ranch nurse.

dude ranch nurse fucking RULES

dude ranch shentov is better though


let nurrse give you a shot, it's something to do.....

I FUCKING LOVE THAT LINE

New Hampshire or (EDITED) Dude ranch nurse.

mmm...tricky one

track 1 slays, track 2 kills, track 3 kicks serious butttttt, track 4 owns (or does it pwn?), track 5 flips da beat, track 6 rocks the shock, track 7 hips the zips, track 8 flips the flops, track 9 makes me wanna shoot my load, track 10 makes we wanna load my shoot (?!), track 11 drives me insane in the membrane, track 12 aygdweylgc, track 13 is the killa dilla...

tough call, for sure

I think DRN has some of SY's best lyrics, and they're cryptic as shit.

I could love you, I could have you...