Thursday, June 4, 2009

N.O.T.A. - 1983-1986 Discography



Classic hardcore from Tulsa, Oklahoma. None of the Above existed between 1979 and 1987, and released some great thrashy hardcore punk records and comp tracks during that time. This is a collection of most of the band's recorded material between 1983 and 1986, excluding the Live at the Crystal Pistol demo (a set recorded at a cowboy bar on "punk night" on 1/11/83) which was later re-issued with bonus tracks by Prank Records. It's still in print. They also put out a "garage practice" style demo in 1982 called Out on the Pavement, which they immediately scrapped after giving some out to friends. Three of the tracks from that tape made it on to the re-issue of Live at the Crystal Pistol CD. Aside from those 2 demos, the only tracks missing here would be their tracks on the Birth Defect compilation tape, which seems to be impossible to find. So here you go, 39 tracks in 79 minutes. All keepers. All great quality. Enjoy.

N.O.T.A. Collection

Jeff Klein - vocals/guitar
Russel Love - guitar
Bruce Hendrickson - bass
Bob Purdom - drums

Dave Scum replaced Jeff on vocals for the 1986 demo.

The first track on this collection is from the international punk compilation Welcome to 1984, originally released by Maximum Rock 'N' Roll. Apparently MRR loved the band's Live at the Crystal Pistol demo so much, they used the song Propaganda Control from that tape. N.O.T.A. shared the comp with The Crucifucks from Michigan to represent the US. I'd say using the band's live demo track from '83 on the Welcome to 1984 comp is a testament to the band's greatness. This song was ripped from the re-issue CD put out by Sonic Reducer Records. Next up is the band's first 7" Moscow, released in 1984 on Unclean Records. This is my personal favorite, just loads of energy, a raw production, and the title track is just a classic. Good sound quality. Not perfect, but it fits these recordings perfectly. After that is the band's follow-up 7" Toy Soldiers on Rabid Cat Records, also released in '84. Sound is great on this one, as it was ripped from the CD compilation Punk Territory Vol. 3: US Hardcore 1981-1984. The entire Punk Territory series is excellent, so find them if you can. Next is the bands vicious tracks from the Empty Skulls tape, followed by the self titled LP from 1985. I love this album. Just the perfect combination of thrashy hardcore and punk anthems with a great production. To me it plays more like a compilation rather than a cohesive album, but some of the band's most powerful stuff is on here. I spent some time on this one, cleaning it up as much as possible, so the sound quality is great. Ending this collection are some rarities i recently came across. Two unreleased tracks from the LP sessions, and a demo from 1986. For more info on these recordings, check out this blog. And to top it all off is a cover song (by a band i've never heard of called Brown 25) recorded live at the Lawrence Opera House on 12/01/84 (by Jason Willis). You can hear that entire live set here.

After the initial 1979-1987 lineup, the band reformed in 1993 with mostly new members, and released a bunch of albums. Maybe one day i'll check them out.

37 comments:

  1. Another fantastic collection of an underrated band. I wouldn't sweat not hearing the later stuff too much - "Give 'Em Enough Dope" isn't nearly as good as the self-titled album.

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  2. I am floored and "down on the pavement"...plus I am shitting bricks over this comp. goddammit thanks. I wore out that blue lp tape from playing it so much. Oi!
    Viacomclosedmedown on youtube and DU blog/ning

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  3. Thanks for the great up!!! None Of The Above are one of the greatest american hardcore/punk bands ever!!!! Thanks again!

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  4. I have "give em enough dope" posted on my blog if you want to check it out.

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  5. Thanks Fred, i may finally check that out. I'm usually a bit nervous when it comes to bands putting out albums 10+ years after their prime.

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  6. I'm not sure how you found my blog, but I am glad you popped over ad were cool enough to leave a comment. Cheers!

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  7. For the record, Jeff never liked the MRR comp and NOTA appear on it because MRR wanted new and unheard of US bands. They actually appeared on dozens of compilation tapes, too.

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  8. I know their were lots of obscure tape comps in the '80s, but they were on dozens? All i know of are Birth Defect and Empty Skulls.

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  9. i went on fredcore to get the give em enough dope lp and it has disappeared can you help

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  10. Mr. Anonymous, i want to respond to your post a bit more, only because you started it with "For the record..." as if it was fact, and i don't want too much mis-information regarding this band to stem from this blog.

    When you say Jeff, i'm assuming you meant Jeff Klein and not Jeff Bale. I'm also assuming you know him personally or maybe read this in an interview. Can you be more specific about him hating the comp? I understand that MRR would want to choose a more unheard of band to expose on the comp, but there were hundreds of obscure bands in the '80s, so it's safe to say the people invloved in making the comp liked what they heard from N.O.T.A. enough to include them, as opposed to just throwing them on the comp for the sake of them being more on the unknown side of HC.

    As far as them being on dozens of comps... I can't possibly claim to know all the tape comps that were making the rounds in the '80s, but the only ones i remember are the same 2 that are listed on their discography. Maybe they contributed a live or demo track to a few other tapes here and there, but i'm sure any exclusive tape tracks would be documented somewhere.

    Hopefully you can elaborate. I'm only responding to this because i was trying to be as accurate as possible with this comp as far as release dates, and other info, which was tough with N.O.T.A. because just about every source will give you a different date for just about every release. Even the Kill From the Heart site (which is usually pretty accurate), had just about all the dates wrong for the early N.O.T.A. material besides the 1985 LP. They even have the Live at the Crystal Pistol demo as being released in '82, which is impossible as the show was recorded in January of '83. They also have the Moscow 7" as being released in '82, even though every other source says the Crystal Pistol tape pre-dates all the vinyl. Anyway, i tried to be as thorough as possible with the years. I would appreciate if anyone would correct anything that may be wrong.

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  11. I keep getting a CRC error on track 39, downloaded the archive a few times and it's the same. Would anyone be so kind as to upload that track? Cheers.
    Fantastic blog, by the way, grabbed a shitload of goodies!

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  12. Scrub that. Managed to extract it with an "ignore errors" doodah and it's fine except for a few digital glitches at the very end of the track after the music's finished.

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  13. I'm glad it works OK now. I though maybe it had a problem because of the (live) at the end of the title. Sometimes brackets fuck with files. I gotta stop doing that.

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  14. Nice blog! good compilations of great bands. Hey, I've been lloking for the peel sessions of UK Hardcore Band Voorhees I don't know if you have them but it would be awesome if you could help me out! thank you so much!

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  15. Sorry, i can't help out with the Voorhees. If i come across it, i'll send it your way. I just linked your blog by the way. Great job.
    Cheers
    Vin

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  16. The greedy bastard that I am, wants more, more, more! Hope all's well on your end so you can keep giving us the goods!

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  17. I CAN NAME 16 COMPILATIONS THAT N.O.T.A. ARE ON. IVE COLLECTED AND TRADED N.O.T.A. ALL OVER THE WORLD. I GOT THE BIRTH DEFECTS COMPILATION AS WELL. IM FROM TULSA AND KNOW N.O.T.A. I DID AN INTERVIEW WITH JEFF A WHILE BACK FOR A PUNK FANZINE. IVE BEEN BUGGING JEFF FOR A LONG TIME TO RE-RELEASE THE STUFF BUT HE NEVER HAS. SO FOR N.O.T.A. FANS WE HAVE TO RELY ON BLOGS AND TRADING. KEEP IT ALIVE !!!!!!

    BIG AL THE PUNK

    E-MAIL notarules@hotmail.com

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    1. I'm in Tulsa also. Would love to get some compilations of em!

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  18. Big Al. Reading that post and then seeing your email address made me laugh out loud. Thanks! I was having such a shitty day.

    All's well over here. I've been on a different work schedule the past couple of weeks but there's plenty of stuff in the works.

    Vin

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  19. THIS IS PROBLY THE BEST N.O.T.A. BLOG IVE EVER STUMBLED ACROSS.

    KICK ASS JOB ! ! !

    IF YOU WANT THAT BIRTH DEFECTS E-MAIL ME AND ILL HOOK YOU UP

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  20. Good news Big Al, another N.O.T.A. collection is in the works. Keep checkin' in.

    Vin

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  21. i am from tulsa, i was in a punk band called switch blade shakers and i am only 30, but we used to practice in jeff kleins practice space he had above an insurance office around 15th and harvard. he was a cool guy. the tulsa scene blew upo in the early 90's with alot of good bands-brother inferior, bob of tribes, etc. but nota were the founding fathers!

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  22. is anonymous having a seizure? if this is supposed to be an intelligent tribute to legend and legacy and the unwritten future ... maybe the personal vendettas should be edited out. Isnt this about N.O.T.A. ? I still have the original cassette of moscow. always kept it in my studio. they were on a mission that inspired me.

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  23. Spyface, agreed. I deleted the comment. If you have personal shit to say about individual band members, get in touch with them.

    Vin

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  24. do you have "Live At The Crystal Pistol"?

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  25. also, track 39 isnt working, it says the file is corrupt

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  26. Nice job here mate, I am wondering how do you make this records sound this good, I don't try to steal you secrets but I do want to know how you do this because I want to restore some old Vinyls I have and I haven't found a proper way

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  27. Adrian, i have Live At the Crystal Pistol in a crate somewhere. When i dig it out i'll post it for you. You should be able to find it online pretty easy though, and it may even still be available.

    Anyone else having trouble with the last track?

    Cialis, i just use Audacity for cleaning audio. It's freeware for Mac. Not the greatest software, but i think i got a pretty good handle on it now.

    Vin

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  28. war on wanker bitches.............

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  29. Whoa the link is still alive after all those years !
    Many thanks !

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  30. Read your post about NOTA a few years ago, but never posted. Great write up. Loved seeing them whenever I could. Great live show. "This Country" and "Taking Away Your Rights" were awesome live, and they also covered Black Sabbath's "Fairies Wear Boots" and Mountain's "Mississippi Queen." I had both on tape until a few years ago.

    Thanks for the post and your blog, as well as the comp.

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  31. Appreciate your efforts. Cheers from fellow Jersey punk.

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  32. Oooh what remains of 14 year old me is psyched to dig into this, thanks

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  33. Oooh what remains of 14 year old me is psyched to dig into this, thanks

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  34. مشاريع تخرج، بحوث تخرج، بحوث تخرج جاهزه، مشاريع تخرج جاهزه، رسائل ماجستير جاهزه، اطروحات دكتوراه جاهزه

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