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.