VINYL FILE SPOTLIGHT

This week we are going to continue to look at NOFX's catalogue and some of the rarer of their vinyl releases. The band has been releasing albums for 22 years now and this week we will look at the first seven years of NOFX, with the rest to follow over the next two weeks.

Of course, with a large number of pressings, things get pretty thick here. Pay attention to the comments section for what I am sure will display a number of "You're an idiot, this is what is right_______" posts.

Of course, the first place to start is at the beginning. In this case, we're going way back to 1984 to look at the band's self-titled 7" released originally by Mystic Records. The first pressing, which was limited to 500 copies on back vinyl is the only copy to mention Mystic Records. Subsequent releases had different center labels that say Super Seven and feature thinner photo-copy like covers and the first track of the 7 song EP, 'Live Your Life' is not listed on the A-Side. The first Super Seven release featured 500 copied on blue vinyl and an unknown number on black. Super Seven later did a third press of the record on black, although details on it are hard to come by.

NOFX's second release is the EP, So What if We're on Mystic. Released in 1986. The eight song EP was pressed on black, yellow and blue vinyl, totaling 3,000 copies. 2,000 of the first run were on black vinyl, 700 were on blue and the remaining 300 were pressed on yellow. A second pressing of 500 black releases featured sleeves made by Dutch East and given to Mystic Records to sell. The cover art and B-side label of this pressing were different from the original.

The earliest release from the band that is still readily available is the PMRC Can Suck on This EP. Originally released as a run of 500 numbered black records on Wassail Records, all subsequent releases have been handled by Fat Wreck Chords. The Wassail edition features cover art unique to its pressing with the A side matrix reading "We are the jolly wassailers" and the b side reading "Party til the cows come home." Fat released 1,000 black copies for its first press and kept the same matrix messages, while the second black pressing of 2,000 featured a lyric book as well as a new message on the matrix of the A-side that read, "Epitaph Wishes They Had This." The third pressing was also of 2,000 and featured a lyric sheet with the fourth pressing being limited to 5,000. The best way to tell the Fat releases apart is in the shades of blue on the cover, which have gotten darker (except for the new ones which are lighter than the second pressing).

Wassail Records was back again in 1988 to release the 7" split for 'S&M Airlines.' NOFC contributed their song on the b-side while the a-side was Drowning Roses, 'Paradise.' Only one pressing was made of the album with 450 on black vinyl and 50 on red. Some of the jackets were photocopies, while some were printed on thick cardboard stock.

Mystic Records released the band's first full-length, known to collectors simply as The Album. The first run of 1,000 copies on black featured both red and white center labels, the most common of which is white. Some copies of the album are also missing writing on the spine. 250 green copies and 250 grey/purple copies were released with a slightly off-white cover. In 1996 Mystic repressed 1,000 copies of the album with white covers, white center labels. This release also featured a different font on the cover.

Colossal Wassail had their chance to issue a NOFX full length in 1998 when they handled the first press of Liberal Animation. They printed 1,500 black copies of the full length before NOFX headed over to Epitaph Records in 1991. The first Epitaph pressing was almost entirely on black vinyl (although totals are not known), however at least three copies were printed on burgundy vinyl and five copies on blue (supposedly given only to the band). The third and most recent pressing is on black and can be differentiated from the second pressing by the use of a newer Epitaph logo.

The full length S&M Airlines was released in 1989 and is the first release the band had on Epitaph. It's also the easiest of the band's early releases to track as only 15,000 copies were printed in one shot, all on black vinyl. So there.

Ribbed was released in 1991 and is also a fairly easy release to track. Like most Epitaph releases, the total number printed isn't known (at least to us), it is known that it was only printed once and about 500 copies were done on yellow vinyl. Some of the yellow were dark and some were light. The idea was that they would resemble condoms. Surprise, surprise.

NOFX's second split 7" came in 1991 and was a three-way split between NOFX, Jughead's Revenge and Drama. The record was available largely though the OX fanzine, with 50 being reserved for sale on a Drama tour. The most common version was limited to 1,600 on black and features the NOFX track 'Drug Free America.' The 50 tour copies feature the same record but with a home made sleeve.

Although released on CD in 1992, it wasn't until 2000 that Maximum Rocknroll was widely available on vinyl. The songs featured on the album were recorded between 1984-1988. While six test pressings were issued in 1996, the first batch available to the public were released in 2000. The initial run was 500 copies on black vinyl. It came with a note from the band saying "This record was recorded between 1984-1988. It isn't very good." The center labels didn't mention the band at all, simply listing the song titles. A 2006 repressing on grey, also limited to 500, added the band's name to the labels.

For more info on NOFX vinyl, and the source for most of my info, head over to NOFX Wiki.

THE PUNKNEWS.ORG VINYL FILE

Wow, those Deja Entendu's seemed to go pretty fast. Despite it seeming as though there must have been hundreds available when the acclaimed