Friday, September 30, 2011

Not Shakespeare ep (1986, Not)

The roster of bands Mitch Easter produced at his fabled Drive-In Studios throughout the '80s is utterly staggering, and as far as I'm concerned bottomless, given that I'm still stumbling upon more vintage college rock records that have his name adorning back sleeves, as is the case with Richmond, VA exports Not Shakespeare.   I can't say this trio had a very heavy handed REM or Let's Active inflection to them, but still a relatively recognizable Mitch Easter production.  It's more Cactus World News than dBs if you get my drift.  "Get Well Soon" would have fit in snugly on a Red Rockers album.  Overall, immensely satisfying if not particularly innovative.  A Complete Bunch of Pants blog has some kinds words to extol on them, including a brief mention of a NS tape titled Not for Sale, and another 12" ep that followed this one.  My apologies for the pesky vinyl static and snaps.

01. Get Well Soon
02. Heaven
03. Turnaround
04. Susan

Hear
at

18 comments:

  1. joseph kyleOctober 1, 2011 at 8:45 AM

    have you heard his latest production, the band Big Troubles? here is a link in case you have not:

    http://stereogum.com/817752/stream-big-troubles-romantic-comedy/mp3s/

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  2. spavidOctober 1, 2011 at 9:01 AM

    Thanks. I've been onto Big Troubles for a month or so, but haven't heard the album yet. Promising band.

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  3. joseph kyleOctober 1, 2011 at 10:17 AM

    I did a piece on them for BTO, there's a funny fanboy story....

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  4. JRTOctober 1, 2011 at 2:18 PM

    As I recall, Not Shakespeare won some kind of Unsigned Band competition sponsored by a candy bar company. Too bad more didn't come of that.

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    Replies
    1. deltacasterMay 5, 2012 at 3:04 PM

      They won the first ever MTV best unsigned band in America contest. They won the record deal to get this album done.
      They were from Blacksburg, VA too, not Richmond.
      I know because I grew upon Blacksburg and the band leader George pretty much ran the local live music scene in the town for a decade at least afterwards (much to my bands chagrin).

      Delete
    2. deltacasterMay 5, 2012 at 3:05 PM

      They won the first ever MTV best unsigned band in America contest. They won the record deal to get this album done.
      They were from Blacksburg, VA too, not Richmond.
      I know because I grew upon Blacksburg and the band leader George pretty much ran the local live music scene in the town for a decade at least afterwards (much to my bands chagrin).

      Delete
  5. WoodyOctober 1, 2011 at 5:38 PM

    Thank you very much. You rock.

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  6. spavidOctober 1, 2011 at 6:55 PM

    Comments are appreciated as always. It's what I live for...maybe.

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  7. BhugOctober 2, 2011 at 5:20 AM

    Nice review. I don't know some of the bands you mention in the review, but your schoolings are appreciated.

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  8. BhugOctober 2, 2011 at 5:31 AM

    Just listened to Not Shakespeare on Youtube. Sounds somewhat like 1983's The Sharks from York, Pennsylvania.
    The live song was catchy. Then listened to Big Troubles, "Misery" which was very cool also.

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  9. ComadrejaPepOctober 2, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    Mnay thankx for this. All the best.

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  10. Jeff SheltonNovember 3, 2011 at 5:48 PM

    I had the song "Turnaround" on an old cassette tape from college radio in 1988. I recently had someone identify the band and the song for me. Good to finally know about them. Their sound was fantastic!

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  11. Jeff SheltonNovember 3, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    I had the song "Turnaround" on an old cassette tape from college radio in 1988. I recently had someone identify the band and the song for me. Good to finally know about them. Their sound was fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  12. cjseattleDecember 5, 2012 at 2:05 PM

    Thanks for posting this! Just randomly did a search for the band, wanting to be taken back to my Virginia Tech days. As is mentioned by other posters, "The Not" were pretty much always playing in the late 80s at the South Main Cafe, and I saw them at least a dozen times. I learned about other great music through their well chosen covers.

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  13. UnknownMarch 23, 2014 at 10:28 AM

    I don't know your policy on re-upping links, but this one has been (sadly) deleted 'due to inactivity' - any chance for a re-up for this, please? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

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  14. spavidMarch 23, 2014 at 8:06 PM

    The link has just been updated. Thanks for alerting us.

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  15. UnknownOctober 10, 2014 at 8:52 AM

    I found a CD at a thrift store called Life Fest. Not Shakespeare is on it along with other VT scene bands. It's really well done!

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  16. Mr. TwistDecember 9, 2015 at 4:16 PM

    Can you please re-update the link? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete