heres the first in a series of posts of the music of 'les rallizes denudes'the great japanese free rock band ,that appear to be all things to all people
theyve been described as proto punk meets freejazz,space rock ,outsider rock and the big inspiration to the late 80's japanese psi /freerock revival.
heres a bit of info from a fan site
Although the ultra-mysterious and rumour-cloaked Les Rallizes Denudes/Hadaka no Rallizes existed in various forms from November 1967 to their last gig in October 1996 they are practically unknown in - let alone out of - Japan. Their recorded output is incredibly rare and highly priced and interviews or articles in the music press virtually non-existent. Tie that in with links to radical left-wing politics, extreme sensory assault at live shows and a general revolutionary aura and you have what must be the ultimate cult group.
This heavy guitar-based psychedelic band had their beginnings at Kyoto University in late 1967 with their first gig in 1968 - a song from which is featured on the 67-69 Studio et Live CD. While their recordings from this early period are still relatively controlled their live shows reputedly featured massive volume and the use of strobe lights and mirror balls to extreme levels, something that can be seen on the Les Rallizes Denudes video and heard on the 77 Live CD. Obviously this brings to mind comparisons with the Velvet Underground and their Plastic Exploding Inevitable. The ESP label and the San Francisco bands of that era have also been referenced here. It seems the volume was too much for some - a relationship with an avant-garde theatre group between 1968-69 fell apart due to the excess of Rallizes' sound.
April 1969 sees the band playing at the front lines of the Japanese student demonstrations, the Barricades A Go-Go concert at Kyoto University, organised by students occupying the university. This support for revolutionary causes ran deep with original member Wakabayashi involved in the 1970 Yodo-Go incident where members of the Japanese Red Army (Sekigun) hijacked a Japanese airliner to North Korea. Rumour has it that guitarist/group leader Mizutani Takashi was involved on some level with Sekigun and was asked to take part in the hijacking. Some years later the band are reported as putting on a concert on the grounds of a junior high school, playing through 30 metre high speaker stacks and passing out copies of texts by Hegel, Lenin, Che Guevara, Cervantes, Nietzsche and Ed Sanders to those present.
While they were active live not much was happening in the studio. Some sessions were recorded in the 1970s but were never released. Other than one side of the legendary Oz Days Live double LP document from 1973 the band only existed as a live experience. August 1991 and suddenly three CDs were released simultaneously by the band, though in limited numbers. These disappeared pretty much at once and like anything else associated with the band are highly-priced on the collector's market. Shortly afterwards the live video was released and then in 1996 the Japanese music magazine etcetera released an issue devoted to Rallizes with a 7" featuring music by Mizutani/Rallizes including a recording from February 1993. Apparently it sold out almost instantaneously. Late 1999 the half of Oz Days Live featuring Rallizes was bootlegged and made available briefly, meanwhile articles in The Wire (August 1999) and the Japanese magazine Studio Voice (March 2000) seem to have sparked lots of interest in the group especially in the Internet auction world.
Most of the interest seems to stem from the 77 Live double CD, along with early Fushitsusha recordings one of the ultimate Japanese guitar-psychedelic documents. This is a massive affair featuring long pieces of intense feedback and guitar distortion over simple repetitive rhythms cut through by Mizutani's cold vocal delivery...it's dark and extreme, influenced by surrealism and avante-garde/radical texts as well as other musics. A few tracks from the 67-69 Live and Mizutani/Rallizes CDs presage this and point to Rallizes as an influence on later Japanese bands but the 77 Live CD is the ultimate Rallizes and arguably the ultimate Japanese psychedelic document. While various attempts have been made to reissue the three official CDs the band have yet to give permission. Meanwhile bootlegs of live shows and studio recordings surface and disappear abruptly, with a 2002 LP boot of 77 Live the latest. The last documented sighting of Mizutani, the key to the whole Rallizes experience, was in Tokyo, November 1997 playing guitar with US free jazz player Arthur Doyle. Various other members have shown up all over the Japanese underground but the band itself seems to be no more.
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'heavier than a death in the family
1. Strong Out Deeper Than the Night (15.32) 2. The Night Collectors (8.30) 3. Night of the Assassins (12.04) 4. Enter the Mirror (11.30) 5. People Can Choose (10.32) 6. Ice Fire (16.12)
it is uncertain when this was recorded, certain sources suggest 1973 , others 1977-78
note this album has appeared in different forms , with varying content the last release
of this material was in 2002 but its probably been bootlegged since.
apparently the band are reluctant to give consent ,to any future releases.
this version does not include the track which i believe to be ice fire though im not sure
heres the link
http://rapidshare.com/files/20623898/heavier.rarpost script Hi Dipmong,
We defiantly need more Rallizes posted!I thought that I had brought this in 2001 but you maybe correct with 2002? I downloaded it too see if you had a different version than I did, but is appears to be the same, however this release should have all 6 tracks on it? This cd was reissuing/bootlegging (what they considered to be the best tracks from) Le 12 Mars 77 with an unreleased? Track (People Can Choose) from 73. Which probably explains the uncertainty over the date?Something has got a bit mixed up here though! I have cross referenced this with my copy and the Le 12 Mars 77 double cd and have come too this conclusion!!!The track missing is Enter The Moon.The file you have titled as Enter The Moon is actually People Can Choose, and the file listed as People Can Choose is actually Ice Fire.The other 3 tracks are titled correctly. The running order in your description is correct,But as too why you have a track missing from your copy I have no idea!
thanks to flux'us for the above
i cant offer any explanation other than my copy being a bootleg of the bootleg,infact my copy did not have the above cover either.
flux'us if youd like to share the missing track by all means do,simply leave it as another comment and ill incorporate it into this post.
pps
Hi Dipmong,
I ripped the track from my copy but there was quite a difference in the volume levels with yours, so for the sake of consistency I have ripped and uploaded the complete album. Have a listen yourself and decide how you want too proceed?
http://tinyurl.com/343zcsI have quite a few other Rallizes & Japanese underground albums, so if there are any specific items that you’re after; let me know? If I have them I will (as time allows) upload them for you.
please do flux'us ny time you want to upload , contact me at
dipmong@hotmail.comas long as the items are not at present commercialy available ,go for it
and thanks for your contribution!!
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