Hadaka No Rallizes

Hadaka no Rallizes were an early Japanese psychedelic band that took inspiration from the Velvet Underground's Exploding Plastic Inevitable light and sound shows and from the Blue Cheer's heavily amplified sound.

The Hadaka no Rallizes, also known as Les Rallizes Denudes, were formed in 1967 at Kyoto University by guitarist and vocalist Mizutani Takashi. Takashi was somehow involved in the communist terrorism of the 1970s and therefore the group was hardly welcomed anywhere. Recordings of the original period include one side of the legendary bootleg Live At Oz (Oz, 1973 - OZ Days, 2001), 67-69 Studio et Live (1991), Mizutani/Les Rallizes Denudes (1991), 77 Live (1991). The latter is probably their least indulgent album, at times worthy of Fushitsusha's most extreme freakouts.

Les Rallizes Denudes became the object of wild post-mortem speculation with the market flooded by bootlegs of droning, hyper-amplified psychedelic jams. The 1992 video soundtrack Cable Hogue Soundtrack (2007) as well as the the six lengthy jams from 1973-77 of Heavier Than A Death In The Family (2002 - Phoenix, 2010), particularly the cacophonous People Can Choose, the three juggernauts of Blind Baby Has It's Mothers Eyes (2003 - Phoenix, 2010), the other live performances of the six-disc Double Heads (2005), of the triple-disc Great White Wonder (Univive, 2006), of the four-disc Cradle Saloon '78 (2006), of the double-disc End Of Heavy Groove (2006), of Live 1972 (Over Level, 2006), of the double-LP Le 12 Mars 1977 a Tachikawa (Ignuitas, 2008), with the 20-minute The Last One, of Live May 25 1975 Yaneura (Ignuitas, 2008), of the triple-disc Wild Trip In The West (2008), of the double-disc Critical Trip (2008), of the triple-disc Back To Black Mandara (2010), etc etc surfaced decades after the fact.

The triple-disc Naked Diza Star (Univive, 2006) delivered another load of lengthy performances, notably: a sixteen-minute I Knew You (november 1973), a nine-minute Memory is Far (april 1975), a 13-minute Deeper than Night (november 1975), 13-minute Ice Flame (november 1975), a nine-minute Diza Star (july 1976) eleven-minute Night of the Assassin (july 1976), a eight-minute Enter The Mirror (march 1977) a ten-minute Night Harvester (august 1977), a 15-minute Ice Flame (august 1977) and a 26-minute The Last One (august 1977).

Yodo-Go-A-Go-Go (10th Avenue Freeze Out, 2007) is a compilation.

The four-disc box-set Mars Studio 1980 (Phoenix Records, 2012), featuring guitarist Fujio Yamaguchi, is one of the least amateurish documents.

The double-disc Tribute To Les Rallizes DeNudes (Shrine, 2014) contains a Live At Yaneura 1976-02-15 with nine songs, including Deeper than Night (9:26), Ice Flame (12:53), and The Last One (9:42).

A good compromise is 1977/08/13 that contains great versions of Night of the Assassin , Romance of Black Grief , Reapers of the Night / White Awakening , Flames of Ice , and The Last One .

But, in general, the more recordings surfaced, the less relevant the band seemed to be. Most of their music was disposable, an inept imitation of the Velvet Underground occasionally decaying into childish mayhem.