Les Rallizes Dénudés - Black Rainbow (2005)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

4 tracks from 1981. Issued as the 2 Bonus discs of Double Heads. More Info at Discogs.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-004
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - December's Black Children (2003)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

To start with, it's pretty hard to gather information about LRD's releases. Mainly because of the hell bunch of bootlegs that simply provides no info. By chance, I found out that December's Black Children is part of the unofficial box 1980 Live & Soundboard - It's the 9th and the 10th cd (Live 13-December-1980). Some sources says it may be a Soundboard recording, but none of them are sure enough. So that's pretty much it, two cds of another unofficial Rallizes live. I must say that this one stands out from most of the unofficial stuff. The sound quality is pretty good during most of the album and there are parts of some songs in which the feedback is almost unnoticeable (like the beginning of the Romance of the Black Grief). The bass presence is always strong - as on most of their stuff - , but the drums suffered a little with the mix and are pushed hardly to the back of all the distortion. Still, it's a recording of high quality. Some songs even manage to cover itself in a dark and foggy atmosphere (like on Night of the Assassins) and some others are great example of LRD's best folkish stuff. Overall, it's a pretty good album and a kind of essential in any LRD's library.

Catalog: IAL01 (Illegal-Alien Records) - Discs 09-10
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Laid Down '76 Again (2006)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

8 tracks CD. Issued as the Bonus disc of Volcanic Performance. more info at discogs. review coming later.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-005 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Double Heads September (2006)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

5 tracks live from September 11, 1980. more info at discogs. review coming later.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-011 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Live 1973 (1977)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

Not for the faint of heart or the squeamish minded. Les Rallizes Denudes at their most extreme, supposedly recorded sometime in 1973 and supposedly released sometime in 1977, although I doubt it seriously. Like most of Les Rallizes Denudes' music, impossible to find in any legitimate pressing so you might as well download it from the internet. It Consists on a 4 Tracks, with a total of 30min.

Since Mizutani Takashi (who essentially was Les Rallizes) rejected any idea of standard studio recording or marketing, it's hard to tell if this is actually a "bootleg" or not. Mizutani was reportedly connected with many underground political movements, and one of his former bass players was a convicted member of the Japanese Red Army (Nihon Sekigun), who staged a number of terrorist attacks and bombings in Japan in the 1970s. Mizutani may or may not have been an active member, but his sympathies did extend to a number of leftist organizations, which explains somewhat why there are no studio recordings of Les Rallizes Desnudes. The combination of their absolute uncommerciality and their leftist political stance insured that Japanese recording studios and record companies wanted nothing to do with them.

The music is flat-out, feedback-ridden rock and roll at its most extreme. Comparisons to the Velvet Underground at their most freakish are fairly valid, but not quite on the mark. Les Rallizes is too demented and too individual to be a Velvets cover band. The music can be described as deliberately simplistic rock structures overlaid with thoroughly demented noise guitar. Takashi Mizutani was at this long before Fushitsusha or any of the other Japanese noise rock bands were on the scene, and was a definite influence on all of them.

The album follows suit. It can be invigorating or numbing depending on your taste and mood, but in all, Live 1973 definitely deserves to be heard.

Catalog: No Label
Review By happydog
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Wild Trips (2005)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

5xCDs from 1976. more info at discogs. review coming later.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-009 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Naked Diza Star (2006)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

3xCDs compilation from '73-'87. A kind of 'Best Of'. more info at discogs. review coming later.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-010 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - End Of Heavy Groove (2006)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

2xCDS from 1976. more info at discogs. review coming later.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-012 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Volcanic Performance (2008)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

4xCDs from 1975, '76 and '79. Hell 'Volcanic'! more info at discogs. review coming later.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-017 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Mizutani 2 With Association Love Songs (2007)

| Avant-Garde | Folk-Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock | Noise Rock |

3xCDs of "Solo" Takashi Mizutani (I really don't know why the 'mizutani' albums are 'solo', because the whole band is playing). Well, another lo-fi psychedelic-folk album as the first 'mizutani'. Pretty cool. Disc 1 from '72-'75, Disc 2 from '80 and Disc 3 from '76. review coming later. more info at discogs.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-015 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - One More Night Tripper (2006)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

4xCDs from another 1980's Live. Heavy as hell. more info at discogs. review coming later.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-006 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Double Heads (2005)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

4xCDs of pure pwnage. Live '80. review coming later.
more info on discogs.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-003 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - '77 Live (1991)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

This must be LRD's masterpiece and maybe the ultimate record from the Japanese psychedelic-noise rock underground. '77 Live is a massive double-album of intense feedback, huge distortion, large reverb, cold vocals, powerful bass, drowning psychedelic rhythms and experimentalism everywhere. Completely stunning. Although it has only long tracks filled with lots of improvisation, none of the them gets dragged out, and you don't lose contact to the song's structure. Maybe because of the bass repetitive strong lines that keeps the songs on both feet, the tracks never get lost in their experimentalism. And that's perhaps one of the most incredible parts of " '77 Live".

The album opens with the astonishing Enter the Mirror, that mixes Experimental Folk with Psychedelic-Noise Rock in a unique way. Followed by the breathtaking Night of the Assassins, a fast and loud song, that runs like a giant and furious tsunami of feedback. My favorite from this album. Following the same path we have the overwhelming Flames of Ice, a little slower than its precedent, but heavier. Then we have another folk-noise-rock style song on A Memory Is Far, and though this one isn't as good as Enter the Mirror, it's still a extraordinary song. Deeper than Night is another heavy song, wondrous everywhere. Then we have the unearthly, devastating, stunning Night Harvesters. Besides being the shorter with only 8min, it's the rawest, fastest, destroy-est track from this album. A terrific song, if it wasn't for Night of the Assassins, this would be my favorite. And the album ends with The Last One, a giant stunning 21min monster, with the guitar screaming as loud as your headphone can bear (or not).

This album is beyond perfection. It's flawed, raw, but heart-stirring and mind-blowing as no other album can be. This is a diamond. A rough diamond, but a huge and outstanding diamond. A unique record.

Catalog: SIXE-0400 (Rivista Inc.)
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thanks to Gentleman Norman Kirkpatrick for the Flac and the scans (you can find it here)

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Great White Wonder (2006)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock | Folk-Rock |

Great White Wonder is one of the few LRD's official albums, released under Mizutani's label, Univive. Released in 2006, it consists of 3 Live concerts, divided in 3 CDs, being:
- Disc One: 13 July, 1974 at Hebon Bldg, Meiji Gakuin Daigaku
- Disc Two: 1 October 1975 at Adan, Shibuya
- Disc Three: 22 July 1977 at Nichifutsu Kaikan (Maison Franco-Japonaise), Tokyo.
As one can see, this album ranges LRD's golden time. They're sharp, violent, furious and as loud as only seen on the '77 Live.

The first CD is perhaps the most noisy in here. Blasting guitar feedback, heavy bass lines and mad drumming. Exactly what one would expect from a LRD great live performance. The highlights are the both Romance of the Black Grief and the rarely-performed Inside Heart. The final track, The Last One, is the longest in the whole cd, and it is heavy, devious and strong. 20min of fiendish guitar noise, crusher bass lines and some, uncommon, shouted vocals.

The second CD is what I'd call ' the most experimental'. It's half of mind-blowing fast psychedelic-noise, especially on Field of Artificial Flowers, and half of the good psychexperimental-folk the Rallizes are fond to, as on White Awakening and A Memory Is Far. The Live closes with an improvised short track.

The Third CD is my favorite, and is for sure one of the bests performances of LRD ever. The guitar is loud, the feedback is shredding, the drums are obliterating, the vocals are cold, distant and mad and the bass is hell heavy. The only weak point in it, is that sometimes the rhythm gets lost in a huge wave of overdrive and echo, but that is exactly why i love this performance. The songs are strong even when they feel exhausted, and the Rallizes manage to blow out giant and overwhelming tsunamis of sound even when they seem to be lost in their own hurricane. Dream, Night of the Assassins and Field of Artificial Flowers are performed with complete perfection. Night Harvesters is a torrential tornado of pure destruction, and Flames Of Ice is a giant and devouring piece of explosives just ready to blow your brain right to the wall. The album then closes with another piece of awesome psychexperimental-folk, soothing the listener's mind later with a drone of feedback and some lacking notes before fading in a haze of quiet and soft noise.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-008 (Univive)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Tachikawa December 17th 1976

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

Tachikawa December 17th 1976, as the name suggests, is another unofficial Live album by the avant-garde rock band, Les Rallizes Dénudés. This is a pretty clear record of LRD at their bests days. Distortion is low and controlled and there are no errors with the recording, what makes this a very non-standard album. Besides, they are loud and noisy enough, and this time, as psychedelic as never. Also, this is another short set: 5 songs, ~81min.

The live opens with a short version of White Awakening. Lots of shifts through bastard overdrive and quite-clean chorus 'til the second, Flames Of Ice. This is were the album really gets full throttle. Loud and hypnotic bass, crashing drums, cold vocals, all soaked into a dense fluid of loud, full of effect and distortion, blasting guitar sounds. Angel and Heatwave keep the furious-soothing atmosphere of this record, all documented with a very decent (and uncommon) clean taping. Dream is a beautiful closer song, that makes all of this double-worthy.

Catalog: unknown
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Electric Pure Land 1974

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

Electric Pure Land 1974 is an unofficial bootleg (as most of their albums is) of the japanese psychedelic/noise rock masters, Les Rallizes Dénudés. A relatively short set of 53min, comprised in 5 tracks and recorded live with a very low quality (it's in nice quality though, for LRD standards...), what makes them even more noisy and loud. You can hear echo almost everywhere, from the drums and even from the feedback, and they sound as fine as they should. Though it's not as aggressive or mind-blowing as their '77 Live, it is one of their finest albums. Great live, and good as a starting point for those who aren't pretty much into their sound, as it is short enough and summarizes exactly how their late sound is, since '67-'69 studio et live shows their early and doesn't sound as the rest of their records.

All the 5 performances here are sharp, with lots of distortion and as psychedelic as it must, but we have 2 highlights: The first track, that ironically is The Last One, with the hugest distortion on the record, with the feedback sounding like breaking crystal, and the closer Angel, a nice mix of their psychedelic rock and experimental folk side within pretty much noise as the rest of the record. Enter the Mirror and Flames of Ice are performed masterly here, and Cry of Bird shows how fine they can pick a folk song and mix with it elements of noise and loud rock.

Catalog: unknown
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Mizutani (1991)

| Avant-Garde | Folk-Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock | Noise Rock |

A mostly folk-headed compilation of lives from '70 and '73. One of the most popular albums from the Rallizes, it also contains one of their best songs, Romance of the Black Grief, filled with distortion and feedback in a very unique way. Aside from that and a gorgeous version of The Last One, Mizutani contains mostly tracks of psychedelic-folk rather than noise or experimentalism, and is one of the few albums featuring Mizutani on a classical guitar rather than his (awesome) telecaster. Kiretsu and A Memory is Far, altogether with the already cited Romance of the Black Grief and The Last One makes this album a must-have in every Rallizes collection. (And i'm pretty sure Dansyo1 is a clear version of "Valle de L'Eau"...)

Catalog: SIXE-0203 (Rivista Inc.)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - '67-'69 Studio et Live (1991)

| Avant-Garde | Psychedelic Rock | Noise Rock |
| Experimental Rock | Folk-Rock |

Here it goes another great record from LRD, that perhaps is the most amazing band from Japan (for the other albums, check out here). This early record from Les Rallizes Dénudés isn't as experimental and noisy as their later work, but it hold still as one of their most important. It's their "Velvet Underground and Nico" (the one with the banana lol). Though focused more on straight compositions, short songs and psychedelic rock, it already have their free-form rock style and noise collages. This may not be their best, but it's a good start-point for those who are not into Psychedelic-Noise Rock.

The album starts with its most experimental song, "Smokin' Cigarette Blues", a 19min giant wave of psychedelic percussion mixed along with Mizutani's loud guitar. "Otherwise my Conviction" is my favorite from this record, and is presented here as two versions. The second has a extended solo and is a little more loud and raw, but both versions are great. "Cry of Bird" and "Les Bulles de Savon" are nice folkier song and "A Memory Is Far" is a bit of a mixture of mizutani's experimental and folk side. "La Mal Rouge" is a more experimental song, and could be a lot better if wasn't unfortunately too short. "The Last One" is one of LRD finest tracks, and the early version here is amazing. Noisy and raging, the song grows from the calm beginning into a fast tide of screaming guitar and vocals, experimental percussion, and a repetitive and hypnotic bass line. It's amazing the fury they blow on this one, and if it wasn't for "Otherwise my Conviction", this would be the best on this album. The album then closes with a 11sec untitled noise barriage that is used on the end of "La Mal Rouge" and "The Last One".

Catalog: SIXE-0101 (Rivista Inc.)
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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Yodo-Go-A-Go-Go [溺れる飛べない鳥は水羽が必要] (2007)

| Avant-Garde | Psychedelic Rock | Noise Rock |
| Experimental Rock | Folk-Rock |

Though Les Rallizes Dénudés were one of the earliest and most revolutionary Japanese psychedelic/noise rock bands, and have existed off and on through four decades (since 1967), they are also one of the most obscure, barely known even in their native country. (aka) Hadaka no Rallizes' frontman, Takashi Mizutani, is one of the most important characters on japanese avant-garde music. His style presages Keiji Haino, Asahito Nanjo and Masami Akita (merzbow)'s musical explorations. Les Rallizes Dénudés is often compared to The Velvet Underground, and maybe, if it wasn't for them, Avant-garde music would never be the same.

Yodo-Go-A-Go-Go (aka Flightless Bird Needs Water Wings) is an unofficial compilation of their '67-'69 works. It's a great start point for those who never listened to Mizutani nor are into japanese underground, and has their finest early songs. The opening "Otherwise My Conviction" might be one of their best songs, and it's followed by "Vallé De L'Eau", my favourite. "Enter the Mirror", "Flames of Ice" and "Fields of Artificial Flowers" have great improvisation, full of noise and experimentation, and while the guitar shimmers through tides of noise, the bass' repetitive line can hypnotise anyone into their huge storm. The album closes with a awesome 2nd version of "Otherwise My Conviction", as mind-blowing as the 1st.

Les Rallizes Dénudés was also known for their relation with leftist politicial groups from Japan. This album's name is taken from an airplane hijacking at 1970 in Japan by leftist terrorists, in which the bassist Wakabayashi was one of the 9 people involved. Although Mizutani was allegedly offered a role in the hijacking, he turned it down.

Catalog: 10THCD003 (10th Avenue Freeze Out)
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