Sold Date: April 11, 2016
Start Date: February 12, 2015
Final Price: $30.99 (USD)
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LES RALLIZES DENUDES 'Blind Baby Has Its Mother's Eyes' LP (UK, Phoenix Records, Catalogue #ASHLP3035) Brand new/unplayed copy of superb Phoenix Records vinyl edition of the 'Blind Baby Has Its Mother's Eyes' album by the legendary Japanese ultra-distortion psychedelic noise rock mystery achievers Les Rallizes Denudes. 

'Legendary Japanese rock outfit Les Rallizes Denudes were formed in 1967 and incredibly, for a group that only had one official (Oz Day Live, a double vinyl compilation release in 1973), played their last gig almost 30 years later in October 1996. The band's name apparently means "fu*ked up and naked", which more than adequately describes their music. Formed by band leader Mizutani Takashi, the music remained remarkably familiar over the years, and is best described as high volume, raw, lo-fi, repetitive, feedback-drenched guitar-noise fests with nods in the direction of The Velvet Underground and Blues Creation, but without the electronics. Radical left-wing politics were never far from the band's agenda, with one original band member (Wakabayashi) being involved in the Japanese Red Army's hijacking of a flight to North Korea. Consequently, the group's live appearances became less frequent and increasingly clandestine. All the band's albums were released in very small quantities, and because of the group's reputation for secrecy and violence, as well as the difficulty in tracking down their recordings, Les Rallizes Denudes have assumed almost mythical status. Blind Baby Has Its Mother's Eyes sits at #12 on Julian Cope's list of top Japanese albums.'

'Massive slabs of distortion inhabit every seam of this monstrously linear album. The bass lines are uber-monolithic, in places dropping away in a dubby style that leaves the top end teetering like a tiny boat waiting to be swallowed by a whirlpool. The lead guitar seems even more extravagantly commitetted to tinnitus oblivion than ever, Mizutani having intentionally ditched the between rhythms played by hi-hats and chugging guitars in a desire to bring a post-apocalyptical featurelessness to his muse. Despite the horrendous amp-buzz, there's just enough instrument seperation to suggest these were studio takes and that the buzz was explicitly sought after. Mizutani is known to have played shorter live versions of these tracks during the early '80s, also at studio sessions during the mid-to-late '80s. The juggernaut opening title track is a heavily re-worked '80s version of their epic 'Flames of Ice', which appeared on several albums before this one. That this version is borne along by an entirely different bass line, and features different lyrics delivered with an entirely different melody and method of delivery, should come as no surprise to us. Track two is a suppressed monster called 'An Awful Eternitie' aka 'Zankoko Na Ai' (Cruel Love) aka 'Koi Monogatari' (Tale of Love), a remote and mysterious thing without highs or lows, its rambling meditation in no hurry to reach its destination. This version first appeared on a 10CD box set STUDIO & SOUNDBOARD 1979-1986, and is said to have been recorded in April 1986. Typically, 'The Last One' concludes the record, here a taut-wired high-energy seventeen-minute version.' - Julian Cope/Japrocksampler

High-quality 180-gram vinyl pressing.

Tracks on this LP are as follows:

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