Les Rallizes Denudes

***While Les Rallizes Dénudés’ YaneUra Oct. ‘80 was being prepared for release, a mysterious tape was unearthed. Discovered amid the piles of recordings left behind by frontman Takashi Mizutani, the undated cassette contained no recording info, and was referred to as “Unknown” during the archival process. There was no mistaking the sound that was heard on the tape, however: the twin guitar interplay between Mizutani and Fujio Yamaguchi, the former Murahachibu guitarist whose addition to the Rallizes ushered in a new era for the band.

This particularly clean recording was initially thought to be a forgotten studio recording, as corroborated by ex-members and others close to the band. Ultimately, upon further research and meticulous listening, it was determined that the tape in fact contained a board recording of a set played at YaneUra in Shibuya, Tokyo, on September 11, 1980. The raw intensity of this performance feels far removed from the tight sound heard on YaneUra Oct. ‘80, which occurred just a month later.

Fittingly titled YaneUra Sept. ‘80, this album begins with “Flame of Ice,” which heats up considerably as the song reaches the middle point. Then, coming down like an avalanche are wilder than usual versions of “Reapers of the Night” and “The Night, Assassin’s Night,” followed by “The Last One.”

YaneUra Sept. ‘80 captures a flashpoint in the band’s Fujio-era lineup, which ultimately lasted only half a year or so. At the same time, it is bursting with the bottomless potential that the 1980s Les Rallizes Dénudés possessed deep within.