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What the Heck Was Mizutani (Rallizes Denudes) Using Anyway?!!?

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I have recently become an avid Les Rallizes Denudes fan, and I was wondering if anybody out there can tell me what sort of gadgets and amplification he was using. Did anybody actually SEE LRD? Has anybody gotten anything from extant photographic or video evidence? I have seen photos of him playing both Strats and Gibson SGs. I have some theories: Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi and/or Vox Super Fuzz, Roland Space Echo or Echoplex, a tube amp with TONS of reverb. Any ideas?

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Sunday, 6 April 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

hahaha! did you just call me or something?

I don't know man, I don't fucking know!

but whatever it is its v beautiful.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 6 April 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know either, but what else is worth looking into aside from 77 Live? I heard a couple other songs from other scattered records but nothing else seemed nearly as intense.

― original bgm, Sunday, 6 April 2003 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

apparently live '73 is good too (and they have loads of bootlegs). but anyway good luck in finding anything.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 6 April 2003 17:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks, I'll check that out. And yeah, I was only thinking of finding anything strictly through slsk. But I did manage to pick up a LEGITIMATE (I think?) version of 77 Live via Aquarius Records, which was surprising.

― original bgm, Sunday, 6 April 2003 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

um, 'legitimate', um...

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 6 April 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Unless you mortgaged a house & sold bone marrow to get it, it probably was not an original.

As for non-Live '77 releases, I have only heard one other one so far, and it is great to: Blind Baby Has Its Mother's Eyes. Last I checked Eclipse still had some, as did Julian Cope's website. You can still get the Fucked Up & Naked sets (each is 2-LP vinyl) from Ecstatic Yod at last check too. Those should be arriving in these quarters in the next few days. Should you run across Heavier Than A Death In the Family, you might want to snag it. It is supposedly the best sounding of the Live '77 piracies, and has a cut from Live '73 added to it.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Sunday, 6 April 2003 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, it's definitely not the original. Here's the site's description:

You hear that? That echoing, droning, heavy psych jamming destroying your mind? Yep, at last, we've got 'em. Real cds, not cd-rs. Reasonably priced. More than a handful in stock (for now). The distorto-delic seventies Japanese guitar psych holy grail known as "Live '77", previously released only in an absurdly expensive, impossible to track down double cd-r edition, and in part on long-gone vinyl bootlegs, is now within your grasp (almost). This we expect to have around for more than two seconds at least, and is a comparative steal at only $25. Nicely done too, with a die cut cover revealing a blurry b&w photo of Les Rallizes Denudes guitarist Mizutani Takashi in action.

Maybe it's a boot?

― original bgm, Sunday, 6 April 2003 21:13 (twenty-two years ago)

And where does Blind Baby Has Its Mother's Eyes stand in the timeline of the band?

― original bgm, Sunday, 6 April 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

my copy of 77 sounds like shit. but in a great way. distorted to f*ck. it would lose a fair degree of its power if it was "clean". Do they all sound like this, and is that effect that John's after?

― gaz (gaz), Sunday, 6 April 2003 21:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I love how distorted 77 sounds. The parts when the audio just cuts out entirely are really effective, I think.

― original bgm, Sunday, 6 April 2003 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

let's settle it once and for all - "live '77" is the BEST rallizes recording anyone's heard up to this point and very few of their recordings live up to it. if you're on soulseek look for "french demo tape," "sunset flow fest 1975" and the "red cdr" if you want somewhat similar material...

― your null fame (yournullfame), Sunday, 6 April 2003 23:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, that is the effect I'm referring to. The distortion is beyond anything I've ever heard, with the possible exception of Mizutani disciple Haino. Its not just distortion. There are multiple effects. As to the question of Blind Baby's recording dates, I would recommend checking out Julian Cope's website. In the archives you will find the installment of Album of the Month (or words to that effect) that dealt with Blind Baby Has Its Mother's Eyes. Cope & Japanese underground music expert Alan Cummings put their heads together & make some specualtions. I seem to recall CUmmings mentioning something about it being the same as "the first disc in that 10-CD set" or something like that, as if I was supposed to know which 10-CD set he meant...

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Monday, 7 April 2003 02:48 (twenty-two years ago)

well its not just mizutani and haino. Masayuki takayanagi does loads of shit with distortion and feedback too you know.

I have a 2LP boot of live77. whether it sounds shit or not is a moot point. things like 'recording quality' fall apart when dealing with bands like this.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 7 April 2003 08:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I absolutely agree Julio! Its times like this when audiophile geeks piss me off! LOL! In this case I think the distortion & feedback is deliberately a part of the music. Its as if one could list "ampbuzz" as one of Mizutani's instruments. The overall effect is to make the music more naked, forceful, shocking, different. It doesn't sound "right" in the recording-by-numbers world, but it remains "perfect." "Like shit but in a great way," as Gaz put it so well. And... my copies of Fucked Up & Naked Vols. 1 & 2 arrived today. Haven't played it all, but it sounds as though it comes from multiple sources, including studio. Sound quality varies tremendously. Includes both structured songs like a different version of "The Night of the Assassin" from the Live '77 set, (That's Disc 1, Track 2 for those lacking a translation.) as well as lengthy noisegrind jams. I am thriving on the whole Rallizes thing.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Monday, 7 April 2003 20:37 (twenty-two years ago)

heh, yeah the 'CD revolution' has its downside...

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 7 April 2003 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

thanks for the tip on Takayanagi. solo or in a band?

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Tuesday, 8 April 2003 00:44 (twenty-two years ago)

the duo record by takayanagi and kaoru abe ('mass projection') is pretty seriously fucked up stuff. think borbetomagus before they were even a gleam in those two fat guys' and a thin guy with poodle hair's eyes.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Tuesday, 8 April 2003 03:20 (twenty-two years ago)

John: heres' my thread on takayanagi:

This is the thread where we talk about what a genius masayuki Takayanagi was!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 8 April 2003 08:17 (twenty-two years ago)

OK my copy of Live 77 just came and there isn't even a label listed! But it is cd number 001 on whatever ghost label this is anyway. I guess I was naive to think this was some French reissue or something. (I'm new to these guys, maaaaaan!)

― original bgm, Wednesday, 9 April 2003 14:53 (twenty-two years ago)

It's still nice to have a non-cdr copy, though.

― original bgm, Wednesday, 9 April 2003 14:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, that's the CD I got too. In fact I have 2 because I backordered one, but found another one in the meantime just to make sure. Sounds pretty good. The recently issued Fucked Up & Naked, Vol. 1 is a double LP of the Live '77 maelstrom that actually may sound a bit better than the Le 12 Mars 1977 a Tachikawa CD set. Last I heard FU&Naked Vols 1 & 2 were still available through Ecstatic Yod (www.yod.com).

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Thursday, 10 April 2003 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...
OK - I'd like to attempt to get back to the original question here. I've been going through another Rallizes phase, and I now have numerous things either purchased or downloaded. I'm still amazed by the guitar sound...

Surely there are some analogue stompbox effects geeks like me out there who might have some information, or even educated speculation, as to what effects, amps, guitars Mizutani was using. Like - what was that SUPER noisy fuzz device that actually had fuzz on it, like felt or something...?

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Saturday, 6 September 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...
S T O M P B O X G E E K S H E L P M E O U T H E R E

:-D

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Wednesday, 19 November 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)


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