One of the strangest and most enigmatic groups in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, Les Rallizes

Denudes, also known as Hadaka no Rallizes or Hadaka no Rarizu , were a Japanese

experimental rock band that is often cited as a pioneering force of the noise rock movement.

The story of the band is as strange and difficult as the music they made and although much of

the tale is shrouded in mystery, everything apparently begins around Kyoto’s radical anti-

establishment communes of the late 1960s, where androgynous frontman Takashi Mizutani

formed the group in November 1967 while attending Kyoto University. Hard facts are in thin

supply and the band’s name employs complex punning that essentially equates to Fucked Up

and Naked in Japanese, a slang reference to being high on drugs. Inspired by the Velvet

Underground and other groups employing prominent, overamplified guitar, the band’s music

was typically based on repetitive rhythmic patterns bolstered by Mizutani’s heavily distorted

lead guitar, though the poor sound quality of early demos apparently turned Mizutani away

from studio recordings, rendering much of their output in the form of live bootlegs,

supplanted by the occasional leaked studio demo. Early performances were given as

accompaniment to avant-garde theatre groups, though the group was soon deemed too loud to

be a mere accompaniment, and membership fluctuated frequently, with Mizutani being the

only constant, though he retreated from public view following the 1970 Red Army hijacking

of Japan Airlines flight 351, with the assistance of original Rallizes bass player, Moriaki

Wakabayashi, who subsequently fled to North Korea; the band continued to sporadically

record and perform under various guises until 1997. The two versions of “There’s No Heaven

Like Hell” presented here were recorded on 1 April 1975 at Rallizes House in Fussa, a small

town to the west of Tokyo, joining Mizutani with keyboardist/guitarist Taisuke Morishita’s

experimental group Be, originally known  as Yellow. The first version takes the form of an

epic slow drone, featuring Mizutani on acid guitar, backed only by Morishita’s pulsating

synthesizer lines; the second version is in full marathon mode, an hour-long dirge that sees

the spacey duo joined by drummer Shunichiro Shoda and a plodding bassist in the latter

portion.

SIDE A

There’s No Heaven Like Hell 1

SIDE B

There’s No Heaven Like Hell 1

SIDE C

There’s No Heaven Like Hell 2

SIDE D

There’s No Heaven Like Hell