Hadaka No Rallizes (les Rallizes Denudes)
Flightless Bird Needs Water Wings, Vol. 1
This record is a nice summary of some of the band's earlier work - when infamous bassist Moriaki Wakabayashi was still playing before he went and hijacked a plane (he was a member of the "Yodogo Group" of the radical New Left Japan Communist League's "Red Army Faction" that carried out the hijacking of Japan Airlines Flight 351 in 1970, ultimately forcing the plane to fly to North Korea, where Wakabayashi currently resides ). A seemingly endless sonic flame-throwers of phased white noise streak across your inner landscape, as stupidly loud and overly-backlit lead guitar emissions perpetrated by a perpetually be-shaded longhair pummel the similarly be-shaded but barely adequate musical backing that sags and creaks under the wattage. Contemporary groups like the Wooden Shjips would have killed for it ! Occasionally, lead vocals of a singular variety are provided by said be-shaded mad axeman, whose paranoid personality ensures all songs are delivered in a voice of querulous subterranean gargling from beyond the valley of Alan Vega. A great collection of LRD tracks with a good level of cohesiveness that brings everything you would expect from this band to the table.