For Temporal Drift, founded by two ex-employees of the reissue label Light in the Attic, who worked on the Japan Archival series, the popularity of these tapes meant the presence of a wide international fan base and the potential for new releases. proves the existence of a significant market.
Patrick McCarthy, one of the label’s founders, said: “They are very dedicated people. They should have every article, every bootleg, every version as seen in The Grateful Dead.”
The journey to the new release began in 2019 when Kubota traveled to New York to help with a documentary about an old friend, Japanese folk singer Sachiko Kanenobu, who was performing in Central Park. “Everyone there asked me about musicians, radio people, Larry’s. So I said, ‘OK, something’s going on. I gotta get in touch with Mizutani.'”
After leaving The Rallies in 1973, Kubota found success with his bands, The Sunset Gang and The Sunsets, and as a producer. But he hadn’t spoken to Mizutani for about 30 years until that summer. To my surprise, an old bandmate said he wanted to do a “last tour”. Kubota said that Mizutani also denied any involvement in piracy and expressed a desire to eventually officially release Rallies’ music. They had a conversation, but that fall, the text chain stopped working. After that, I learned that Mizutani passed away in December 2019 at the age of 71.
Kubota then began working with Mizutani’s estate to organize Mizutani’s recording archive. He refused to specify who was in charge of the property, saying only that he was someone who had been close to Mizutani for many years.
Around the same time, he started working for Temporal Drift. Yosuke Kitazawa, another principal of the label, said he didn’t know Mizutani had passed away when he started working on the project. Died a year ago, a new organization, The Last One Music – named after collect epics — formed to represent the music rights of Larry’s, and begin releasing Mizutani’s works “with a much more lively and impressive sound than the bootlegs that have been in circulation for over 20 years.”