Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus
RAIJ : “Obscure band from Liverpool, England, which have produced three albums - “The Gift Of Tears” (1987), “Mirror” (1991) and “Paradis” (1995). Comparisons include Dead Can Dance, Current 93 and Death In June.”
discogs.com
Today “The Gift of Tears” cd arrived in my mail. I ordered it some days ago after seeing it by chance. As I had never before heard of RAIJ I decided to look over the net for them but the results where disappointing. There was little to be found except for this and a myspace account. I would be glad If anyone has something to contribute about RAIJ.
Moving on to more “technical” stuff, here I post “The Gift of Tears”. The copy I received seems to be a bootleg. A very good quality rip of the 1987 vinyl release featuring the ten original tracks. It is a non-silver disc. “The Gift of Tears” appears to have been released officially only on vinyl or along with extra tracks on cd as “The Gift Of Tears & Le Liturgie Pour Le Fin Du Temp” or as part of the two disc compilation “The Gift Of Tears / Mirror”. My copy comes with the original LP front cover artwork
while the back cover artwork is from the 1993 release “The Gift Of Tears & Le Liturgie Pour Le Fin Du Temp”.
official RAIJ discography here
thank you!
Comment by yst — Monday, 21 May, 2007 @ 8 :12 pm
RAIJ, great band sadly forgotten.
As far as I know their discography comprises of two albums (”The Gift Of Tears” (1987) & “Mirror” (1991)) and an EP (”Paradis” (1995, I think. I can’t check it at this moment). In 1994, the German label Apocalyptic Vision released a double CD retrospective which included both albums plus “La Liturgie Pour La Fin Du Temps” as a bonus. Unfortunately, the packaging didn’t include many information about RAIJ, just some photos, the year of release of both albums and the addresses of both Apocalyptic Vision and Sanatorium (which I guess were the ones who released the records first time).
I guess the cover to “The Gift Of Tears” you have posted must be the one original LP featured as that photo appears on the label of the “Gift Of Tears” CD on the Apocalytic Vision issue.
Great blog, by the way.
Comment by LMan — Friday, 27 July, 2007 @ 10 :30 pm
I first came across RAIJ at the Cornerstone Music Festival in Greyslake, Illinois in 1990. I bought a CASETTE of Gift of Tears and it was not a bootleg. The cover art was sublime: black and white with a man standing shirtless in front of what looked like an inverted, bladed hulahoop (sp?) The back of his hand was pressed to his forehead. I listened to that tape like crazy. I would love to find more information about them. On the inside cover were some liner notes and the band seated around a table. Those chaps seem to have stepped into oblivion.
Comment by James Kirkpatrick — Friday, 18 April, 2008 @ 11 :59 pm
I was one of those guys for a short time…but others did much, much more.
Still friends, still in touch. But busy, busy, busy with jobs and families and the like.
Comment by Paul Hill — Friday, 9 May, 2008 @ 7 :56 pm
Thanks for coming in contact Paul! I am really glad to ‘meet’ one involved with the ’shadowy’ RAIJ unit. I would like to hear anything you might have to contribute on the band with your memories and experiences from the project or even better [if possible] visually or sonically.
cheers
dmtls
Comment by dmtls — Friday, 9 May, 2008 @ 10 :31 pm