Browse by Artist: LAST EXIT

Artist:	LAST EXIT
Title:	Koln
Label:	ATAVISTIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	ALP 252CD

Finally after more than a decade, this seminal lexicon of lightning is again available for public consumption. A veritable Murderer's Row of sonic titans -- each at full strength: Brötzmann on tenor; Sharrock on guitar; Laswell on 6-string bass; Jackson on drums. This lineup speaks for itself. "You know, I really feel the Exit quartet is getting stronger all the time... we've been through our 'power playing' period. I don't want to be typecast as just a 'blaster.' Now the shit is really wide open -- it can go anywhere. The interaction is getting to be very sensitive -- though I'm sure there'll always be some good old passion and violence. But there's a lot of potential still to be explored, and I hope we get the chance to explore it." -- Peter Brötzmann, 1990.

Artist:	LAST EXIT
Title:	Headfirst Into The Flames: Live In Europe
Label:	DMG ARC
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	DMGARC 701CD

"Our second release on Downtown Music Gallery's newly formed DMG ARC label is considered by many fans to be the best of the six releases [certainly the best of the five live ones] by the improv super-group Last Exit, and the least widely distributed. Originally released as a limited edition on Muworks, this item commands high prices ranging to $50-$75 from collector's shops and auction web sites including eBay. Ronald Shannon Jackson is on drums, occasionally adding creepy blues vocals worthy of a serial killer. Sonny Sharrock plays nasty blues lines when he isn't beating his guitar to a pulp, while German sax madman Peter Brötzmann veers between similar extremes with his squealing and honking. Laswell was the perfect bassist for this unit, his dirty, hard-driving lines retaining a feeling of downright meanness throughout. (Please, someone lay 'My Balls/Your Chin' and 'Pig Cheese' on a Najee fan!) An over-the-top live recording of frighteningly talented musicians improvising as a unit, this album is what you REALLY want to scrape out your cerebral cortex! 'Never let it be said that Last Exit didn't take advantage of recording their live shows or playing in front of adoring Europeans. With cover art and song titles courtesy of the late avant-garde poet Kenneth Patchen, Headfirst kicks off with the brain fry of 'Lizard Eyes' only to launch into a Sharrock improv called 'Don't Be a Cry Baby, Whatever You Do.' Brotzmann blows wild and free here, and his squeal and blurt provides a great counterpoint to the rumble of the rhythms and the pummeling sonic overload of Sharrock's guitar. Another piece of blurt that will make your head spin.'" --John Dougan

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