| Iron Path | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Studio | B.C. Studio, Brooklyn, NY | |||
| Genre | Free jazz | |||
| Length | 36:47 | |||
| Label | Venture/Virgin (original release) ESP-Disk (2015 reissue) | |||
| Producer | Last Exit, Bill Laswell | |||
| Last Exit chronology | ||||
| ||||
Iron Path is the only studio album by the free jazz band Last Exit. It was released in 1988 on Venture and Virgin Records. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Vice | A− [3] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz |  [4] |
| All About Jazz | [5] |
In a review for Allmusic, John Dougan wrote: "Using the studio to their advantage, Last Exit explores sonic texture on 'Prayer' and 'The Fire Drum,' but never loses sight of the power and energy that makes their live recordings so memorable. If you were to have one Last Exit recording, this might well be the one." [2]
Writing for Trouser Press, Greg Kot stated: "Last Exit’s sole studio recording... introduces a less frantic direction, with more value placed on the space between notes. The compositions impose a thin veneer of structure... Some of the more textured pieces at times suggest King Crimson at its most venturesome." [6]
Robert Christgau commented: "There's a shape and specific gravity to these 10 sub-five-minute tracks that I attribute to Laswell, who's always specialized in getting legible music out of the avant fringe, and a life force I attribute to Jackson even more than Sharrock--solid as the music is, he never stops bubbling under." [3]
In a review for All About Jazz, Mark Corroto remarked: "Iron Path... is the clearest statement the band produced... These ten shortish studio pieces... weave between Oriental themes, surf-metal, speed metal blues, floppy funk, and hardcore thunder. Sharrock, who passed away in 1994, displays the talent that was coveted by the likes of Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders, and Brotzmann is eternally Brotzmann, blowing an ocean liner horn from his baritone or tearing chunks of tenor madness first heard on his Machine Gun sessions. Sadly, Jackson is also gone, like Sharrock, his free jazz voice never duplicated." [5]
Referencing the Metallica album, Chuck Eddy, writing for Spin, stated: "This is how And Justice for All oughta sound, if Metallica hadn't gone and turned into Klaatu instead. Except Metallica never shook half this hard." [7]
In a review for Elsewhere, Graham Reid wrote: "Iron Path was damaging, incendiary noise, and you would not want to subject you sensitive ears to the assault that is 'Devil's Rain'... which sounds just right for Sonic Youth fans... Iron Path is a bawdy, bellicose, wildly swinging brawler of an album... it is what is, and wasn't polite at the time. Or even is now." [8]
All music is composed by Peter Brötzmann, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prayer" | 4:37 |
| 2. | "Iron Path" | 3:28 |
| 3. | "The Black Bat" | 4:33 |
| 4. | "Marked for Death" | 2:19 |
| 5. | "The Fire Drum" | 4:18 |
| 6. | "Detonator" | 3:47 |
| 7. | "Sand Dancer" | 1:56 |
| 8. | "Cut and Run" | 2:30 |
| 9. | "Eye for an Eye" | 4:54 |
| 10. | "Devil's Rain" | 4:12 |
Last Exit
Technical
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1988 | Venture, Virgin | CD, LP | VE 38 |
| United States | 1988 | Venture, Virgin | CD, LP | 7 91015 |
| United Kingdom | 2015 | ESP-Disk | CD, LP | ESP 4075 |
William Otis Laswell is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, world music, jazz, dub, and ambient styles.
Peter Brötzmann is a German saxophonist and clarinetist.
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he recorded and performed.
Ronald Shannon Jackson was an American jazz drummer from Fort Worth, Texas. A pioneer of avant-garde jazz, free funk, and jazz fusion, he appeared on over 50 albums as a bandleader, sideman, arranger, and producer. Jackson and bassist Sirone are the only musicians to have performed and recorded with the three prime shapers of free jazz: pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler.
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Last Exit was an American free jazz supergroup, composed of electric guitarist Sonny Sharrock, drummer/occasional vocalist Ronald Shannon Jackson, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, and bass guitarist Bill Laswell. They were active from 1986 to the early 1990s, releasing primarily live albums recorded in Europe. Sharrock's death in 1994 caused the dissolution of the band, though touring had not occurred for several years before his demise. The band is unrelated to the 1970s British jazz fusion band of the same name.
Bad Moon Rising is the second studio album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released in March 29, 1985 by Blast First and Homestead Records. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, including references to obsession, insanity, Charles Manson, heavy metal, Satanism, and early European settlers' encounters with Native Americans.
Last Exit is the eponymously titled live performance debut album of the free jazz group Last Exit. It was released in 1986 by Enemy Records.
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Cassette Recordings '87, also issued with the title From the Board, is the third live album by the free jazz group Last Exit. It was released in March 1987 by Enemy Records.
Best of Live is a compilation album by the free jazz group Last Exit, it was released in 1990 by Enemy Records.
Köln is the fourth live album by the free jazz group Last Exit, released in 1990 by ITM Records.
Headfirst into the Flames: Live in Europe is the fifth live album by the free jazz group Last Exit, released in 1993 by MuWorks Records.
Guitar is a 1986 solo studio album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock. He recorded the album with producer Bill Laswell at RPM Sound Studios in New York City. As the project's sole instrumentalist, Sharrock performed and overdubbed his guitar improvisations onto other sections of a song he had recorded beforehand.
Highlife is a studio album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock. It was recorded at Jersey City's Quantum Sound Studio in October 1990 and released later that same year by Enemy Records.
The Curse of the Mekons is the ninth studio album by English rock band The Mekons, released in 1991. Due to a disagreement with A&M Records, the album was not released in the U.S. until a decade later, being available only as an import from their British label Blast First. It has been hailed by critics as one of the best of the Mekons' career.
