Yodelling by The Exits is a holy grail 7” for punk collectors. It was privately pressed in the UK 1978, and is the sole release by this super obscure five-piece that met at Keele University, Newcastle.
Released in a numbered run of 500 copies on their own Way Out Records, it comes housed in a wraparound paper sleeve with hand-stamped white labels. It’s a rip-snortin’ 10 minutes with five blink and you’ll miss ’em tracks that include the none-more-punk ‘Apathy’, the 100mph ‘Glandular Angela’ alongside three more noisy missives that bridge the gap between D.I.Y., street-punk and art-school thanks to scratchy violin and skronky sax.
It’s not the sort of thing you expect to hear out of a punk band, especially in the late ‘70s when it was more about spitting and bondage slacks than adding extra instrumentation to punk rock. Make no mistake about it, though, for a Gentle Giant record this is not. It still goes hell for leather, and is just as hard hitting as any punk band that made the mainstream.
There really is very little else known about The Exits other than this single. The band seemed to disappear altogether by the end of 1978, but they sure left a bold statement of intent with this one release.
Only very few copies of Yodelling have surfaced on the open market, and none can be considered mint condition. However, it has been selling around the £695 mark as and when it turns up in online auctions and is a one of a kind release that you would be lucky to ever see in the wild..
This article appeared in issue 28 of Long Live Vinyl magazine, available now
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