EMERGENCY EXIT

Emergency Exit biography
Emergency Exit was a short-lived French group whose sole release is something of an obscurity, even by progressive rock standards. Emergency Exit was formed in 1974 in Bayonne, located in the Basque region of France, and consisted of four primary members, Robert Latxague (guitar, vocals), Pierre Maggioni (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals), Roger Levy (drums, percussion), and Michel Lacrouts (electric piano, percussion). Emergency Exit recorded their only album, Sortie De Secours, over the span of two days in April 1976 at Studio KRS - Dax in the nearby city of Dax. The album was released on the obscure Pôle Records label later that year and would serve to be the only recording the group would produce as Emergency Exit disbanded two years later in 1978.

The band's only album, "Sortie de Secours", presents an interesting blend of jazz fusion and psychedelic rock, with Canterbury Scene influences shining though during the album's many extended instrumental sections. Despite some similarities to the more jazz-oriented Canterbury groups, the band manages to create their own distinct identity, largely due to the French vocals of Robert Latxague and Pierre Maggioni, as well as occasional elements of Mediterranean folk and the odd avant-garde moment. The band can perhaps best be likened to a slightly more restrained version of their compatriots Plat Du Jour, offering a similar mixture of fuzzy psychedelic rock and jazz-oriented prog.