A vast improvement over the intriguing but rarely focused Let's Get Killed, David Holmes' third solo album benefits from his growing status as a producer to watch -- and specifically, from his ability to snag the talents of big-name vocalists. As on his soundtrack for the feature film Out of Sight, Holmes excels when he's providing a propulsive yet not overly self-conscious background for the prime focus, whether it's an action scene in a film or a song-oriented framework on an album. Recruiting the top rank of like-minded bluesy vocalists from the alternative world -- Bobby Gillespie (from Primal Scream), Jon Spencer (from the Blues Explosion), Martina Topley Bird (a Tricky collaborator), and an excellent newcomer, Carl Hancock Rux -- Holmes plays on all the same heavy dub/soul/funk trademarks as on Let's Get Killed, but constructs excellent productions with a tight, live, organic sound. Though Gillespie's "Sick City" is yet another Stonesy, tossed-off performance, the production on the track makes it a stomper of raging rocktronica. Elsewhere, on tracks like "Incite a Riot" and "69 Police," Holmes calls up dub ghosts from original Jamaican keyboard extraordinaire Jackie Mittoo to scruffy indie rock inheritors like Dub Narcotic. While his previous work came off as soundtrack material in desperate search of a film to accompany it, Bow Down to the Exit Sign is very much a fully formed record. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
Glenn Leyburn (Percussion), Jim Hunt (Overdubs), Janet Cooke (Vocals (Background)), James Murphy (Assistant Engineer), Zach Danziger (Drums), David Holmes (Special Effects), Martina Topley-Bird (Vocals), Darren Moore (Stylophone), Hugoth Nicolson (Engineer), Hugoth Nicolson (Mixing Engineer), Duncan Mackay (Overdubs), Darren Moore (Percussion), Craig Silvey (Mixing), Sean Gullette (Vocals), Kenji Takizawa (Mixing Engineer), Phil Mossman (Engineer), David Holmes (Producer), Kenji Takizawa (Mixing), Skylab (Musician), Darren Moore (Farfisa Organ), Duncan Mackay (Brass), Sean Gullette (Voices), Skylab (Multi Instruments), Darren Moore (Keyboards), David Holmes (Assembly), Toshio Nakanishi (Mixing Producer), Phil Mossman (Producer), Darren Moore (Organ), Mat Ducasse (Mixing Producer), Carl Hancock Rux (Vocals), Jon Weiner (Assistant Engineer), Richard "Dirty Harry" Hall (Photography), Martina Topley-Bird (Vocals (Background)), Tim Goldsworthy (Programming), Keith Tenniswood (Drum Programming), Darren Moore (Producer), Phil Mossman (Guitar), Phil Mossman (Bass), Jagz Kooner (Engineer), Hugoth Nicolson (Mixing), P. Dub (Mixing), James Murphy (Engineer), Skylab (Sounds), Jon Spencer (Vocals), Pierre Dub (Mixing), Bobby Gillespie (Vocals), Carl Hancock Rux (Vocals (Background)), Darren Moore (Synthesizer), Hugoth Nicolson (Producer), David Holmes (Arranger), Helga Davis (Vocals (Background)), Jim Hunt (Brass), Glenn Leyburn (Design), Jordan Bailey (Vocals (Background)), Phil Mossman (Percussion), Jon Weiner (Engineer), Tim Goldsworthy (Producer), D'Sa Lisa Barros (Liner Notes), David Arnold (Strings), David Holmes (Turntables), Jagz Kooner (Programming), David Holmes (Mixing), Marcell D. Lashley (Vocals (Background)), Darren Moore (Piano)
