Shell out upwards to $150 for the original and only artifact from Scotland’s Fire Exit if you must—men are known to make a fetish of such things—but be fully aware that Last Laugh Records has been making owning those obscuro punk singles a more easily attainable reality. Case in point is “Time Wall.” Though it’s been a perennial addition to many a compilation (from Killed By Death to Bloodstains), it’s still a relatively unknown gem from a bountiful era. Fire Exit formed in 1977, the year it all broke across the kingdom, yet they didn’t cut a record until 1978, pitting them somewhere between the explosion and their quick demise. The charm of “Time Wall” is the urgency Fire Exit inject, sounding as if they were already bored to death by the thrift and painted-on rebellion of their peers. Alongside the Only Ones and The Stranglers, Fire Exit was examining what would happen if those amphetamine riffs were powered by imagination and had deft fingers doing the playing. Half the time, they have the dexterity of impassioned proto-metal, fitting in visceral solos with as many notes as two minutes are willing to allow. And what exactly is the “Time Wall?” A portal to a place where new wave is being considered, but pub bands lead the way? “Thinkin’ About Myself” is arguably unbaked (they couldn’t make it through a second tune), though still vital as the antidote to side one’s poison. Absolutely essential.