Circus Devils - Laughs Last (2017)

Robert Pollard's freak-rock trio Circus Devils (2001 2017) says farewell with a pair of simultaneous releases. First is their 14th and final album Laughs Last, along with a best-of, double LP collection titled Laughs Best: The Kids Eat It Up (with DVD included). On Laughs Last, Pollard and the Tobias brothers romp breathlessly through multiple styles, starting off with the brash hotdogger, ''Get Out Of My Way When I'm In Town.'' Along the way we're treated to the R.E.M. inflected ''I Do the Nixon,'' the organ-fuzz stomper ''Teenage Rooster,'' and the defiantly conventional ''Crucified by The British Press.'' Full of high humor and low drama, Laughs Last is the bold exclamation point at the end of Circus Devils' 16-year run.