For the final post of this short series from Throwing Muses we go right back to their beginnings, with their self-released EP from 1984 on their own Blowing Fuses label, and then right up to date with some of the last recordings they made, which I've collected together on a companion EP of the cover versions which have graced the b-sides of some of their singles.
Track listing
01 Stand Up02 Dirt Is On The Floor03 The Party04 Santa Claus05 Untitled
Track listing
01 Manic Depression (Jimi Hendrix)02 Cry Baby Cry (The Beatles)03 Amazing Grace (Traditional)04 Jak (Volcano Suns)05 Ride Into The Sun (Velvet Underground)06 Crayon Sun (Latin Playboys)07 If (Latin Playboys)
After looking into the early work of Throwing Muses, we come bang up to date with a collection of rare out-takes and b-sides from when they were recording their string of superlative albums for the 4AD record label. We start with a couple of out-takes from the sessions for their EP and mini-album from 1987, with 'Fish' being a reworked song from their 'Doghouse' cassette. They offered this to 4AD for inclusion on their excellent 'Lonely Is A Eyesore' compilation album from 1987, and not only was it one of the best tracks on there, but it's lyric also provided the album with it's title. The band didn't really start to include non-album b-sides on their singles until quite late in their career, but when they did they were all top quality stuff. In 1990 they contributed 'Back Road (Matter Of Degrees)' to the film 'A Matter Of Degrees', which also included songs from some of the best indie bands of the period, and for the rest of the 90's they added at least one new song to each of their singles, right up until they sadly broke up in 1997. The good news is that they reformed in 2003, and have a new album called 'Sun Racket' due out any day now. To prepare you for that, enjoy these hard to find songs from that classic decade of their career between 1987 and 1997.
Track listing
01 Hillbilly (out-take from 'The Fat Skier' 1987)02 Fish (out-take from 'Chains Changed' 1987, later gifted to 'Lonely Is An Eyesore')03 Same Sun (b-side of 'Counting Backwards' 1990)04 Cottonmouth (b-side of 'Counting Backwards' 1990)05 Back Road (Matter Of Degrees) (from the film 'A Matter Of Degrees' 1990)06 Snailhead (from the 'Firepile E.P. (Part One)' 1992)07 City Of The Dead (from the 'Firepile E.P. (Part One)' 1992)08 Handsome Woman (from the 'Firepile E.P. (Part Two)' 1992)09 Red Eyes (b-side of 'Bright Yellow Gun' 1994)10 Like A Dog (b-side of 'Bright Yellow Gun' 1994)11 Tar Moochers (b-side of 'Ruthie's Knocking' 1996)12 Serene Swing (b-side of 'Ruthie's Knocking' 1996)13 Limbobo (b-side of 'Ruthie's Knocking' 1996)14 Heel Toe (b-side of 'Freeloader' 1997)
In the two years before they went into Fort Apache studios to record 'The Doghouse Cassette' in 1985, Throwing Muses, or Kristin And The Muses as they were known at the time, were taping songs onto cassette and passing them around to interested parties. The recordings weren't as polished as the 'Doghouse' tape, but you could still tell that the band had that certain something, and while most of the 'Doghouse' songs appeared on record fairly soon after they were signed to 4AD, none of the songs on these demo tapes have ever officially appeared in their catalogue, with the exception of 'The Burrow', which was eventually included on 1989's 'Hunkpapa' album. I'l be the first to admit that the sound quality on here is not the best, and I've beefed up the bass as much as I dare, but make allowances for the primitive recordings and the quality of these early songs shines through.
Track listing
Kristin Hersh And The Muses01 Nuke Your Heart02 A Silent Promise03 Don't Pull Back04 There's No Excuse05 (Don't) Look At Me That Way06 Lizzie Sage1984 Demo07 Catch08 Let's Go Outside09 Machismo10 Not Too Soon11 Bird Of Paradox12 The Burrow13 Capital A14 Clear And Great15 Desert16 Ant Song
Throwing Muses were formed in 1983 by Kristin Hersh and her stepsister Tanya Donelly, who were both attending Rogers High School, and initially called themselves Kristin Hersh And The Muses. The two girls were accompanied by bass player Elaine Adamedes and drummer Becca Blumen who were later replaced by Leslie Langston and David Narcizo respectively. In 1984 the band released their debut self-titled EP on their own Blowing Fuses label, and the following year they recorded a set of demos which they sold as a cassette tape, garnering a number-one college radio hit with 'Sinkhole', and extensive coverage in the local music press. The quartet impressed Gary Smith of local studio Fort Apache, who pointed them in the direction of British indie label 4AD, and they became the label's first American signing. The band's eponymous debut, produced by Gil Norton, arrived in September 1986 in the UK, but never received a US release, and so they missed out on the nine Hersh originals and the beautifully surreal love song ‘Green’, penned by Donelly. Arresting, unsettling and sometimes downright scary, Hersh's work was like nothing in the rock canon to that point, the result of a much-misunderstood bi-polar disorder which caused songs to 'force' themselves upon her. The band's playing was extraordinary, joining the dots between elliptical post-punk, harmonious folk jangle and rockabilly thunder, without ever settling into standard genre patterns. Throwing Muses won instant acclaim in the UK, where I fell in love with them on first hearing, and their originality was confirmed by two EPs, 'Chains Changed' and 'The Fat Skier', in 1987. That 1985 tape, 'The Doghouse Cassette' as it became known, is a well-presented set of songs, some of which appeared in re-recorded form on their debut album, and so for fans of the band who have never heard it, or missed the 1998 CD 'In A Doghouse', which included the songs along with that first UK album and their second EP, here they are for you to check out. I'm currently enjoying re-acquainting myself with the band after way too long, and so there will more to come from them later. 
Track listing
01 Call Me 02 Sinkhole 03 Green 04 Hate My Way 05 Vicky's Box 06 America / She Can't Say No 07 Fear 08 Raise The Roses 09 And A She-wolf After The War 10 Fish
