Cost: $10 (USD)

Written and recorded by Steven, Tom and Rob Aug 1989 - April 1990 at Tom's and Steven's homes in West Philadelphia and Germantown Philadelphia, PA. All songs copyright 1990. Cover art by Suzanne. Released on cassette June 1990.

Also available on Acid Tapes as TAB 074.. "Who I Was" is on the Acid compliation tape High Everybody (TAB 072).

Reviews

Guitar rock high on the emotional scale. Sort of like a cross between Dream Syndicate and Jesus and Mary Chain. But one thing they do well besides is pushing their music to a feverish pitch. It becomes quite hypnotic at times, and very powerful. "tilt-o-whirl" is particularly good. Has a guitar line I was taken by, and it also starts the album off great. Recommended. SEE SAMPLER #6
-GAJOOB #7

Many have no doubt been asking "where's the American answer to all the marvelously idiosyncratic home four-track thinking that flows from the islands of New Zealand?" Devault, Pa., a town much closer to Philadelphia than Stockton is to San Francisco, gives us Mud Pie, three people that take all the usual instruments and manage to do something slightly different with them. They mix electric and acoustic guitars, bass, various percussion and vocals in the low-key way that the tape title implies, occasionally rising to what might be loud by living room standards. It seems like the usual 8 track or 16 track recording studio (and the engineers that come with them) crossed with the usual rock band instrumentation yields a fairly predictable sound, in terms of the way the instruments are layered and juxtaposed in the listening field...Home recording encourages smart people to try different approaches if only to get around the technical limitations of the medium - there's no way to get a huge drum sound even if you want to. Mud Pie combine good use of the sounds at their disposal with effective lo-fi electronic manipulation and pretty good songwriting to top it off. The feel of the songs is fairly moody; the melodic/lyric style reminds me mostly of the first Dumptruck record, although when the guitars are loud the speak-sing vocal sits half buried in the mix like Mark C. on a Live Skull record. Mud Pie started life as a more conventional noisy guitar trio, but this incarnation suits them much better. Perhaps the one self-released cassette this issue that you should take the trouble to write away for.
Bob Bannister, On Site #10, New York, NY

Cost: $10 (USD)

Written and recorded by Steven and Tom (with help from Rob on 3 songs) Oct 1990 - April 1991 at Tom's and Steven's homes in West Philadelphia and West Chester, PA. All songs copyright 1991. Released on cassette June 1991.

Also available on Acid Tapes TAB 086..

Reviews

Really amazing lazy guitar based pop music on this band's 3rd tape. "Sister Lovers", "Kaleidescope World" & "Fakebook" are all good reference points but these guys are hardly derivative. Everything one could ask for is here - no pretension, great songs, some nice production touches, and a 4-track recording to keep it simple. Truly inspirational. Rob Forman, ND 5, Austin TX

Driving around and hearing that first Dream Syndicate song that you heard and jumping ahead to 1991, wondering if it could be done again? Ladies and gents, Mud Pie throw their disgust at you from Devault, PA, which is probably near I-81. A fine road...driving, droning, the songs are standard but they manage to add a place to bathe. It has a hearbeat and sound. Drug-addled, demagoguery, demented, dire, dependent, doom-laden - anything starts with D, Dream Syndicate...uh...dull?? Nah, with the right hootch, it would sound delightful...I'm bored but mud pie? I'd eat one just to get high!!
Bob Fay & Lou Barlow, Cut #12, Norwich CT.

Cost: $10 (USD)

Side A written and recorded December 1991 - Feb 1992 at Tom's and Steven's homes in West Philadelphia and West Chester, PA. Side B recorded live at Tom's house Jan 19, 1992. Released on cassette April 1992. All songs copyright 1992.

Also available on Acid Tapes as TAB 097.. "Someone I Know" is on the Acid compliation tape Open Channel D (TAB 100). "Where You Belong" was also released in 1994 on the Town and Country #1 compilation on the Sedimental label. Apparently still in print and orderable from both labels!

Reviews

This is a home-recorded duo (Tom and Steven), dabblin' in the moody rock sphere mined by bands like American Music Club. Mud Pie is sorta low-fi, but sometimes the arrangements and sound are dead on and amazing for 4-track recordings. Side one is done with overdubs and planning; side two is "live" at home, with amplified acoustic guitar, stand-up drums, and vox sounding cool and edgy. Plus, there's a Jacobites cover! Lawrence Crane, File 13 #15, Concord, MA

Another enjoyable release from Tom Quinn and pals. Not as overly joyous as "These Days", but still posessing qualities of vision and charm. This hints at acoustic Rain Parade or early Dream Syndicate (when Kendra was around), and is lazy enough to call up Nikki Sudden as well. Some nice electric guitar swirls added in various places too. One to lie on the roof to. Recommended.
Rob Forman, ND 6, Austin, TX

Cost: $0 (USD)

We hope to release this in the winter of 2010/2011.