From the stacks #3 - Strapping Fieldhands
Shoving pegs into overused holes, if Guided by Voices were the Beatles and the Grifters were the Stones then Strapping Fieldhands were, I dunno, early Floyd or the Holy Modal Rounders or something. Listening to Discus (Omphalos 1994) in the mid-'90s I felt (and still feel) like I was in over my head during some of the more crackpot moments ... but certain things like the demented viking chant "Red Dog the Deconstructor" (and its off-key guitar solo) hooked me enough to keep listening.
In the Pineys (Siltbreeze 1994) was recorded even more roughly but was strangely more "pop-friendly" in the Fieldhands' typically fucked-up way, including a raucous cover of Melanie's "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)." 
Wattle & Daub (Shangri-La 1996) was put out on Memphis' Shangri-La Records -- throwers of the Shindig seen on the poster above, where the Fieldhands played on a riverboat cruising the Mississippi. The album was something of a breakthrough (at least to my ears), with big, booming production, more advanced songwriting and just generally sounding like it has its shit together (so of course the hardcore weirdos hated it).
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