Rembrandt Pussyhorse

Coffey said the record began as an EP and grew into an album, recorded over months in a handful of studios, mostly on 16-track equipment and largely in 1984. It was first prepared for Alternative Tentacles as Rembrandt Pussy Horse, but after nearly a year of delay the label declined it. Sea Ferring and Mark Says Alright were recorded later to replace two songs that went on the 1985 Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis EP. The studio owner, Bob O'Neill, played piano on Creep in the Cellar and organ on Perry in exchange for free studio time. The backwards violin on Creep in the Cellar came from a used 16-track tape that still held a country band's channel, and the band kept it. The growls on Mark Says Alright belong to the band's pit bull, Mark Farner. Strangers Die Everyday plays over the end credits of Richard Linklater's film Slacker.

Timothy White of Spin heard in the vocals the loutish paranoia of Texas acid-rock. John Doran of The Quietus wrote in 2024 that "There isn't a misstep" on the album.