Here we have a lost chunk of oddball New Wave at its, um, oddest, courtesy of UK madmen STUMP: A Fierce Pancake, the group's one and only full-length, released in 1988 by Chrysalis, now long out of print. These guys churned out an intensely bent groove that sounds like Captain Beefheart, XTC and George Clinton crammed in a food processor and liquified. Vocalist Mick Lynch's lyrics explore the heights (and depths) of absurdity, and the music lunges, cavorts, shudders and stumbles with a near-mathematical precision. The choice of German art-wave genius Holger Hiller to produce seemed like an utterly absurd match for Stump's music... but his considerable quirks fit right in with the group's twisted rigor. God knows why a major label picked up the likes of Stump in 1988, because America wasn't even close to ready for music this crazy. A Fierce Pancake sank like a stone, and the band packed it in shortly thereafter. Thankfully, they left us this unforgettable headstone with which to mourn the demise of a Band Ahead of Their Time. Fans of Primus will be flat-out poleaxed by the freaky dada groove of this CD... in fact, it's not hard to believe that Les Claypool drew massive inspiration from these guys. A Fierce Pancake has been out of print for more than three decades, with no reissue anywhere in sight. The disc shows slight wear, but looks great and plays flawlessly.