Five Dollar Bob's Mock Cooter Stew is an EP by the grunge band Mudhoney released on October 26, 1993, by Reprise Records. Mudhoney vocalist Mark Arm described this EP as a chance for the band to "get new songs out for fans in between albums."[6]
Song information
This EP is a compilation of seven tracks, four of which were new songs at the time of release. Out of the remaining three, two are rare and the last is a re-recording of a previously released song.[7] The song "Make It Now" from Mudhoney's previous album Piece of Cake was re-recorded and re-titled "Make It Now Again" for this EP. "Deception Pass" and "Underide" both appear on previously released singles. The remaining four tracks are all brand new and unique to the EP.[8]
The four new songs feature a very diverse selection of music from "In the Blood" with its 'mid-range pace' to "Six To One" which demonstrates the band's grunge origins. "No Song III" manages to illustrate Dan Peters' "sharp drumming flair", while "Between Me & You Kid"'s slight country sound foreshadows Mudhoney's future, where a year later, they collaborated with Jimmie Dale Gilmore.[9]
All of the tracks, except "Deception Pass" and "Underide" were recorded on August 1, 1993, between 9:30 and 10:15 P.M. at Hanszek Audio. "Deception Pass" and "Underide" were recorded in 1992 at Egg Studios with Conrad Uno at the Helm.[10]
All tracks from this EP are featured on the remastered 2003 re-issue of Piece of Cake by Reprise.
Criticism
Trouser Press speculates that recording Piece of Cake took a lot out of the band, and that as a result, Five Dollar Bob's Mock Cooter Stew became "a dull, dopey mishmash of suburban-boy backwoodsiness" and an overall lackluster effort.[11]
Album inlay information
In the liner notes, producer Kurt Bloch is listed as 'Curt' and 'Kurdt' Bloch on two separate occasions. This mistake is actually a joke, referring to frontman of the band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, who often intentionally misspelled his name as Kurdt Kobain.[12]
