[2] Joseph Neff of The Vinyl District recalled that the album's "bent was deeply non-conformist yet not substantially indebted to punk precedent.

Becoming popular in indie circles for the band's unique, experimental sound, they built a following and released the four track EP Mud on a Colon in 1986 through the Ron Johnson record label.

According to The Quietus, "the four tracks suggest Stump came out of the womb fully formed; the beguiling mélange of thwarted funk, traditional Irish drum rhythms (many of McKahey's time signature are concomitant with that of Irish jigs, usually performed in 12/8 time) and Lynch's lyrics, which tended to play continual tricks with the English language, piling up Surrealist imagery with a humorous scorn for syntax.

[5] After their success with their C86 appearance, the band recorded the mini-album Quirk Out, which included "Buffalo", and self-released the album on 26 September 1986, and was hailed by Melody Maker as "one of the pleasures of 1986",[5] and stayed in the UK Indie Charts for 26 weeks, peaking at number 2.

Hopper recalled "the songs had continued to evolve since Quirk Out and now with some money behind us we were ready to record our first full album and felt it was time to try a different producer.

"[8] Stephen Street was the engineer for the band at Hansa, but he soon had to leave the sessions to work on Morrissey's debut album Viva Hate.

Salmon recalled "Hansa was great, I think the first person we met was Nick Cave, we had been up for 48 hours and we arrived and opened the doors and there's a very well-spoken nattily dressed gentleman.

I thought that would suit the band, but I was wrong," whilst Hugh Jones recalled that "Kev had fallen out of love with playing bass and he'd gotten more involved in the sampling side of things and he really regarded this chap Holger Hiller.

It happens a lot I think, once you get past that first ‘bang out stuff that you’ve done on stage for the last year’ bit which is relatively easy to do, it gets into second album syndrome, it's such a cliché.

[7] "Stump's music as presented on A Fierce Pancake was unashamedly large (some would even say slick) in its production design, which is a huge part of its appeal.

Bassist Kev Hopper has stated how they were disinterested in limiting themselves to an "art-band" audience, and it's in this lack of meager ambition that the songs gather their initial dissonance; they sound radio ready for an infinitely more twisted universe."

Stewart Mason of Allmusic said that A Fierce Pancake mixes "jagged melodies that take abrupt left turns with bizarre lyrics delivered in voices ranging from silly falsettos to a grunting basso profundo" and contained "increasingly odd songs".

[2] Ron Kretsch of Dangerous Minds called the album "a supremely screwball statement-of-purpose, at turns and at once absurdist, whimsical, and dark.

The guitar and bass playing here are a few leagues beyond merely idiosyncratic–indeed, there are many passages where one can’t quite tell which instrument is which,"[1] Joseph Neff of The Vinyl District recalled that the album's "bent was deeply non-conformist yet not substantially indebted to punk precedent.

"[3] He said the album "an extremely oddball sensibility with well-conceived, surprisingly enduring music,"[3] and theorised that "what's impressive about their strategy is the discipline required to pull it off; nothing is indiscriminate in the scheme of things, and while infrequently catchy the preciseness of Stump's attack quickly lent itself to familiarity.

"[7] Despite some of his bandmates' somewhat distaste, he commented that "there were delights a-plenty all the way through and the two dedications to Wilhelm Reich and Flann O' Brien summed up the spirit of the record.

[7] The title track, described by Hopper as "the odd one out", is an ominous, instrumental piece complete with tremolo bass, bodhran beat, "nightmarish guitar," pipes and Schaeffer–inspired clusters of squeaking doors, dusty celestes and shopping trolleys – all objects the band found in the corners of Hansa.

[7] The album ends with the frantic energy of "Boggy Home" which contains folk-esque lyrics: "those greening, agreeable, arable acres".

[14] The album title, A Fierce Pancake, means "a deep conundrum" and is taken from a line from the writer Flann O'Brien's book The Third Policeman, written from 1939–1940 but not published until 1967.

Hopper said "I was never clear why ["Chaos"] was chosen [as the first single] as there was no discussion beforehand or formal band meeting with Ensign, but I heard from Rob, much later on, that Mick had lobbied hard as it was his favourite track.

[17] Its music video, directed by Tim Pope, featured the band performing in front of frogs and received enough airplay on MTV "to inspire a small scramble for copies of A Fierce Pancake.

"[3] The album's commercial failure caused the label to re-release "Buffalo" as a single, despite the song being over two years old; it did not chart, and was the band's final release during their lifetime.

[1] The album was released to good press from music magazines, but a mixed reaction from fans, who were largely uncertain of the band's slightly more polished sound.

All loyal Stumpies will know this like the spots on their back but to those who previously thought them appalling I can assure that Lynch and his buddies have finally managed the right balance of Nightingales/bhangra sounds and tension to create a proper little pot boiler.

The partnership with the Force should be cemented immediately for although the original song has all its bones facing the right way it takes the blood and skin of the sampled funk to make it the backwater boy office buster.

"[22] Nonetheless, Martin C. Strong, in his book The Great Indie Discography, recalled the album "more than pleased hardcore fans of geeky Splodgeness/Beefheart-esque behaviour" but that "Charlton Heston" received "a cold shoulder from a music press now keen to distance themselves from anything remotely C-86; a 12-inch "Lights!

In a retrospective review, Stewart Mason of Allmusic rated the album four and a half stars out of five, saying that "A Fierce Pancake is one of the odder records to gain a major-label release in 1988.

"[2] He commented that "the production by German electronica expert Holger Hiller is antiseptically clean, which only sets off more clearly how fundamentally twisted these songs are.

[18] In The Rough Guide to Rock, Rhodri Marsden said the album contained "beautiful production and songwriting, with Lynch's swooping voice fronting melodic tall stories.

The madcap persona and lyrics of singer Mick Lynch must have made it all seem like a joke to some listeners, and sure, it IS mighty fucking daffy to have the chorus of a single consist of a bug-eyed man with Tintin's hair shouting "Lights!