While Ice Cream for Crow was being produced, Herb Cohen had settled his lawsuit with Frank Zappa over the latter withholding the master tapes to Captain Beefheart's unreleased Bat Chain Puller album.

[3] As a cost-saving measure, Don Van Vliet proposed that three recordings from Bat Chain Puller – "Human Totem Pole", "Odd Jobs", and "81 Poop Hatch" – be included on Ice Cream for Crow.

"[13] The Globe and Mail noted that "the real strength of Captain Beefheart ... is his mind-boggling and apocalyptic lyrics, which often suggest the hallucinogenic humorous, scatalogical and dreadful spiels of William Burroughs.

"[14] The Boston Phoenix, after first noting Captain Beefheart's lack of commercial success ("15 years of eloquent adulation — and misguided fixation — have failed to get this oddball bouncing on the charts), opined that Ice Cream for Crow "is not going to lift him out of the drink.

"[15] Ned Raggett of AllMusic called the album "a last entertaining blast of wigginess from one of the few truly independent artists in late 20th century pop music, with humor, skill, and style all still intact", with the Magic Band "turning out more choppy rhythms, unexpected guitar lines, and outré arrangements, Captain Beefheart lets everything run wild as always, with successful results".