Much more so than the previous releases, The Dirt Eaters is a song-oriented effort, with mostly ethereal folk songs replacing the sound collages and avant-pop of Livonia and Home Is in Your Head.

This was probably done so as to not have to print the lyrics for "Man on the Silver Mountain," a cover of the Rainbow song written by Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio.

A later 4AD compilation called ...and dog bones too, which featured "The Dirt Eaters", was named after this part of the song.

When Rykodisc reissued the band's back catalog for American release in the summer of 1992, the tracks from the EP were included on the CD for Home Is in Your Head.

With the Rykodisc CD long out of print, this has made The Dirt Eaters EP a rarity in the United States.