Kristin Hersh: vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion; Tanya Donelly: vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion; Elaine Adamedes: bass, vocals; Becca Blumen: drums.

1983

Demo tape (as “Kristin Hersh and the Muses”). [Note: at least three demos circulated in the early Muses years—the dating of these songs is from various TM fan websites and isn’t verified—“Catch” may well be from 1983, etc.]

Nuke Your Heart/ A Silent Promise/ Don’t Look [Pull?] Back/ There’s No Excuse/ (Don’t) Look At Me That Way/ Lizzie Sage/ Eyes That See/ Happy Birthday.

-Blumen + David Narcizo: drums, percussion, occ. vocal.

1984

Second? demo cassette (rec. ca. mid-1984, Celebration Sounds, Pawtucket, RI; by now “Throwing Muses”).

Catch/ Let’s Go Outside [Donelly]/ Machismo/ Not Too Soon [Donelly]/ Bird of Paradox/ The Burrow/ Capital A [Donelly]/ Clear and Great/ Desert [Adamedes]/ Ant Song. [As on subsequent recordings, all songs by Hersh except when noted.]

Throwing Muses (EP), Blowing Fuses/Spewing Mouses 411079, 1984. (Self-released 7″ EP, whose tracks were often on vars. demo tapes; 7″ was repressed in 1989 (Pink Vault 08) by a TM fan club).

Stand Up / Dirt Is on the Floor [Adamedes]// The Party [Donelly]/ Santa Claus/ Untitled (instrumental).

– Adamedes + Leslie Langston: bass; occ. backing vocal, cello, violin.

1985

Throwing Muses (aka “The Doghouse Cassette”), self-released tape. Rec. ca. summer 1985; rel. ca. October 1985. (Later released on In a Doghouse).

Call Me/ Sinkhole/ Green [Donelly]/ Hate My Way/ Vicky’s Box//  America (She Can’t Say No)/ Fear/ Raise the Roses [Donelly]/ And a She-Wolf After the War/ Fish.

1986

Throwing Muses, 4AD 607. Rec. spring 1986, Long View Farm, North Brookfield, MA; rel.: ca. 2 September 1986.

Call Me/ Green [Donelly]/ Hate My Way/ Vicky’s Box/ Rabbits Dying// America (She Can’t Say No)/ Fear/ Stand Up/ Soul Soldier/ Delicate Cutters.

1987

Chains Changed (EP), 4AD (BAD 701). Rec. November 1986, London; rel. 12 January 1987.

Finished/ Reel [Donelly]//  Snail Head/ Cry Baby Cry. [“Fish,” cut in these sessions, appears on the 1987 4AD compilation Lonely As an Eyesore (another, earlier version of “Fish” is on the Doctor Death’s Volume I: Cette Enfant Me Fia Mourir compilation.)]

The Fat Skier (EP), 4AD (MAD 706)/ Sire 1-25640. Rec. Blackbeard Studios, Lincoln, RI, ca. spring 1987; rel. 6 July 1987.

Garoux des Larmes/ Pools in Eyes [Donelly]/ A Feeling/ Soap and Water/ And a She-Wolf After the War/ You Cage// Soul Soldier.

1988

House Tornado, 4AD CAD 802/ Sire 9 25710-2. Rec. ca. late 1987, Fort Apache North, Cambridge, MA; rel. 21 March 1988.

Colder/ Mexican Women/ River [Donelly]/ Juno/ Marriage Tree/ Run Letter// Saving Grace/ Drive/ Downtown/ Giant [Donelly]/ Walking in the Dark.

Saving Grace/ An Intimate Conversation with David Narcizo and Kristin Hersh (aka “A Girl Named Pike”), Sire PRO-A-3157, ca. March 1988.

1989

Hunkpapa, 4AD CAD 901/ Sire 9 25855. Rec. ca. fall 1988, Fort Apache North; rel. 23 January 1989 (UK #59).

Devil’s Roof/ Bea/ Dizzy/ No Parachutes/ Dragonhead [Donelly]/ Say Goodbye//  Fall Down/ I’m Alive/ Angel [Donelly]/ The Burrow/ Take/ Santa Claus [CD bonus track]. [“Matter of Degrees,” an outtake, is on the 1990 soundtrack of the long-forgotten film of the same name, and was included on the 2011 Anthology; “Night Is a Flood,” written [poss. recorded?] for Hunkpapa, is on Hersh’s first Works in Progress release.]

Dizzy, 4AD BAD 903 (CD single), rel. 13 February 1989.

Dizzy/ Santa Claus/ Mania/ Downtown [latter two recorded at the Town & Country Club, London, 1 May 1988].

1991

-Langston + Fred Abong: bass

Counting Backwards, 4AD BAD 1001. Rel. 28 January 1991.

Counting Backwards/ Amazing Grace/ Same Sun/ Cottonmouth.

The Real Ramona, 4AD 1001/ Sire 9 26489-2. Rec.: 13 May-summer 1990, Eldorado Studios and Dust Bowl Studio, Los Angeles; rel.: 18 February 1991 (UK #26). [US release date was ca. 12 March 1991.]

Counting Backwards/ Him Dancing/ Red Shoes/ Graffiti/ Golden Thing/ Ellen West/ Dylan// Hook in Her Head/ Not Too Soon [Donelly]/ Honeychain [Donelly]/ Say Goodbye/ Two-Step [Abong, Donelly, Hersh, Narcizo].

Not Too Soon, 4AD BAD 1015/ Sire 9 40135-2. Rel. 4 November 1991.

Not Too Soon/ Cry Baby Cry [Lennon-McCartney, not the Hersh original on Chains Changed]/ Him Dancing (remix)/ Dizzy (remix).

1992-present

-Donelly, Abong. Start of trio incarnation. + Langston: bass.

Firepile, Pts. One and Two (EP), 4AD BAD 2012. Rel.: 20 July 1992.

Red Heaven, 4AD CADD 2012/ Sire W2 26897. Rec. Power Station, New York City and Fort Apache, Cambridge, MA, 26 March-late spring 1992. Rel.: 10 August 1992. [Packaged in UK w/ a 2nd CD, “Kristin Hersh, Live at Maxwell’s, Hoboken.”]

-Langston + Bernard Georges: bass.

The Curse, 4AD TAD 2019. Live album, rec. 8-9 October 1992 at The Grand Theatre, Clapham, London; rel. 16 November 1992.

University, 4AD CAD 5002/ Sire 9 45796-2. Rec. ca. fall 1993, Kingsway Studios, New Orleans; rel. 16 January 1995.

Limbo, 4AD CAD 6014/ Ryko RCD 10354. Rec. November-December 1995, Kingsway; rel. 13 August 1996.

In a Doghouse, 4AD DAD 607/ Ryko RCD 10377 / 78. Rel. 15 September 1998. Compiles The Doghouse Cassette, Throwing Muses (1986), Chains Changed, and five newly-recorded (1996) versions of 1983-1984 demos: Catch, Doghouse, Clear and Great, Lizzie Sage, People.

+ Donelly, backing vocals.

Throwing Muses, 4AD CAD 2301. Rec. November 2001; rel.: 17 March 2003.

– Donelly.

Purgatory/Paradise, The Friday Project/  It Books. Rec. ca. 2009-2012; rel.: 28 October 2013 (book), 11 November 2013 (CD).

Sun Racket, FIRELP/CD574. Rec. ca. late 2010s; rel.: 4 September 2020.