MARK OF THE MOLE

'Mark of the Mole' is a difficult album. This is the first of a 3 LP trilogy that came to nothing, and at the end of the day , meant nothing at all, despite all their talk of the fictional 'Moles and Chubs' in their struggle for survival.

These 'Moles' are forced to leave their flooded tunnels and look for work in the land of Chubs. This is followed by war and strife, blah blah etc etc. It means sod all and I find it very irritating!

This is however, one recording that doesn't give a frogs fat ass about what their audience thinks. It wanders about all over the place as though you're trapped in a kaleidoscope. There is a continuation of sorts from the predecessor "Eskimo' wherein there's lots of distorted spoken word amongst some very freakish electronics.

This is probably the most difficult Residents album to get into within their entire catalogue. Gone are the nonsensical meaningless rhymes. They are replaced with something that sound far more important but mean absolutely nothing to the casual listener. This really is a tough album to endure but does sit within the framework of their previous releases. It's just that all the fun has gone. The Residents have stopped being a laugh

It's an album that has lost the wacky sense of humour they had, being replaced by doomy miserable vocals, electronics, guitars and tunes that that seem a million miles from the likes of 'Duck Stab' just a few years earlier.

Far uglier and brash than previous albums, it holds that Residents strangeness and originality that will quickly evaporate in the coming years. There are no sing-along moments, just a bunch of harsh tunes and vocals that are very different from their previous releases.

A disappointment, I'm afraid to say. but still well worthy of 3 stars,