THE BIG BUBBLE

It's the middle of the 80's decade, and The Residents music is at its worst. But that is what they wanted at the time, just cheap keyboards (cheaper than your Granny's Wurlitzer) and an occasional guitar. The Residents were working on this weird concept about this society of the Mole People and had already released two albums based on this concept. The first was called "Mark of the Mole" and the 2nd was "Tale of Two Cities". There was also a third album which was never released. "The Big Bubble" is the 4th album in the series. Without going into much detail, the Mole People started integrating themselves into the culture of "The Chubs". Crossbreeding started to happen, as is to be expected, and the result was called the "Zenkinites". "The Big Bubble" is the name of this album, but is also the name of the fictional band who is supposedly responsible for this album. The band is at the forefront of the Zenkinite movement who breaks the law by singing in a banned language. This is the music that is on this album. That explains why it is so foreign to human ears. But I can tell you, if you are a native to this movement, you won't like it either.

Now I am going to attempt to describe the tracks to this album.

"Sorry" is a Zenkinite ballad and you'll be "sorry" you listened to it. After you are done laughing the first time you hear it, you will never want to hear it again. "Hop a Little" is a snappy little piece of trash with cute little falsetto vocals, that will make you want to hop a bit, right out of the room that is. "Go Where You Wanna Go" is a playful ditty that will make you want to whistle the tune behind bars when the cops come to call because your neighbors think you are crazy to be listening to this. "Gotta Gotta Get" is a sing-along anthem for those stadium concerts that The Residents put on while touring for this album. Unfortunately, no one showed up to the concerts to sing-along. But the words are pretty easy to remember, however the tune might be hard to follow along with. The guys that put you in the white jacket will appreciate it though. "Cry for the Fire" is a dark tune that will make you wish a fire would destroy the album. At least that way, you could collect the 2 cents that the insurance will give you for your opinion about it all. The acapella part is especially annoying. The fact that it is almost 6 minutes long will give you time to go feed your cats. At least there is a somewhat cool guitar part at the end. "Die-Stay-Go" has that distinct tribal sound similar to "Eskimo", the only difference is this is stupid.

"Vinegar" is something you use for making pickles. Did you know it can also be added to your laundry to make it smell fresh and feel soft? "Firefly" is not in any way related to the excellent yet woefully short-lived TV series of the same name. "The Big Bubble" is the title track. "So what?" you ask, and to that I answer "Exactly!" "Fear for the Future" is a dirge, like a funeral march for this song because it died before it started. Wrap your mind around that for a minute. Finally you come to the last track. [Wild Applause] "Kula Bocca Says So" is the name of the track. This is a thoughtful tune. And I think you should stop applauding now because if you don't, they might think you want to hear an encore. Oops, too late. Now look at what you did, there are 3 bonus tracks.

The 3 bonus tracks are a 3 part suite called "Safety is a Cootie Wootie". These tracks are short, but are actually the best part of the album in that it has nothing to do with the concept. But then the bar set by this album is pretty low and this suite is available on better collections than this. It is a decent avant-prog suite however. But we can't say too much about it because this review is about bad music.

The whole Mole concept didn't do very well, especially the tour, which I mentioned previously. There was a plan to release a 5th and 6th part, but that was abandoned, Can I get a Hallelujah! Yeah sure the whole thing is funny at first, but the joke got old long ago, so now it's just annoying. The Residents were into this anti music thing during this decade and didn't even take themselves seriously. Anyway, I guess they reached their goal of making the most annoying music ever, which they did. Congratulations!

Now go listen to something you really love.