INTERMISSION

When it was released in 1982 the incidental music heard between scenes during the extravagant (and financially catastrophic) stage presentation of the Mole Show must have seemed like a belated afterthought to an already abandoned project. But now that the EP has been added to the 2005 Mute Records re-issue of the "Mark of the Mole" album it can be appreciated in the proper thematic context.

The original, unfinished "Mole" trilogy (later expanded into a likewise never completed cycle of six LPs) was an ambitious but incoherent exercise in self-conscious, self-indulgent narrative weirdness, a theatrical concept requiring (not unlike PINK FLOYD's "The Wall") more effort and attention than it was ultimately worth.

But without the baggage of a complicated story to weigh them down, The Residents (still a group at the time; today I'm not so sure) were able in these various overtures and interludes to concentrate more on the music itself. The result is 25-minutes of toe-tapping, tongue-in-cheek weirdness (a Residents specialty), exhibiting more musical continuity than the entire "Mark of the Mole" album it later supplemented.

(And there's a bonus for Progheads: the appearance of a Mellotron, prominent in "The New Hymn" at the close of the brief five-song set. No one plays a Mellotron without at least a tacit acknowledgement of some sort of Progressive Rock legacy.)

In the final analysis "Intermission" works better as an epilogue than it ever did as an independent EP. You might even say it blows the "Mole" album off its own stage.

To me, this music, originally written to be played in between scenes from "The Mole Show" does just fine on it's own. It's dark, weird, and very rhthmic. And like much of The Residents' work, losts of fun if you can appreciate it.

Light's Out (Prelude) I presume was meant to set the mood at the beginning of the show. It has a tribal sound, with a typical off key synth sound providing the melody.

Shorty's Lament (Intermission) has one of the coolest rhythms the Residents ever created. Along with that, the vocals by Annie Stocking, Jeanette Sartain and Joan Cashel are just wonderful.

The Moles Are Coming (Intermission). Need I say more? The moles are coming.

Would We Be Alive? (Intermission) is about as eerie as the Residents get (and that's extremely eerie). I love how the vocals change to a cry of "Help us! Please!" by the end.

And The New Hymn (Recessional) bring it all to a close.

Bliss.

'Intermission' is one of those albums that was not designed to see the light of day but thanks to the growing Residents' fanbase, it just has. It is not a bad album either by any standards but is really just the music and effects used during the scenes in the excessive lavish stage show promoting the Mole saga. Interestingly enough the material in the intermission and between scenes is at times better than that on the studio album 'Mark of the Mole'.

Tracks such as tribalistic 'Lights Out' and the jumpy quirky 'Shorty's Lament' are real gems. It is great that one can listen to this music although it was only meant to be inbetween the actual scenes in the show. 'The Moles Are Coming' has a terrific rhythmic pulse, and well executed keyboards driving it; sounding more like vintage Devo than any Residents track.. 'Would We Be Alive?' has a chilling keyboard chord and scratchy percussion. Vocals have that familiar Resident's twang from so many of their earlier albums. The atmosphere is dark and brooding like that heard on 'Commercial Album'. The foreboding vocoder effect on the vocals is unsettling, and I particularly like the playful glockenspiel sounds. 'The New Hymn' uses a Mellotron, and staccato percussion beats. The choir of voices suits the odd timbre in the music.

Overall, an unsettling but entertaining glimpse into the Mole show that made such an impact on the Residents' music over the years. It is worth a listen and is surprisingly better than many of the other Resident's material in their extensive catalogue.

Why would The Residents release albums of incidental music from their defunct and failed stage shows? Because it's The Residents and some people just have to have everything they produce. This is an EP of 5 songs that were previously unavailable on any of The Mole albums, but (as the label says) it is not Music from The Mole Part III, its all music that was produced only for use in The Residents' live Mole shows. Originally, it was not intended for release, but since The Residents couldn't capitalize on the goofy story, they just couldn't help themselves. And it is good for us that they couldn't. The 5 songs on this short EP are better than most of the tracks that were released for consumer consumption and regurgitation.

This album was made before Snakefinger's passing away and before the period of time when the band got caught up in the vortex called The 80's, which is probably when they released their most unfunny and uninspired music and resorted to your grandmother's cheap Wurlitzer organ to make music.

Lights Out - Snakefinger makes his presence quite known on this track with his unique guitar stylings laid out upon a base of percussion and hand clap loops along with some very eerie synth effects and music. Strangely enough, this sounds better than a lot of the music on any of "The Mole" albums and was only used as an introduction to their live show.

Shorty's Lament - A lot of percussion loops and a spooky synth play the melody of this track, and the melody gets more apparent when some guest singers sing choral style along with the synth. The percussion is a bit hollow sounding (due to effects) and maybe too repetitive, but the vocals make up for it all. Spoken word from The Resident's own lead vocalist and his drawl fill in more space on this one when the synth isn't there making some atmospheric freakout music.

The Moles Are Coming - This tense piece sounds like it could have come from a suspense thriller, but then so could 70% of The Resident's music. It is quite an intriguing, yet short track, and probably one of the best of any of their incidental pieces. This is the reason why you just have to have The Resident's music, because you never know when they hit upon a masterpiece even if it is by accident.

Would We Be Alive? - This one sounds the most like it was produced on an organ in your friendly neighborhood second hand store. But this was also before they wore that sound out, so you got to give them credit for trying it out here, but after that, they should have left the organ in the fire they set when they burned down that 2nd hand store.

The New Hymn - More really band music, but done in a good way. Bad rhythm track, obnoxious organ chords and a really twisted sounding choir that sucks on helium balloons for a hobby. Oh yeah, and Mister Cowboy lead singer from The Resident's sings too. But again, this was before they wore that sound out completely. But it's all in fun, and when it's all in fun, well, anything can get past the snobby critics.

This is a fun EP and if you have to have at least one album full of incidental, failed stage shows from The Residents, well you should first have your head examined, and then you should have this one. If not, well then, absolutely nothing will happen, but you will eventually pass away not ever having heard this before. Hmmm, kind of makes you stop and think, doesn't it? No? Well then go finish your cauliflower pizza! Oprah loves them!