HOLE-WORKERS AT THE MERCY OF NATURE:
Voices of the
Air
The Ultimate Disaster
Migration
HOLE-WORKERS VS MAN AND MACHINE:
Another Land
The New Machine
Final Confrontation
MARK OF THE MOLE
Album
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HOLE-WORKERS AT THE MERCY OF NATURE: Voices of the
Air
HOLE-WORKERS VS MAN AND MACHINE: Another Land |
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By 1981, there were palpable tensions within the group. On top of that, a backlash had sprung against Commercial Album, with critics complaining that the Residents weren't funny anymore. To work past the internal problems, the Residents conceived an ambitious, long-term project to focus their energies; to respond to their detractors, they set out to show what a no-fun album REALLY sounded like. Thus was born Mark of the Mole, the first of what was conceived as a trilogy that would detail the story of the Mole culture. Mark of the Mole was a linear, operatic tale of a displaced culture, the Mohelmot (Moles), driven by a destructive storm from their homeland. They migrate to the country of the Chubs, where tensions begin between the two peoples; it culminates in a short war, which ends in a sort of status quo antebellum (this section of the music is entitled "Resolution?"). Nothing changes, and tensions continue.
RATING: 8
The most problematic of all Residents albums. It's incredibly subtle, profound, challenging, and befuddling. Lyrically, it's purposeful from beginning to end; musically, it's dark, atonal, and VERY difficult, but ultimately pretty amazing.
So far, I'm making this sound like at least a 9. Make no mistake—Mark of the Mole is very, very close to 9 status. Like Eskimo, I find new layers of meaning every time I listen (Oh wait, wait, here's the newest thing I've got! The Moles are immigrants, right? The proverbial "wretched refuse," yes? And—they are literally the "tempest-tossed!" I don't know if the Residents intended the parallel, but I wouldn't be surprised from a group who named their boxed set Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses. And if it was intended, it was very subtle and very smart....am I right?)
Speaking of Eskimo, however, I don't enjoy listening to Mark of the Mole nearly as much. The lyrics and the narrative are brilliant, but the music is nowhere near as beautiful, as fascinating, or as detailed as Eskimo. But then, it's also too inaccessible and rough-hewn to be as good a listen as, say, Duck Stab, or even Meet the Residents. Don't get me wrong, Mark of the Mole is great! But it's an acquired taste, and being a Residents album it's an acquired taste WITHIN an acquired taste.
So! Mark of the Mole has a lot of the elements that make a masterwork, and you get more out of each new examination. The missing elements, though, are the ones that make you want to make new examinations. I, on the other hand, have made them anyway, and there's still just too much good stuff to ignore. So I give Mark of the Mole a very high 8. And remember, 8 is still "minor masterpiece," so this one is just barely "minor."