Part Four of The Mole Trilogy expands musically on the events of the story in Part Three. After Ramsey, lead singer for The Big Bubble, was released from prison (thanks to of the outcry his arrest caused) the band was signed by Frankie DuVall of Black Shroud Records (named after the Mole's traditional form of dress). Their eponymous first album features the Mohelmot songs sung at the Zinkenite rally, including the new Zinkenite anthem Cry for the Fire.

The music on The Big Bubble is a synthesis of the Mole and Chub music found on The Tunes of Two Cities, performed using traditional Rock music instruments. These two albums make a set of three kinds of music in a way echoed later by the three parts of The Residents Cube-E tour, which featured white American music, black American music, and rock-n-roll -- the synthesis of the two.
The Residents wanted a just-about-live sound to the album so they recorded the vocalists lines first and lay down the other tracks over that. The results are -- well, people don't really agree what the results are. Some fans loved it, some hated it. Cole Gagne, author of Sonic Transports, calls the album "brilliant", while Ian Shirley, in Meet the Residents, says that it was evidence that The Residents were "treading water". A UWEB poll suggested that it was tied with Not Available as the weirdest Residential album, which makes some sense, since both albums were created in order to work out some problems and stress within the band.

One place where the album was an unquestioned success, however, was Japan, where it had been released on Wave Records (along with a rather inaccurate lyric sheet which Wave reversed engineered from the album). The popularity of The Big Bubble there inspired Wave to invite The Residents to Japan for their next tour.

Oh, and by the way... The four figures on The Big Bubble's The Big Bubble album cover (which is featured on The Residents' The Big Bubble album cover) are not The Residents without their disguises. The band advertised in local acting papers for people to pose for this cover. Coincidentally, a German fan who was visiting San Francisco happened to drop by the Cryptic Corporation that day, and they grabbed him and stuffed him in a tuxedo for the photo shoot as well (he's the one on the right of the three behind Ramsey on the cover, or the extreme right in the gatefold picture). The actor who posed as Ramsey (the one in the front on the cover or the back on the gatefold) went on to work for The Residents 13th Anniversary Show as the stage-lighting ninja.

In the fall of 1981 The Residents released Mark of the Mole. This first record of the Mole Trilogy laid out the basic story line for the first two parts of the story. One, the Hole-Workers battle against the ravages of nature in the form of a storm that destroys their homes; and two, their resulting conflict with a neighboring culture that is very different from their own. The second part of the triogy was released in spring of 1982. It featured examples of the music of both the Chub and the Mole cultures so as to more clearly illustrate the difference between these two societal forces. The remainder of 1982 and all of 1983 was spent touring a large scale musical/visual presentation of these two albums that was known as The Mole Show. Upon returning from the European part of the tour, The Residents rested briefly and threw themselves into the job of completing the story. Part three of the trilogy picked up on the story several decades after the great war. The survivors of the two cultures lived side-by-side in uneasy peace. The war had not resulted in any clear winner, but time had promoted those who had the appropriate appetite for power, and the Chubs were famous for their various appetites.
Many Moles and Chubs had blended socially so mixed marriages were common. Their offspring were refered to as "Cross". In responce to this a "Zinkenite" movement by traditional Moles, or "Mohelmot", had surfaced to encourage the establishment of a new Mohelmot nation. Surprisingly, many of the officials of the Zinkenites were "Cross", as though the Chub genes had brought out a new aggression to the Mohelmot sense. One such official was a charismatic second generation cross named Kula Bocca.
Kula Bocca knew that if the Zinkenites were to succeed in reestablishing their society, they needed the energy, passion, and, above all, naivete of youth. He hired a local band to play for a rally at Elmwurst, and, although he did not think they were very good, the band immediately captured the heart of the crowd with a single song, "Cry for the Fire". The song even had a section that was sung in the original language of the Mohelmot which had been outlawed since the war. Few in the audience could understand what the singer was saying, but everyone immediately grasped that a deep link was being established with their past.
Kula Bocca could see the power that this band, "The Big Bubble", had on the public. At a later rally he arranged for the singer of the band to be "arrested" to stir up sympathy for the Zinkenites, and then he contacted Frinky DuVall of Black Shroud Records concerning The Bubble. Black Shroud supported the Zinkenites even though Mr. DuVall was a Chub, and agreed to release an album for the band.
So now The Residents proudly present Part Four of the Mole Trilogy... the Black Shroud album by the band that is shaking a nation... THE BIG BUBBLE.


The Liner Notes for the album on the album Rarely in the history of popular music has a meteoric rise been seen equal to that of the band whose first album you are currently holding in your hands. Less than two years ago Ramsey, Paul, Alex and Frank started getting together in their Leone family garage to "play around" with some tunes that Ramsey and Frank had been writing together. One of these songs was a catchy riff named "The Big Bubble". On their own the foursome raised enough money to release a single of "The Big Bubble" and the tune became an instant regional hit. However, since they had never taken a name for their band, and the lable of their single only read "Big Bubble", the name of the song was soon forced upon them as the name of the band as well. Not until the political rally of Elmwurst did the band gain national prominence. Following a speech by Zinkenite spokesman, Kula Bocca, the band premiered a new composition, "Cry for the Fire". Twenty thousand people came to their feet, interlocked arms, and listened in stunned silence as "The Big Bubble" sang to the people in the ancient tongue of the Mohelmot, forbidden since the war. "Cry for the Fire" became the anthem of the Zinkenites. In November at the Casema rally, Ramsey was arrested for singing in Mohelmot. The resulting riot and public outcry forced his release three days later. At that time, Frankie DuVall, president of Black Shroud Records, called on the "Bubble" and stated that he was ready to back the group on an album that would include the Mohelmot vocals, the first time that the Mohelmot language had ever been recorded. So here it is. The boys have re-recorded their first hit "The Big Bubble" (note the altered lyrics on this version), as well as ten other tunes, six of which use the Mohelmot speech including the controversial Zinkenite anthem "Cry for the Fire".
Hope you dig it. - Black Shroud Records