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This article is about the 2009 DVD bag set. You may be looking for the live tour, 1983 live album, or 1984 video of the same name. |
Mole Show (also known as The Mole Bag, The Mole DVD, and Mole Show DVD Bag Set) is a limited edition "bag set" by The Residents, first released by Ralph America in April 2009 as part of the eL Ralpho Archive series of releases. Only 400 copies of the original edition were pressed.
The set includes a DVD of a performance from the group's debut tour The Mole Show, filmed in October 1982 at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco, and a CD of a radio special which was hosted by Australian radio station Triple J later in the same month.
Having been shelved for 27 years, it was, as of 2010, the longest a released Residents project had been shelved for.
Release[]
In April 2009, Ralph America released the Mole Show DVD Bag Set in a limited quantity of 400 hand-numbered copies, with only 350 made available for sale.
The set consisted of a chipboard digipak with both a DVD and a CD, as well as twelve 5.5" x 8.5" postcards with Mole and Chub backdrop drawings from the Mole Show performances, and a miniature shovel (which is not recommended to use for actual digging). All of this was packaged inside of a Mole Show branded burlap bag
The product quickly sold out. However, when Ralph America closed in 2010, a limited number of additional copies were found and sold as sets. But minus the postcards, the miniature shovels, or the burlap bags. This time it was only as two-panel cardboard digipaks, whose discs are identical to those found in the earlier edition. Only some copies sold in the second release were hand-numbered.
Media[]
The set contained a chipboard digipak with a DVD of a single-camera shot performance from the tour, which was filmed at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco, California at one of their two shows there on October 26th and 27th 1982. This was one of only three Mole Shows to have been professionally filmed, alongside a June 21st 1983 show in Madrid which was filmed for television, and the Uncle Sam Mole Show on October 7th 1983.
These three videos had previously been edited together to create the short Mole Show featurette which was released on VHS in 1984, but this DVD is the only release to date to include footage constituting a complete show. Of the three filmed Mole Shows, the Kabuki performance is the only one to feature Penn Jillette as the narrator.
The digipak also houses an audio disc titled JJJ 105.7 Radio Show CD, which contains the entirety of a rare 70 minute radio special produced by the Australian radio station Triple J, which originally aired on October 30th 1982. This special focuses on interviewing employess of Ralph Records, which had recently celebrated it's 10th anniversary, but that was also undergoing through a drastic change in direction.
The special is notable as it includes interviews with members of The Cryptic Corporation, dating from the last days of the company's Grove Street headquarters.
Track listing[]
Mole Show Live In San Francisco DVD[]
- Mole Show Live In San Francisco (60:08)
- Voices of the Air
- The Secret Seed
- The Ultimate Disaster
- God of Darkness
- Migration
- Smack Your Lips (Clap Your Teeth)
- Another Land
- The New Machine
- Song of the Wild
- Final Confrontation
- Satisfaction
- Happy Home
JJJ 105.7 Radio Show CD[]
- Untitled (13:57)
- Untitled (8:25)
- Untitled (17:12)
- Untitled (14:39)
- Untitled (9:26)
- Untitled (14:54)
Ralph America website notes[]
Miniature shovel included in the set
ALMOST GONE! This is limited to 400 pieces (only 350 made available for purchase), all numbered, each set comes with 12 postcards (5.5" x 8.5") with backdrop drawings from the show (6 mole and 6 chub), a miniature shovel (digging not recommended), a chipboard digipak featuring a CD with the Australian radio special (70 minutes) and a single camera DVD of the uninterrupted live MOLESHOW, filmed at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco. All wrapped up in a printed, drawstring burlap bag.
The video quality is from a single VHS camera back in the early 80's, which is probably a notch or two (or three) under a flip video camera. Audience sound as well. So think of it as yer own lo-fi travel accessory... peeking thru a rip in the fabric of time, thru a hole in the wall of the theater. So DO NOT expect a high production release - there's not even a menu, just push and play for the gritty Mole reality. The CD is a REAL gem, featuring music and interviews with the Cryptic Corp during the days of the 444 Grove St. warehouse just before the Moleshow tour. A lot of talk of how the 'music industry is changing' and that no one is buying music anymore... back in 1982.
If you are a low number subscriber, please choose that option after clicking the link to buy. The discs are NOT cdr or dvdr, but standard replicated discs, if that is important to you.
See also[]
- eL Ralpho Archive
- The Mole Show
- The Mole Trilogy
- Mole Show
- Mole Show Live In Holland
- Mole Show/Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?
- Mole Box
External links and references[]
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The Mole Show (1982-1983) Set list |
