Customer Reviews

Broadway the Hard Way

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Overall, a great recording from a fantastic FZ band, clearly the most direct and biting of all of the 80s activist Zappa recordings. No one is spared with conservatives, Republicans, evangelists, Michael Jackson, former Surgeon General Koop, Ronald Reagan (and his entire administration), and Jesse Jackson all becoming targets.

With five horns in support, all of them Mothers veterans, all of the songs are great. That big, fat sound really comes through on the jazz standard "Stolen Moments" and its excellent Walt Fowler trumpet solo. This track segues to a guest appearance by Sting, who takes a direct shot at Jimmy Swaggart, and then performs "Murder By Numbers" with the band providing a smooth jazz backing.

Other great tracks are "Any Kind of Pain," with a fantastic FZ solo; "Elvis Has Just Left the Building" for its great lyrics; "The Untouchables" theme for the anti-Reagan administration rant; "Outside Now" for the extended FZ solo, and; the delightful throwback to the "Fillmore East: June 1971" album with "What Kind of Girl?"

Overall, this is a wonderfully representative live Zappa CD. It captures most of the feel, and definitely the wit and anger of Frank's mid-80s interactions with and responses to his sanctimonious detractors. A must for your Zappa collection, and a great addition to any music lover's collection.

There are a lot of new songs on this disc that had not been recorded by Zappa prior to (and naturally not after) his world-tour in 1988 (his last). This is the first out of three albums ["Broadway the Hard Way", "The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life", and "Make a Jazz Noise Here"] to be released with material only from the (4+ month long) 1988 tour. It generally features the least amount of guitar-solos of the three, but consists musically of everything from country to jazz. There's even a rap number, which musically (considering it's the late 80's) is pretty up to date.
Incidentally, some numbers from this tour can also be found on "You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore" volumes 4 and 6.
There are no overdubs on this album, but a lot of the songs are cut together, part by part, from different shows. "Why Don't You Like Me?", for instance, is cut together (at seven points) from four different shows, and the 9+ minute "Jesus Thinks you're A Jerk" is cut together (at 22 points), from 12 different shows. At times the cutting is very noticeable (and hurts the rhythm section), but for the most part it works. There are only six songs that are performed uncut from beginning to end. One of them is Sting's "Murder by Numbers", performed by the man himself - yes, during a concert in Chicago on March 3rd, Sting joined Zappa and his band on stage, and sang this number. What is amazing about this band is that they knew 190+ songs of which Zappa could call off any at any point. During the tour the band performed 116 songs in front of an audience - here are 17. A warning, though: You may have heard "Why don't you like me?" and "What Kind of Girl?" before without knowing it; they're renamed (because of new lyrics) versions of "Tell Me You Love Me" and "What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are?"
Five years ago, when this albums was new to me--and I didn't know anything about the recording-details--I'd have given it 5/5 stars. Now, after an endless amount of careful listening I can't say I'd feel comfortable giving it more than 3.5 or 4 ...hard to decide, because it IS a great band!

I have to respectfully disagree with all the reviewers praising this album. Of the 3 albums documenting FZ's 1988 tour (along with "Make a Jazz Noise Here" and "The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life") this is the worst. In fact, I would put it at the bottom end of Frank's entire catalogue.

There are a number of reasons why this album is largely unsatisfying. First off is the sound. Frank was always on the cutting edge of musical technology, which means that this and other 80s albums make extensive use of synthesizers and other electronic gadgets from the decade. Oddly enough, this makes the album sound much more dated than his work from the 60s and 70s. The synthetic sound just doesn't carry the same kind of power as analog instruments, and the music sounds rather passionless as a result.

Second is the humor. This is Zappa by way of Dr. Demento (in fact, I know that "Elvis Has Just Left The Building" among other songs from this album were staples on the Doc's novelty radio show). Zappa's musicianship and brilliant compositional skills take a back seat to his self-indulgent humor, which isn't even among his best humor anyway. It's not that I disagree with his politics, but I prefer the Zappa that foregrounds music, not jokey lyrics. Remember in 200 Motels when the band complained about having to play "Zappa's comedy music"? Well, this helps you understand them a little better.

The music itself is poor in some spots. "Any Kind of Pain" is truly a low-point in Frank's songwriting, a barely tolerable soft-rock "parody" that sounds too much like authentic soft rock! There are some good tracks, however, such as "Stolen Moments" and an excellent solo on "Outside Now." "Murder By Numbers" featuring Sting is also good fun. But overall, they don't do enough to save this album. The only reason that I own it is because I'm a hardcore Zappaphile and completist. 3 stars is, honestly, a generous appraisal; this would be max 2 stars if it was any other artist but Zappa. Only those who must own all of Zappa's works, or those who are self-professed fans of, ugh, "novelty" music should pick this one up.

This is THE best live album ever! Zappa does it all here, great playing, humor, political commentary. Sting even stops by to sing a song from his days with The Police, "Murder by Numbers". A great version of "Outside Now" from Joe's Garage Acts 2-3 is aslo here. Overall this album is in my top 3 Zappa albums, I love every second of it! Buy it NOW!! You will not be sorry!

I must join the dissenters, like Ryan. This album properly belongs on the lower ranks of the official Zappa discography. It's a suitable sampler of 1988 tour material, but that's rather the problem. The 1988 band was one of the slickest, most commercial-sounding of all Zappa's tour bands. The technical quality of the musicianship is high (legendarily so even), but you can tell that the presentation is a vulgarization of what we'd heard from Zappa and his collaborators in the 1960s and 1970s. The transitions between tunes don't come as fast, the humor is less generally antiauthoritarian and more specifically anti-PMRC/Reagan/Bush. Compare this album with, say, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2, (which was released contemporaneously but recorded back in 1974), and you can hear the difference between vintage live Zappa and reheated live Zappa.

This is a perplexing album. It is one of Zappa's most political (and dated, as a result) albums. It is also one of his tighest, best performed albums ever. There's a lot to like, and a lot to dislike.

The album is very heavy on the lyrics, and most, if not all, the lyrics are keeping in tune with Zappa's political leanings of the time. Unless you are familiar with the era, you will not get it and it will seem like the album is another language. There are references to Jesse Jackson, C. Everett Koop, Pat Robertson, Henry Cisneros, Louis Farakkhan, Jim Baker, and Tammy Faye Baker. Most of them are not in the spotlight anymore, and in Tammy's case, sadly, she's no longer with us. So much of the album ends up being a dated comedy routine that can only be funny if you remember the time.

On the plus side, Zappa's band is as tight as ever. The vocal harmonies are extremely rich (something Zappa rarely gets credit for), the horn section really comes to the fore (and is briliant), and the few guitar solos are very, very good. The best tracks are Hot Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel (a political song that hasn't dated), Murder by Numbers (with special guest Sting singing vocals), a good guitar solo in Outside Now, and I do like the silliness of Elvis Has Just Left the Building. The beginning of Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk (a great title, by the way) is kind of fun, but then it breaks down into a polemic against the religious right. I do not care for the religious right at all, but the song turns into a political rant, and it diminishes the great music behind it.

If you're a Zappa fan, you'll get more out of this album than a casual fan would. It has some very good moments, but overall it's a bit disappointing.

I just can't believe there were not any previous reviews of this live CD. It is simply awesome, as well as musically historic. Most of the songs on here were brand NEW, and topical of the day. There are 2 cover songs, of the 17. One is an intstrumental, and the other is Sting's song - with Sting on stage singing it. There are 12 musicians in this group (has brass section), including Frank. The sound of this live recording is excellent.

There TWO other official LIVE releases from the tour, and those are both double CDs. These are primarily a variety of past Zappa songs and impromtu creations. The names of these records are "Make a Jazz Noise Here", and "The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life".

The number of different songs that this band played on this tour must be unpresidented, plus most of the songs are difficult and/or complex.

Viva La Zappa!!

On one hand, listening to this album in 2005 it makes me sad to think that so many of the issues, if not the personalities mentioned, are still topical today! Oh, Frank! Where are you, now that we need you more than ever! Getting off track a bit, listen to the "Central Scrutinizer" intro on "Joe's Garage" - the bit about enforcing the laws that haven't been passed yet, and about "cruel and inhuman punishments are being described in tiny paragraphs so as not to conflict with the constitution". Frank's dystopian vision is now reality!

This album has his most direct social commentary, and he names names. This has the effect of dating the material. Also honestly the song quality itself is a bit weak. These are all message songs. Stripped of their message they don't really stand up to Zappa's better stuff. He does, however dish it out to all sides, wherever he sees stupidity and hypocrisy. His targets range from right-wing bible thumpers to Jesse Jackson, to depraved old rich men in high places with dirty secrets.

I do like the inclusion of "Murder by Numbers" - very topical and humorous (and a good song). Also, this WAS the album that introduced me to "Stolen Moments" way back then.

By the way, I remember when I saw Zappa on the '88 tour, the encore was a meddley of Beatles songs with new Swaggart-related lyrics - "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" became "Floozie and a Whore With Herpes" - absolutely hilarious! I don't think he ever released that (a great omission - copyright issues evidently). If you ever find that, pick it up!

There are two other albums from this last tour. The best of the 3 is [[Make a Jazz Noise Here]], which is more focused on his instrumental experimentation.

Zappa's taste for juxtaposition might be satisfied by my recent interest in this album. Although recent study has pushed my listening towards the earlier studio recordings in his career, I have had an interest in re-listening to this (mostly) live album from 1988. The majority of his rock-styled work from this period was recorded live, and in some ways it is the ultimate realization of his vision in that format.

The 1988 band was his most virtuosic and exhaustively rehearsed. Rumor has it that by the time they hit the stage, they were well-versed in over 160 songs. This band was able to take the jarring changes in style and tempo that epitomized Zappa's studio work and render them in a live setting, as well as react to Zappa's instinctual whim flawlessly. In the end, the live performances of this group rivaled the best studio productions of any of Zappa's previous bands. This is one of the few recordings containing material that can be attributed to that line up as "original". The later Best Band and Make A Jazz Noise Here albums concentrated on re-arrangements of classic Zappa and cover material with relatively little "new" material.

Broadway the Hard Way generally gets its lyric and conceptual inspiration from the political and cultural climate of the late `80's. Some examples of the subject matter are televangelism, supermodels, homosexuality, rap music, Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson, tabloids, blue-collar workers, and prostitution. Again, Zappa's ability to take snapshots of American life (sometimes with red-eye intact) is disturbingly direct. However, one gets the feeling that Zappa is tempering his message a little to increase its accessibility.

To accentuate this message, Broadway the Hard Way is bursting at the seams with musical quotes for the dedicated listener. To cite all of the bursts of melodic material on the album could be an exhaustive endeavor. Themes from Dragnet, Devo, the Beatles, Star Trek, Michael Jackson (again), Frank Zappa ("Dickie's Such an A**h*le"), and a wide range of traditional American patriotic music all pops out at Zappa's request with mind-boggling precision. As an example, trying to cite all of the quotes on "Rhymin' Man" may well result in a scramble for the "pause" and "rewind" button.

Of personal interest, I have been curious about the evolution of Zappa's guitar playing after using xenochronus guitar solos in the studio in the years leading up to his formation of the 1988 band. If you consider his work on Hot Rats as a benchmark, the changes in his soloing style show this self-influence. His soloing on Broadway seems both harmonically and rhythmically freer than his `70's work. Especially on "Outside Now" he only seems to take a passing interest in the already loose harmonic environment. However, unlike his xenochronus studio solos, he proves that he is actually interacting with the rhythm section by popping into a more interactive "live" mode periodically. His ability to switch between the two mindsets is effective and impressive. "Hot Plate Heaven" is also a very impressive example of the influence on xenochrony on his live arrangements and his soloing within that arrangement.

With this ensemble of musicians you can pretty much play anything frank throws at you.The lyrics are a very biting satire of american politics.The musicianship of these guys is what really stands out.This could quite possibly be the best band ever to perform together.