Customer Reviews

Broadway the Hard Way

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

Except for the cover to this album (ugggggg... 80's soft pastel... how un-zappesque ???) this album is one of my favorite of Zappa's more "comedy" oriented stuff. - - It was the '88 Presidential Election... Zappa had the League of Women Voters in the lobby registering people to vote... and in addition to his seemingly billions of greatest hits, Zappa debut'ed this... practically a whole album of very contemporary political/cultural satire making fun of everything from Michael Jackson to C Everett Coup, Young Urban Professional Women - - and let's not forget Ronnie Ray-gun and Contra-gate ! - - Though you'll get more of his far out Waka Jawaka of the '80s band on Make A Jazz Noise Here and The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life... this album focuses more heavily on the parody, though the musical content will blow any other album away too... I was at his show in Philly, Feb. 13 (?)1988, and I consider to this day STOLEN MOMENTS a musical listening high point of my life !

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!

This is one of Zappa's best and definitely his most under-rated. It has some of his best lyrics and the '88 band is one of my favorites. While Make a Jazz Noise Here is a better example of what the '88 band was capable of, this is a great album. The best tracks are "Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk", "When the Lie's So Big", and "Any Kind of Pain". 10/10

The numerous political songs are a bit much for the average fan of Zappa or prog music in general, that expects a little more "entertainment" in the process. That FZ did this as a political statement is perfectly alright (and healthy! ...regardless that he was quickly to be proven wrong about AIDS, with "Promiscuous"), and maybe I don't feel as concerned simply because I am a non-American... There are also many shots that I just don't get, I guess by lack of background information.
Zappa pushes here the limits of the punctual musical quote to the point where it annoys me a lot and tends to distract me from the context (music, lyrics). So does the police siren effects and such that seem to HAVE to accompany any mention of the word "policeman" (just in case we wouldn't get it...), and the likes.
I don't find, like most of the reviewers did, that this is the best band that FZ ever took on the road. (Which would have been a rather surprising outcome since it is a documented fact that half the group were literally at war with bassist/occasional rehearsal director Scott Thunes [a permanent, key member since 1981] during the better part of this long tour!) Although I do like those horns, I prefer the Zappa formations where the keyboards and percussion are more prominent than that and the vocal styles more varied. Ol' Zappa himself had also been more adventurous as a guitar soloist. He is beautiful on "Any Kind of Pain". But since the previous tour, for some reason, he had gotten into Strat ruts and "Zappa cliches". I guess he wasn't very inspired by what was going on between some band members behind his back...
Something in that sound tends to give me a headache at some point... There is an awful glitch, a little into the beginning of the guitar solo in "Outside Now", where the pitch drops quite unpleasantly. And "Stolen Moments", which had always been one of my favorite tunes, is marred by a very inconsistent tempo. Guest star Sting is quite amusing with his introductory tale, and his choice of singing "Murder by Numbers" intertwined with "Stolen Moments" is a great idea. Favorite songs: "Planet of the Baritone Women" and "Beacon Fat"!

I am a big fan of Frank Zappa which is why I took the "Sarcasm Can Only Go So Far" review with a grain of salt. However, after buying and listening to this CD I can honestly say that that assesment was right on the money.

Though I'm a big fan of his, I found myself hoping this CD would get better after each track. The two stars are for the beautiful rendition of the jazz standard "Stolen Moments" and the following "Murder By Numbers" with Sting on guest vocals. In my opinion FZ's "Bongo Fury" and "Live In New York" are much, much better live recordings than this one.

Although I am a rabid FZ fan, this is one of those albums that I just can't get used too. It has slightly dated from when it was originally released for starters. We knew how much FZ hated Republicans, but considering that throughout the 1988 tour (and the 2 live albums released thereafter) the satire and sarcasm that was very amusing first time round, it had now become too venomous and full of scorn. The songs taking the p**s out of Jimmy Swaggart were funny for a while, but with every release of the '88 live material, it just became too much. All the scaborous lyric-based songs have the sort of mentality of someone repeating a joke to you thinking that you didn't hear it properly first time around ("did you get it? well I'll tell it again!"). We know FZ's hatred for the state of politics of that time (rightly so), but just a few songs would have been enough. Overall, it's a very depressing album. Not even vocalist Ike Willis can save it.

George W. Bush needs someone like our dear departed Frank Zappa, to set the record straight! In "Broadway the Hard Way" he takes on Jim and Tammy Baker, Pat Robinson,Nixon, Reagan,Jesse Jackson and a host of other Politicians, TV evangelists and not to mention the Surgeon General! And Ohhh what a band!! Tight but loose and hysterically funny. When I feel depressed I listen to Zappa. (like whenever I listen to the news) But, Oh how I miss you Mr. Zappa, but I guess you are still with us, in a way. In the Hard Way

I agree with the other ratings: *****

Great new stuff. Even if you don't appreciate all the confinement loaf and republican jokes (politics is not my cup of tea), the tunes are swell and there are loads of funnies. the jesse jackson song 'rhymin man' is brillo, every song is a winner. Sting has a funny cameo on 'murder by numbers'. If you haven't heard this band in action get this and 'make a jazz noise here', and 'the best band you never heard in your life'

He's still white Jim

Since I can only spend 1.000 words I cannot be comprehensive. When I discovered Zappa seriously, the first record I actually bought was The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life, played by the same rocking teen ange combo. I was stunned and did the only sensible thing. Currently I am the proud owner of more than 60 cd's by Frank Zappa. The 1988 band is one of my favorites. Well recorded, nice selection of tunes and incredible tight playing. One understands why they had to practive for months before going on the road. (Dylan only needs to train his band for two weeks. No disrespect, I own a lot of Dylan too). It is truly unbelievable how this band sounds live. Buy it and make the world a better place (well your own life at least).