Broadway the Hardway
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!
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!
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