Label: Barking Pumpkin
Release date: 14.10.1988
Production: Frank Zappa
Length: 71:03
Rating: .9.5/10
“Broadway the Hard Way,” the last mostly rock-oriented project the legendary Frank Zappa recorded in his lifetime, was also the final chapter in his more than two decades of touring with a rotating cast of backing bands. He spent the rest of his days in the studio, if you don’t count the ‘farewell’ collaborations with a Berlin orchestra captured on his last ‘pre-death’ album, “The Yellow Shark” (1993). “Broadway the Hard Way,” which, like most of Frank’s live albums, sounds almost like a studio record thanks to its brilliant production, was recorded at various venues in 1988. It was mostly made up of brand-new songs that hadn’t appeared on any other record by this American musical multi-talent and untamed social satirist. “Broadway the Hard Way” was the end result of an incredibly exhausting and troubled tour, in the middle of which Frank fell out with every member of his band, after which he lost all remaining appetite for the rock-band concept.
On this unexpectedly cut-short tour, during which he was supposedly first told about the diagnosis of his fatal illness, Frank was backed by a lineup of seasoned players who had worked with him through most of the eighties. The one exception was a new ‘acquisition’: the hugely gifted young guitarist and keyboardist Mike Keneally, whose childhood dream of playing alongside the great Frank Zappa had just come true. The story of Keneally’s short stint in Frank’s band was a pretty unusual one, since he basically volunteered himself. He told his idol over the phone that, after sixteen years of fanatically listening to and playing his music, he could play anything from Frank’s vast repertoire for him.
Frank soon invited him to an audition, where he had to play “What’s New in Baltimore?” and “Sinister Footwear” to perfection. After passing with flying colors, he joined Frank on the aforementioned tour, which sadly ended early. He never played with his idol again before Frank’s death, though he’d go on to work extensively with Frank’s eldest son Dweezil and with Steve Vai too. The doomed tour is at least remembered for one positive moment: during a show in Stockholm, Frank discovered the twenty-year-old Swedish drummer Morgan Agren, invited him on stage and later took him along to the US to work on some later projects, most of which never happened. Agren, who is best known for his work with Kaipa, Devin Townsend (or rather Casaulties of Cool) and Mattias IE Eklundh, would very likely have become Chad Wackerman’s successor behind the kit if Frank hadn’t died too soon.
Most of the material on “Broadway the Hard Way” had a heavy satirical stamp, reflecting the political, social and cultural climate of the day. Even the opener, “Elvis Has Just Left the Building,” a cross between rockabilly, country and jazz, was a brutal satire of most Americans’ unhealthy fascination with Elvis Presley and their belief that he’s actually still alive after his ‘supposed’ death. “Planet of the Baritone Women,” which at times sounds like a parody of traditional Mexican string music mixed with comic operetta bits, is a biting satire of the moral emptiness and identity crisis so typical of highly capitalist societies. On the closing collage of musical styles, “Jesus Think You Are a Jerk,” where the lyrics also name-drop Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Cuba’s ‘el comandante’ Fidel Castro, Frank took aim at American TV evangelists. On “Dickie’s Such an Asshole,” meanwhile, he called out the biggest idiocies of the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who, until recently, right up to Bush Jr. and Trump, were considered the worst American presidents. “When the Lie’s So Big,” where Ike Willis cracks up mid-song, “The Untouchables” and “What Kind of Girl” are also cutting satires of the entrenched practices of the American Republican Party, of names like Reagan and Bush Sr., of religious fanaticism and of America’s plutocratic two-party system.
On the country burlesque “Rhymin’ Man,” Frank exposed the hypocrisy of the American Baptist and self-proclaimed civil rights fighter Jesse Jackson, the self-proclaimed heir to Martin Luther King. Michael Jackson and his family didn’t escape Frank’s colorful satire either, on the song “Why Don’t You Like Me?,” which is packed with jokey references, including the cult (anti)hero of ‘Star Wars,’ Lando Calrissian.
“Any Kind of Pain” was a vocal version of an older composition of the same name, and among other things it featured some brilliant solo spots. Here the master of toilet humor satirized the generic, airheaded American starlet-bimbo who goes ‘under the knife’ and undergoes a ‘plastic fantastic’ transformation, only to be degraded and exploited even more by her male employers. Frank had skewered these silicone-and-platinum good-time girls before, on earlier songs like “Beauty Knows No Pain,” “Dumb All Over” and “Be in My Video.”
On “Promiscuous,” where Frank pokes fun at Reagan’s ultra-conservative admiral C. Everett Koop, Ike Willis delivers a short rap bit, the first and only rap in Frank’s career, before rap had even gone properly mainstream. It rounds off the enviable stylistic eclecticism of this live document. Some tracks also feature short, tongue-in-cheek versions of decades-old evergreens, mostly in the form of ‘medleys.’ For a bit of nostalgia, there’s mainly the excellent version of the “Joe’s Garage” (1979) classic “Outside Now.”
The jazz-funk take on The Police evergreen “Murder By Numbers” was one of the few covers in Frank’s career, and not just any cover, since Sting himself took part as a special guest vocalist. The crowd went almost hysterical the moment Sting walked on stage. The whole thing happened purely by chance, when Frank bumped into Sting in an elevator before one of the shows. A Sting in great spirits spiced up his guest spot in a rather ‘Zappa-esque’ way, with an intro speech about how some deranged American TV evangelist preachers wanted to label The Police’s music the devil’s work. That was a widespread phenomenon in the eighties in an already very sick American society, one Zappa fought for years.
The other two covers on “Broadway the Hard Way” were “Bacon Fat” and a special take on the jazz standard “Stolen Moments,” a rare non-comedic moment on this album. And for anyone who happens to forget that Frank was one of the greatest guitar masters of his time, there’s the cheeky, danceable “Hot Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel” as a reminder, featuring one of the most colorful solos of his colorful career.
It’s hard to believe that “Broadway the Hard Way” came out of a grueling, cut-short tour after which Zappa wrote off the whole rock-band concept for good, because listening to it, Frank’s crew sounds like a well-oiled machine having the time of their lives on every single number. Besides the fits of laughter that individual tracks on “Broadway the Hardway” still cause today, since the social and cultural patterns the satirical lyrics are aimed at just keep repeating themselves, there’s a somewhat bitter aftertaste once it’s over, from the premature end of the last backing band of Frank’s career. Despite the title, Zappa never intended to turn any of the “Broadway the Hard Way” songs into any kind of theatrical production. That didn’t stop the ‘smart alecks’ in charge of handing out the Grammys, who have more than once provided gallons of bitter laughter for music fans, most of all when they gave Jethro Tull the award for ‘best heavy metal album,’ from nominating “Broadway the Hard Way” for a Grammy in 1990 in the ‘best musical album’ category.
review by: Peter Podbrežnik
track list:
1. Elvis Has Just Left The Building (2:24)
2. Planet Of The Baritone Women (2:48)
3. Any Kind Of Pain (5:42)
4. Dickie’s Such An Asshole (5:45)
5. When The Lie’s So Big (3:38)
6. Rhymin’ Man (3:50)
7. Promiscuous (2:02)
8. The Untouchables (2:26)
9. Why Don’t You Like Me (2:57)
10. Bacon Fat (1:29)
11. Stolen Moments (2:57)
12. Murder By Numbers (5:37)
13. Jezebel Boy (2:27)
14. Outside Now (7:49)
15. Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel (6:40)
16. What Kind Of Girl? (3:17)
17. Jesus Thinks You’re A Jerk (9:15)
musicians:
Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals, production
Mike Keneally – synthesizer, vocals, guitar
Ike Willis – guitar, vocals
Robert Martin – keyboards, vocals
Scott Thunes – bass guitar
Chad Wackerman – drums
Ed Mann – percussion
Paul Carman – alto saxophone
Albert Wing – tenor saxophone
Kurt McGettrick – baritone saxophone
Walt Fowler – trumpet
Bruce Fowler – trumpet
Sting – guest lead vocals on “Murder by Numbers”
Eric Buxton (audience member) – spoken word in the middle of “The Untouchables”
