Frank Zappa: Broadway The White House Way!
By Fred Tomsett
The following is a spontaneous essay on the whole "Broadway The Hard Way" saga", the latest Frank Zappa scheme, written by Fred Tomsett. Fred is somewhat prolific and Saudade is hypnotically slow, so this is entirely out of date, but I figured "Hell, the thing stands up as a piece of literature without the usual journalistic prop that is Relevance, so let's print the bugger!"...
If you tend to believe the stories that are about, then Frank Zappa lost $400.000 on the 1988 tour, but as he himself says, he's ended up with some of the most amazing tape he's ever heard. Very nearly all the gigs (with the exception of Helsinki, I believe) were recorded in wonderful digital octophonic, but as we've only got two ears, FZ will mix it down nicely to stereo. Naughty bootleg tapes exist of all 74 (?) gigs, so keep an eye open for them. The band was an astonishing array of talent, a 12-piece ensemble, including 5 horn players. I mean, who even tries to take a group that large out nowadays? FZ says his audience wanted MUSIC – boy, did they get it!
In October 1988, just 2-3 weeks before the US Presidential Election, FZ released "Broadway The Hard Way", his attempt to influence the odd undecided person in Kansas, & point them in the right direction. Floating Voter 0, George Bush 4 (years in the White House, that is). Maybe it didn't work, or maybe not enough people still had to make up their minds. Let's face it, Dukakis threw it all away, but we're getting off the subject in hand.
"Broadway The Hard Way" is Zappa's most commercial album in ages. It has to be – there's no synclavier work on it! It's also a splendid testament to the tour & the band. It combines the savage musicianship needed to keep FZ happy & the general lunacy that seemed to keep the band going. Hear FZ crack up onstage. It happened more on the 1988 tour than the previous three tours put together, & that's a fact. Well, maybe.
Those people who want FZ to (& I quote) "Shut Up & Play Yer
Guitar" will be disappointed, as he limits himself to one axe
excursion, on the lovely, tender & scathing "Any Kind Of Pain".
Those who know him for his (supposedly) sexist lyrics will also
be outraged – there aren't any. Dead rock stars (Presley) &
televangelists all take a hammering, as well as any Republican
that happened to be in the wings. Lyrically, it's devastating.
Very very acid but highly amusing. "Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk"
still shakes me onto the floor even though I know it backwards.
Stylistically, it covers the range. "Promiscuous" is Zappa goes
rap (please, no more, Frank, OK?), "Elvis Has Just Left The
Building" is fake country-rock. Obviously a lot of it sounds
like Zappa, but
wouldn't you be pissed off if it didn't?
Later (& hopefully soon) the "Broadway The Hard Way" LP will be expanded onto a double-CD with a further 8 or 9 cuts, including 'Stairway To Heaven", which should have many a Zep fan foaming at the mouth. It's a cracker! There should be a further double CD out some time, which is supposed to be based largely on one show, & from Europe at that. Don't wait for me to tell you about them. Order them now. And in big quantities!