Broadway The Hard Way - Frank Zappa > Reviews > Just how talented can one guy be

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	Another Classic Zappa performance
Disadvantages:	The tracks that didn't fit on the CD

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Zappa. The name on a CD case should be considered a guarantee of the quality of content inside.
Since discovering Frank's work through collecting everything his one-time guitarist Steve Vai's work; Zappa now hold a place in my opinion as the finest musician/composer/social commentator of the 20th Century.
And this album, made up of live recordings from the 1988 world tour, is one of his finest hours. Zappa has a righteous dig at a great many groups on the songs contained here; most notably the US government of the time ("Sincerely Ron, we mean it!").
However the delivery of the the messages is not a rant, more a collection of finely crafted music with appropriate social commentary over the top.
Play "Any Kind of Pain" to many sections of the entertainment industry and the would love it - and most probably completely miss the pop it takes at them. The musical interjections of other pieces within "Rhymin Man" show just how tight a live band can be....when you consider the players performing: Wackerman, Keneally, Thunes, Martin, Willis etc etc...its hardly surprising how the sound knocks you out.
A guest appearance by (mr!) Sting performing "Murder by Numbers" tops things off...

In short....buy it...but then I wold say buy the whole FZ back catalogue (I'm just over halfway there!)

Pete