frank zappa / albums

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- Broadway the Hard Way
- - 14,403 plays
  - 4 favs
  - 1 shares
Frank Zappa
Released 1988

Elvis Has Just Left the Building
02:24
961 plays

Why Don't You Like Me?
02:57
905 plays

Planet of the Baritone Women
02:48
893 plays

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songs

- 1
- Elvis Has Just Left the Building
- 02:24
- 961 plays

- 2
- Planet of the Baritone Women
- 02:48
- 893 plays

- 3
- Any Kind of Pain
- 05:42
- 1,049 plays

- 4
- Dickie's Such an Asshole
- 05:45
- 800 plays

- 5
- When the Lie's So Big
- 03:38
- 784 plays

- 6
- Rhymin' Man
- 03:50
- 810 plays

- 7
- Promiscuous
- 02:02
- 880 plays

- 8
- The Untouchables
- 02:26
- 770 plays

- 9
- Why Don't You Like Me?
- 02:57
- 905 plays

- 10
- Bacon Fat
- 01:29
- 722 plays

- 11
- Stolen Moments
- 02:57
- 800 plays

- 12
- Murder by Numbers
- 05:37
- 1,116 plays

- 13
- Jezebel Boy
- 02:27
- 726 plays

- 14
- Outside Now
- 07:49
- 699 plays

- 15
- Hot Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel
- 06:40
- 874 plays

- 16
- What Kind of Girl?
- 03:17
- 630 plays

- 17
- Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk
- 09:15
- 1,249 plays

album review

The first live album compiled from various performances on Frank Zappa's 1988 world tour (his final outing), Broadway the Hard Way is composed mostly of new, vocal-oriented material. The tone throughout is highly political, with Zappa taking potshots at such targets as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Pat Robertson and other televangelists, Jesse Jackson, C. Everett Koop, and so on. Despite Zappa's well-deserved reputation as an acute satirist, his sarcasm is often surprisingly humorless here, leaning toward didacticism; his choice to name names and address his subjects explicitly, rather than through metaphor, also renders the album instantly dated, almost like a late-'80s standup comedy routine. Despite these flaws, many of Zappa's political observations hit the mark, as do some of the jokes, easily making Broadway the Hard Way one of his best and most intellectually stimulating post-'60s political efforts. The CD features a memorable guest appearance from Sting, singing his Jimmy Swaggart-condemned Police tune "Murder by Numbers." ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide