I was unsure about whether I'd write a Zappa review on this blog, because the love and respect I have for the man and his musical vision is so pronounced that it can be hard, ney, impossible, to remove any bias. Oh well...
Picture the scene, it's the late eighties, Frank has assembeled a fresh band of virtuoso musicians and is touring once again, aided by a Synclavier synthesiser (a proper one, not one of those Casio keyboards). The political scene in the US has shifted heavily towards a theocracy, and with more corruption appearing in the news every day, Frank tours, with new material and old, always keeping an ear towards the news, always changing the music to reflect the reality of the time. This is Frank Zappa's farewell tour, this is one of three albums taken from his '88 tour. This is Broadway The hard Way!
Side 1 opens with Elvis Has Left the building, a mock religious theme with a soft-rock rhythm. reflecting southern state country rock. The trck features random and humerous sound effects emphasising it's inherent stupidity. As you can guess, this track is about Elvis residing up there in heaven, and features such a deliberately cheesy melody while lyrically tearing down the cult of Elvis and also absurd religious views. Next, Frank takes us to the Planet Of The Baritone Women, a satirical look at the powersuit wearing women of eighties pop music. This track reflects the unusual Broadway influence which encroached on Zappa's music during his Thing Fish project. Bobby Martin treats us to some fantastic vocal technique in true musical style. It can be seen as an anti-feminist track, but that is to ignore the contrived nature of that pop scene. This idea is followed through with Any Kind Of Pain, which features on the manufactured, powdered, puffed up glamour star, the young blonde who is there to look pretty and do nothing else. Again there is a distinct musical feel to this track, it is painfully eighties, yet Ike Willis' singing really carries it with a sense of soul. It features several Zappa music tropes such as short sections of staccato arps, a totally slick liquid guitar solo, and a band comfortable enough to play around. Frank often said that he thought this was the best, most capable band he'd toured with (despite an ongoing conflict between several members, which forced him to abandon the tour) and the tightness of the playing here really shows why. They are totally at ease, which allows Frank to play an amazing solo, totally at ease. Confinement Loaf, Stupidity, Sex, Drugs, all the Zappa lyrical motiffs make an appearance here, all we're missing out on is poodles!
Side 1 ends with Jesus Thinks your A Jerk, which is Zappa at his most playful, yet also most serious. A child-like southern psuedo-religious rock sound starts the track, describing the sauded activities of those at the top of the Republican party, the corruption and religious extremism which has made the party a very dangerous bunch, which has extra relevance now, with Mitt Romney's rather... discriminatory outlook to middle eastern politics. The playful tune of this track doesn't belittle the subjects covered, infact it helps emphasise the absurdity of the religious right, and the rather simplistic mentality that they possess. The track makes it's first shift, towards kinda lounge jazz whilst talking about guns and the NRA, and the hipocrasy it involves, before returning to the bouncing rhythm and some of the more disturbing lyrics Zappa has sung, the muisc merges into a 'Twilight Zone' section, whilst we're treated to a nice mini-lecture about Pat Robbertson's rather evil nature (I dislike the words good and evil, but really... the guy is fucking hideous!). and we get this lounge-jazz Twilight Zone style thing which reminds me of the music from The Starlight Zone from the first Sonic The Hedgehog game. The track gets rather eighties and uses the 'aspiration pop' cliches whilst talking about how bad it would be if Pat Robbertson got into power. We get this melody to end with, featuring Old Rugged Cross and the old Zappa stalwart, Louie Louie, before the Broadway style ending before the intermission (or changing of sides...). This track is Frank at his most preachey, however he is a beast and hits the nail on the head with every point mentioned. While musically, it lacks the complex hooks of other tracks, it maintains a great sound throughout and manages to tackle a disturbing subject matter with his usual lack of subtlety yet holds on throughout.
Zappa was well known for being at the cutting edge of current affairs, and able to always bring it into his music, though for some reason, Side 2 is the first appearance of a longstanding track, Dikie's Such An Asshole(sincerely Dick, we mean it), a live favourite since the early seventies! Not that it's a bad track by any means. We get some talking to start it off, and an explination of confinement loaf. Dickie's such an Asshole is not a bad song by any means, and features some of the complex runs and musical motiffs found in Zappa's earlier work, but adapted to suit the newer (much larger) band. Anyways it's about Richard Nixon (Tricky Dicky) and his rather controversial use of the FBI and related organisations. Just y'know, it's kinda at odds with the other material since it is not that contemporary(despite the appearance of confinement loaf), and so feels more dated. The guitar solo however is as razor sharp as usual, Zappa showing how to really let loose without being a technical virtuoso. The next track is When The Lie's So Big, another preachy track, yet one that I think really works despite being utterly eighties. Willis' soulful again really plays to the epic grand scope of the song/subject. Critiquing the Republican's and in particular, Pat Robertson, using the impressive brass section to really punctuate the points. This track covers America's transformation into a theocracy and the lies targeted towards the population. It also covers a few different musical ideas using them effectively as the lyrics dictate. Good track.
The preaching continues with Rhymin' Man, using an ol' southern musical twang to describe the Republicans, and the lies and scheming of the conservatives. Total conspiracy fun, whilst ending every point with different musical licks and ideas, allowing the fun of the music to come to the fore, and again show the absurdity of the situation. A nice quotation of The Knack's My Sharona helps keep a sense of rhythm and beat to propel the track towards the conclusion. The next track, Promiscuous describes the Republican's rather unintelligent view of sexuality and STI's such as AIDs, however it's done rather embarassly in this really naff rapping, which clearly lacks the energy of the masters such as NWA and Public Enemy. The idea of a CIA created illness to cull the African population however is thouroughly terrifying and would sound absurd if not backed up by official documents. The album ends with a cover of The Untouchables theme, with added lyrics about, you guessed it, Republicans. In particular their corruption and strange ways of doing things. Again it's one of the weaker tracks on the album but ends it with a listing of the exceptional band members.
It's a good album, about half the length of the CD release (which is a whole different beast and a dense package of so many musical ideas). Many people dislike Frank's late eighties work, but I think it works so well as a resurgence of his political venom which helped make him such a historic figure during the sixties. It's not a MUST HAVE, and by no means his best work, but difinately it's good and solid and has an actual purpose/meaning. A document of it's time for sure.
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