This Zappa record is what "On the Corner" is to Miles Davis.

"The Radio is Broken" is probably the stupidest, funniest and weirdest song Frank Zappa ever wrote. It is "Call any Vegetable" (from Absolutely Free) with Steve Vai on guitar.

"The Radio Is Broken" contains one of the most insanely difficult electric guitar parts Frank ever convinced Steve Vai to play, which Steve plays to the death. But word: the insanely difficult guitar parts steve plays also groove.

Moggio is an incredible song, again showing Frank Zappa and Steve Vai developing a musical language together that only they could deal with. Very difficult music, ala the Black Page, that also swings like a Cab Calloway rave-up song.

The two spoken word songs, The Dangerous Kitchen and the Jazz Discharge Party Hats, were created by Steve Vai listening to live tapes of Frank doing bizarro spoken word Sinatra pieces over drums and bass and then doubling the exact phrases and pitch of Frank's vocals on acoustic guitar. This creates a sound, according to Steve, "like George Benson from Venus."

Is this an IMPORTANT Frank Zappa album? No, nor does it appear meant to be. Frank knew the stuff on this record was so weird and offensive that nobody normal would like it so he just made it even weirder to have fun. But it is probably the best showcase for Steve Vai's playing with Frank.

Because the songs are so weird and so uncommercial, even to Zappa fans, I have always liked it. During this period, Frank did not have a clue how to construct a normal LP of music, since his taste in music was going once again completely over the edge, so he just took what he had made recently and mushed it all together, Ed Wood style.

The Man From Utopia is a freak show with none of the bizarre edges sanded down. The production is incredibly good. The weird mutation of two 1950s doo-wop songs also covered by Bob Seger at about the same time ("The Man From Utopia meets Mary Lou") further heightens the goofiness.

Those who believe FZ's albums decreased in quality and enjoyment as the 80's progressed need to re-listen to this 1983 release.

"The Man From Utopia" is even better than the previous year's "Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch". To begin, the album-cover artwork on this album is much more appealing and clever than the primitive artwork on "...Drowning Witch" (which is the 2nd worst album cover of all of FZ's albums; the #1 place for rotten artwork goes to the "Filmore East 1971" album).

The fact that the All Music Guide rated this FZ's worst official album (2/5 stars) baffles me. The album begins with 2 fantastic songs:

1. "Cocaine Decisions" is about the cocaine fad among yuppies of the 80's that is still a powerful anti-drug song.

2. "Sex" may seem a bit juvenile with its lyrics but it is so catchy and fun to listen to. Its chorus "the bigger the cushin' the better the pushin'" was almost stolen word-for-word by Spinal Tap a year later for their song "Big Bottom."

The next gem on the album is "The Dangerous Kitchen" - with its frightening background music and lyrics about how one's dity kitchen can harm them if they are not careful. PLAY THIS ON YOUR I-POD AT 3AM WHILE YOU'RE WALKING TO THE KITCHEN FOR A LATE-NIGHT SNACK...I DARE YA!!!

In "Stick Together", FZ exposes how Unions are not the perfect organizations they pretend to be. "The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou" is an old medley of two oldies tunes that is reminiscent of the songs from the "Cruising With Ruben & The Jets" album...in other words, a real treat.

With these 5 tunes and the rest in between, how can you go wrong if you're an FZ fan??? Maybe you won't like it if you only like Zappa's complex musical compositions and not his semi-raunchy but always amusing lyrics to go with the music. I like it all.

Of course, I didn't start out that way but his music grew on me.

A lot of fun must have been had in the making of this album, which is a bit freer than Zappa's previous album "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch," but regardless a lot of work has been put into it.
In the sense of humor and lyrical topics, this is the most "stupid" album I believe Zappa has ever recorded, but that stupidity is unusually funny in combination with superb musical performances like these.
"Cocaine Decisions" is a piano and harmonica dominated rock song with an 8th-note based bass line and a lyric that speaks out against drugs, and "SEX" is a heavily laid back rock song with an obvious lyrical topic.
"Tink Walks Amok" should be of great interest to bass players; a tune played in various odd-time signatures on drums, percussion, electric bass and piccolo bass.
"The Radio is Broken" is a very FZ-ish "homage" to old "cheap" science fiction movies and their stars (Richard Basehart, John Agar, Jackie Coogan...). Various styles of music is performed in this song (odd-time fusion/jazz/rock/reggae,) the "melody" is intentionally as out-of key as possible, and for me this is a ROTFL case, as is "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats" (recorded live,) where Zappa improvises both lyrics and melody to an up-tempo accompaniment of double-bass driven jazz. The vocal melodies to the above mentioned song and "The Dangerous Kitchen" have been transcribed and over-dubbed on guitar by Steve Vai - the result is so accurate it's uncanny!
"We Are Not Alone" is an instrumental tune with a baritone sax melody, "The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou" is a medley of piano-dominated bluesy rock covers, "Stick Together" is pure reggae, "Luigi & The Wise Guys" is pure doo-wop, and "Moggio" is an amazingly well performed catchy instrumental odd-time composition - there's just so much different stuff here that there's got to be something of interest for everyone.
TMFU is the most entertaining FZ album of the 80's; it's a different album with highly amusing songs, and its overall sound is very clear.

Yes, the 3 instrumentals on this album are pretty damn good, but this is the album which contains the story of the Jazz Discharge Party Hats done in Zappa's famous "meltdown" lyrical style. What can I say-it's some good old-fashioned, offensive, Zappa-style humor!

This is actually a average Zappa album since it has a few tracks I think of as filler;if the lesser tracks had been better this would have been one of the great ones. It is pretty varied in style with rock, meltdown, and jazz mixed in it. Now for a track by track review.

Cocaine Decision - Very funny and grooving track about the blindness of cocaine users (mostly aimed at yuppies) 8/10

Sex - Yet another Zappa track about, you guessed it, sex. The central message is that everyone does it and that ironing board-like woman are no fun - love the chorus. But the song is quite average. 7/10

Tink Walks Amok - Great instrumental work by Arthur ''Tink'' Barrow 10/10

The Radio Is Broken - First meltdown track on this album - very funny with great musicianship by all of the band it is an homage to black and white sci-fi B movies. You can hear the backup singer laughing as Zappa improvises the lyrics (the blobulent suit). 10/10

We Are Not Alone - Another great instrumental 10/10

The Dangerous Kitchen - Another meltdown track funny and disgusting. 8/10

The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou - A cover of two classic jazz song, well done and entertaining. But not very Zappa-like. 6/10

Stick Together - Reggae style song about unions - not very good I skip it every time. 4/10

The Jazz Discharge Party Hats - The last meltdown song and the one I like the least, less zany and less entertaining than the other two but still good. 6/10

Luigi And The Wise Guys - Another doo-wop parody by Zappa but not very good, those who like this track should check out Freak Out. 4/10

Moggio- Another great instrumental. 10/10

Due to the meltdown songs this album is not for everyone(it really has no commercial potential) and should be approached by true Zappaphiles. For myself I bought the album after having heard Dangerous Kitchen and I think it is worth having only for that track and for The Radio Is Broken whi is one of my favorite Zappa tracks ever.