The album became a cult favorite, and Fischer went on to record more, though he struggled with mental health problems until his death in 2004. Zappa and the Mothers backed Fischer on “The Taster (Fancy Version),” while Zappa played all the instruments on “Circle” and produced the whole album. The result was the double album An Evening With Wild Man Fischer, released in April 1968 on Zappa’s Bizarre record label. Zappa was especially taken with Fischer and recorded him in late summer 1968 on the street, in the Zappa family basement, and at LA’s Sunset Sound studio. Solomon Burke discovered Fischer and took him on tour, giving him the nickname “Wild Man.” After more hospital stays, Fischer became a street performer on the Sunset Strip, and word of his unique a cappella songs spread. A year later, he was released and began performing in local talent shows. His bipolar disorder, auditory hallucinations, paranoid schizophrenia, and manic depression led to behavioral problems, and he was committed to a public psychiatric hospital in 1963. Larry Fischer was a singer-songwriter who led a difficult life. The pair surely had their differences, but they were put aside when Van Vliet heard about Zappa’s prostate diagnosis, after which the two counter-cultural icons would share a weekly phone call, playing records they’d loved as teenagers down the line to one another. Beefheart can be found on numerous Zappa albums – notably “Willie The Pimp” ( Hot Rats, 1969) and Bongo Fury, the live album documenting the Spring 1975 tour that saw Beefheart join the Mothers on stage. Zappa produced Beefheart’s wild masterpiece, 1969’s Trout Mask Replica, and released it on his own label, Straight Records. ‘Harold And Maude’: How Yusuf/Cat Stevens Soundtracked A Cult Classic. Best Christmas Soundtracks: 25 Essential Films For The Holidays.How Disney’s ‘Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs’ Changed Cinema.The pair made their first musical steps together in the late 50s and their careers were intertwined from that point on. Captain Beefheartįrank Zappa and Captain Beefheart (or Don Van Vliet, as he was known back then) met when they were both attending Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, California. Listen to the best of Frank Zappa on Apple Music and Spotify. Here we take a look at some of Zappa’s most significant non-Mothers musical meetings. Though many musical greats passed through the ranks of Frank Zappa’s ever-shifting backing bands (Lowell George, George Duke, and Don Preston to name just a few), the musical maverick also collaborated with a staggering array of musical talent, from outsider artists to soul divas.
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