Captiain Beefheart

I'm Sure most of you have not heard of Captian Beefheart. His real name is Don Van VIlet, and he lives in a tralier, somewhere in the desert. From The early 1960's, until 1982, when he left the music business, he created some of the weirdest music commercially avalible. His Noted masterpiece "Trout Mask Replica", has been cited as an Avant-Garde masterpiece. His music was like Howling Wolf Jamming with Frank Zappa. He was Actually a friend of Frank's, and they actually recorded an album together {Bongo Fury}. Beefheart is also a noted painter, and he continued to paint after he went on permanant music hiatus. Check out his later works, espically "Bat Chain Puller" and "Ice Cream For Crow", I recommend them both.

When Most people think of Electronic Music, they think of the modern-day DJ's and mixes, but I think of Bruce Haack. Bruce was born in 1931, and in the 1960's he started releasing his Weird music for children, which were produced on Very early Synthsthesiers. Bruce appeared on "Mr. Rodgers" and continued to make music until his death in 1988 from heart failure. The record above is one of his most famous, even though it never really was famous. Near-impossible to find, The record is avalible on an import cd from Japan. Don't bother even trying to look for the vinyl, I saw a copy for sale in a Music shop for 200$.

Weird disco music

The 70's were a time of weird music [and bad music]. Somehow, The singer Ethel Merman, who was very popular in the 40's and 50's, decided to release a disco album. There was one little problem with this, however. Ethels voice was not the disco kind of voice, and it made for one truly unusual album. Many other artists released disco music, Including Arthur Fiedler, Leader of the Boston Pops. Arthur always tried to get wit the hip generation, and also released lp's of Pyschedelic and Beatles music, not to mention T.V. themes. Just the cover ,with him in a disco suit boogieing down, makes this one priceless. The Ethel Disc has been Re-released on cd.

Beatle Barkers!

http://franklarosa.com/vinyl/BigImg/barkers.jpg

Following Ali's Wonderfuly Strange record, we have a Beatles album. Sounds Pretty normal, right! Wrong! This LP is Beatles songs, but being sung by dogs. I'm sure you didn't know that dogs liked the beatles, or that they could sing, but now you do. I find it amazing that people actually bought this, as It is not Quite easy listening material.

Ali Vs. Tooth Decay!

Ok, I could not resist this one. Ali is going to rid the world of tooth decay with Howard Cosell, Richie Havens, and Frank Sinatra, to name a few. I really wonder how the sessions for this one went, as it just seems too bizarre to be true. Ali must have convenced the stars that this would nice on their Resumes, because i'm sure none of them want to remember this one. The inside jacket to the LP features a cut-and-paste collage of all the stars, putting Tooth Decay in it's place. [Believe it or not, Ali actually contributed vocals to another benefit album, in the 80's]

September 21st, 2007



I thought I would start out with one of my favorite outsider musicans, Daniel Johnston. Bi-polar musican who makes truly beautiful music. Dan has been singing and recording since the late 70's. When he started releasing his Cassette Tapes in 1982, no one has heard of him. Now Sonic Youth, Pearl Jam, and Beck haven covered him. In 1984, Dan was working for a carnival, when he stumbled into the Austin, Tx music scene at the time. He Got his way onto a show called "The Cutting Edge" [MTV actually used to air it, before they cancelled it in 1987] and became a legend. He also started Believing in Satan and was Diganosed as Being Bi-polar. He started using Drugs [He is now clean] and he started getting violent. By 1987, he was on his meds and was invited into New York City by Steve Shelly, member of Sonic Youth. It was here he recorded his album "1990", which was his 1st formal album [By now, over a dozen cassettes has been released] It was in the city, though, where he got into some trouble, When he caught drawing the Jesus Fish on the Statue of Liberty. He was given a ticket to West Virginia [now living there with his parents], but he skipped his bus, and stayed in the city. he found residence in a shelter, and peformed the same night on CBGB's [how about that!]. By the time he got back, the members of Sonic Youth were glad to have him off their hands. In the late 80's he recorded a nalbum w/ Jad Fair. In 1992, Kurt Cobain started wearing a T-shirt w/ A drawing of Daniel's on it. Dan was then in a mental instution, and did't know that his shirt was seen by milions at the 1992 Mtv VIdeo Music Awards. Dan got a contract to Atlantic Records in '84, but the cd sold poorly. Dan's still recording & his art is sold for thousands around the world. A film "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" was released in 2004. It is a great movie.

September 21st, 2007

Hello! and welcome to my blog. The topic is outsider music. What is outsider music you may ask ? Music by mentally insane composers, found sounds, thrift store records, and any other sounds of the unusual.

Example : Fleetwood Mac is NOT outsider music. Daniel Johnston IS however.