"From Straight To Bizarre" : Zappa, Beefheart, Alice Cooper and LA's Lunatic Fringe", will be released on DVD, February 21, 2012, including rare footage, archive interviews, location shoots, "...and the music that made it all worthwhile..." :
"...in 1968, musician Frank Zappa, desperate to remove himself from his original deal with Verve Records, set up the Bizarre and Straight labels with manager Herb Cohen.
"Records by Zappa with his 'Mothers of Invention' band would rub shoulders in the label's racks with releases by Wild Man Fischer, the all female 'GTOs', acapella gospel collective 'The Persuasions', the first clutch of 'Alice Cooper' records, Tim Buckley's 'Starsailor', live recordings by Lenny Bruce and 'Lord Buckley' and a whole lot more.
"Records by Zappa with his 'Mothers of Invention' band would rub shoulders in the label's racks with releases by Wild Man Fischer, the all female 'GTOs', acapella gospel collective 'The Persuasions', the first clutch of 'Alice Cooper' records, Tim Buckley's 'Starsailor', live recordings by Lenny Bruce and 'Lord Buckley' and a whole lot more.
"But it would be a 1969 release by the Don Van Vliet aka 'Captain Beefheart', that would provide the 'art-statement' for which the Bizarre/Straight enterprise is remembered best, and which remains to this day the pinnacle of achievement, with 'Trout Mask Replica'..."
The new DVD contains exclusive interviews with Pamela Des Barres, John French, Jerry Lawson, Jeff Simmons, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith, Essra Mohawk, Miss Mercy, Kim Fowley and Bill Harkleroad, as well as authors Ben Watson, Barry Miles, Mark Paytress, Billy James and Ritchie Unterberger.
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