One of the true wackos of our time, Los Angeles crypto-singer Wild Man (Larry) Fischer has been around forever. Originally discovered, signed and produced by Frank Zappa in the late ’60s, he resurfaces periodically through the auspices of Dr. Demento and Rhino Records (for whom he once recorded the crypto-commercial “Go to Rhino Records”). Utterly uninhibited and basically incapable of carrying a tune, Fischer recorded some of Wildmania (the Rhino label’s first-ever album release) in the left field (ahem) stands of Dodger Stadium; largely unaccompanied, he moans such dadaist attempts at musical expression as “My Name Is Larry” (twice) and generally performs in truly sad fashion. Pronounced Normal is much better, an entertaining and funny program of music and “skits” that ranges from a lovely (if atonal) guitar-assisted version of Brian Wilson’s “In My Room” to a solo vocal rendition of “Fish Heads,” composed (as is much of the material) by Barnes & Barnes, the disciples who also produced it.
They did the same (and more) for Nothing Scary, an assemblage of three years’ worth of odds and ends. The LP contains 34 separate items (e.g., “Outside the Hospital,” “Larry in Las Vegas,” “Oh God, Please Send Me a Kid”), with Fischer’s vocals recorded, besides in a studio, “on location in a park, in a tunnel, and over the telephone.”