Customer Reviews

Hi-Fi's & Hi-Balls: The Golden Age of the American Bachelor

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This super cool little book is full of the coolest vintage "guy stuff"! Man, I wish life was still that GONE! This book will have any normal,red-blooded hipster lookin' for a time machine so he can get his but back to the crazy days of cocktails and girl chasin'! Oh lord how the 2000's seem like they are gonna be LAME compared to those wild days. Please get me out of here and back to the NORMAL, techno music free past...PLEASE!

One can go through the entire book first only absorbing the pictures, and then once again to get the stories behind the culture. I am a post-modern graphic design major, and found this book invaluable in studying this by-gone, but needs-to-be-ressurected era.

Extremely thin in both observation and inspiration, this celebration of the '60's bachelor male is like an extended booklet for one of the CD's in the Ultra-Lounge catalogue. Colorful, yes, and initially fun, but leaving no lasting impressions. I liked the paperback book covers, the hip records, the naughty napkins, but the book falls short on exploring drinks and music--which should've been the focus of the piece. Instead, we get a tiki section (with grass skirt ads!) and a chapter on the Beatnik movement. Bachelors in the 1960's were self-appointed suburban kings, not pot-smoking guys in berets who listened to Lenny Bruce (those were KIDS, not bachelor men). Therefore, the bongos and the hippies are just wasted space in what should've been a much more precise and engaging look at a specific genre.

This book looks great and has tons of photos- it is an enjoyable collection of eye candy. Do not expect any new info from this one. The text describes what the author might imagine this time was like, instead of alowing the reader to draw their own conclusions.