Hollywood Hi-Fi: Over 100 of the Most Outrageous Celebrity Recordings Ever! [Paperback]

George Gimarc (Author), Pat Reeder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996

What do Danny Bonaduce, Hugh Downs, and Clint Eastwood have in common? Recording contracts. Authors George Gimarc and Pat Reeder pull out of the closet some of the most absurd, heart-felt, ego-driven, embarrassing records by Hollywood's biggest stars. This is a hilarious guided tour through the halls of terrible moments in celebrity recordings, with reviews of some of the most dubious singing debuts ever launched. Illustrated.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

No greater testimonies to the arrogance of stardom exist than celebrity recordings--records by ego-driven, tone-deaf performers who think that just because they can act, they can also sing. The mere concepts of these recordings--Robert Mitchum's calypso album, Jack Webb's renditions of love songs, a hymn from Boris Karloff, Hogan's Heroes Sing the Best of World War II, etc.--are often sufficient to induce hilarity. Happily, these coveted collectors' items almost invariably prove embarrassing, too, and sources of schadenfreude for the general public. Gimarc and Reeder, who genuinely love this stuff, skewer the artistic pretensions behind most of it (the chapter on records by the stars of Star Trek is, not unexpectedly, particularly vicious--and hilarious). Still, not all celeb records are dogs: Gimarc and Reeder have kind words for efforts by George Burns, Anthony Perkins, and others, and just to be fair, they also list "singers who shouldn't act," from Tony Bennett to Madonna. The camp lovers who go for lousy movies and other outstandingly bad pop culture products will love this book. Gordon Flagg

Product Details

• Paperback: 126 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312143567
• ISBN-13: 978-0312143565
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,202,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars If you're like BAD music, this helps you pick targets, January 23, 2012

By 

The Imperator - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hollywood Hi-Fi: Over 100 of the Most Outrageous Celebrity Recordings Ever! (Paperback)

As the other reviewer noted, there are some editing glitches, but for $10, well worth the money for the discography information. A friend of mine turned me onto glorious tripe music (A Hugo & Luigi Roulette 45, "Rockabilly Party") that started me, and, o'course, the FOUR Rhino Bros.' GOLDEN THROATS comps, which corrupted me sliding down, down, down into the audio septic tank hearing David Hasselhoff, Telly Savalas, Nimoy, and Shatner's music (muse-ick?), and more. This nifty little 125 page booklet packs a lot of information, and dare I say the listing for Robert Mitchum's 1957 Calypso Capitol album alone is worth the price of the book. Think Mitchum going head-to-head with all those Harry Belafonte folk (er, Belafonte? Folk? New York studio orchestras make folk music???) RCA albums. There's so much more!

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth it for $.01 but missing pages, June 6, 2011

By 

S. G. Adler "Pagan Baby" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hollywood Hi-Fi: Over 100 of the Most Outrageous Celebrity Recordings Ever! (Paperback)

This is a very funny book. But several of the writeups end mid-sentence. Not sure what happened in production. Still, worth reading. Don't know if the companion LP is available anywhere, but I'm about to start looking around.