Pass The Ham, Listen Hard, Laugh Well

Add serious actors (Sebastian Cabot, William Shatner, Jack Webb) performing works of serious writers (Lennon-McCartney, Dylan, Stevie Wonder) and you get this mind-blowing collection of horribly sung, pretentious mush. Cabot's spoken rendition of "It Ain't Me Babe" is hilarious, urban spaceman Shatner's "Mr. Tamborine Man" is a riot; Jack Webb's "Try A Little Tenderness" is the polar opposite of either Otis Redding's or even Three Dog Night's versions.

This collection is only exceeded by "Golden Throats 2," its sequel. That album features a parody cover of the Stones "Satanic Majesties Request," and anti-classics "Hey Jude" (by Bing Crosby), "Dixie Chicken" (by Jack Jones), and "Give Peace a Chance" (by Mitch Miller & The Gang in an unbelievable performance.) Fact is, if any of these performances tried to be this bad recording this material, these albums would be nowhere near the camp classics they are.

Adam Sandler, eat your heart out.

Anyone who thinks Adam Sandler's (totally overrated) CDs are the funniest you can get, think twice. Not even "Pat Boone in a Metal Mood" can top the hilarity generated by this collection of ... are there words to describe it? Celebrities try their hands at rock classics. UNTALENTED celebrities, I might add. Great actors, bad singers. Normally, bad singing makes me wanna puke and run away. This CD redefines "so bad it's good".

I am the worst music critic out there. Seriously. If Prozzak sang Beach Boys I probably wouldn't notice the difference. But this, this is just something else. It's funny beyond description (so there probably won't be a lot of people who thought this was helpful :-)). Listening to Leonard Nimoy blandly sing "Proud Mary" (hey, Vulcans have no emotions, what do you expect?) will definatley get more than a laugh. Sebastian Cabot has NO idea how to go about singing, he barely sings at all. Shatner REALLY overdoes "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (there's a subtle punishment for naughty children) and Andy Griffith crones away "House of the Rising Sun".

The singers constantly sing the wrong lyrics (example: "I Can See For Miles: There's magic in your eyes- isn't that in MY eyes? If she has the magic- that makes no sense! Randall totally screws up a Who classic!) and sing out of tune and key. Often the tunes are updated slightly (and sometimes more than slightly) for the modern era, which wrecks them completely. These guys deserve to be whipped by John Lennon and Bob Dylan- but the guys who collected these songs deserve millions of dollars.

Also recommended: "Spaced Out" by Bill Shatner and Leo Nimoy, as well as "In a Metal Mood" by Pat Boone.

Sing your fool head off!

This album has become surprisingly influential. It was the first album to feature celebrities singing badly. I remember the first time I heard it; I laughed my head off. It spawned three sequels and several imitations. Hey, it even helped revive William Shatner's career! Of course, Shatner's unforgetable renditions of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" are the highlights here, but there's much more. Shatner's first mate, Leonard Nimoy, who was the most prolific actor/vocalist (five albums!), has two amazing contributions here. Everybody's favorite butler, Sebastian Cabot, has two songs from his spoken word album where he overacts Bob Dylan lyrics. Speaking of overacting Bob Dylan songs, you should here what Eddie "Green Acres" Albert does to "Blowin' in the Wind". Jack Webb recites "Try a Little Tenderness" in his best Joe Friday monotone. I could go on and on, but I will get to the point and say that "this album is hilarious". I highly recommend this album to anyone who likes funny music.