Fuel-Injected Dreams

by James Robert Baker

Here is the cult classic whose central character is based on the legend of Phil Spector. So there’s this record producer Dennis Contrelle who was huge in the early 1960s, creating epic trash masterpieces from girl groups and surf bands, a veritable Wagner of pop, but he retired at the end of the decade and disappeared into his mansion of tack somewhere in L.A. He’s still there, still married to the singer with his biggest group, a woman effectively held prisoner by the drug-damaged Svengali who can’t let her go ... But “This novel is a work of fiction ... any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.” Our narrator is a hip late-night DJ, Scott Cochrane, who grew up on the music of Dennis Contrelle, and had a teenage crush on Sharlene, the singer for the Stingrays, whose classic ’60s pop album, Fuel Injected Dreams, is tied up in his mind with his first girlfriend, Cheryl, who mysteriously disappeared the summer of the album’s release. When the DJ belittles one of his tunes, the producer phones in a complaint, and Cochrane is soon lured into the Contrelles’ world of sadomasochistic sexual intrigue.

Genres: Fiction, Music

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[D'Ailleurs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Καλογραμμένο neo-noir που τοποθετείται στην Αμερική την εποχή της γιγάντωσης της μουσικής βιομηχανίας. Υποτίθεται ότι ο Ντένις είναι βασισμένος στο θρυλικό παραγωγό Φίλ Σπέκτορ και την γυναίκα του Ρόνι αν και νομίζω ότι η συγκεκριμένη ιστορία δεν είναι ιδιαίτερα γνωστή στο Ελληνικό κοινό ώστε να αποτελέσει πόλο έλξης. Μπορώ να πω ότι μου άρεσε αρκετά παρόλο που η μετάφραση δεν είναι η καλύτερη δυνατή. Έχει αρκετές επιρροές από Έλροϋ καθώς και μια διάχυτη σαπίλα που μου θύμισε τον Μπρέντ Ίστον Έλλις. Ωραίο και διασκεδαστικό βιβλιο που θα είχε καλύτερη τύχη αν έβγαινε τώρα σε πιο προσεγμένη έκδοση (νομίζω ότι ο Αίολος έχει τα δικαιώματα των εκδόσεων Aquarius οπότε θα μπορούσε να το ξαναβγάλει)....

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nutty book about a reclusive has-been record producer who bullies his captive ex-rock singer wife in their mansion. Just when you think someone's written a crime book based on the Phil Spector-Ronnie Spector marriage it takes an Ellroy-type turn of gooey perversion that will drive you crazy. I don't know if this book is still available, but get it if you can. It's serious trash, and I loved it!

[Jay Fitzloff · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was stranded in London for a year with little access to television, I read a hell of a lot. Pretty much every weekend, myself and my three roommates would go to this open-air book market and buy/trade new reads. Fuel-Injected Dreams is by far the best thing we ever found. It starts off as a stereotypical and cheesy '80s California tale about a girl and a convertible, and quickly shifts into one of the craziest stories of all time. There's a scene at the end involving meat that will blow your mind, I guarantee. I usually end up re-reading it every couple years because it's the only book that made me desperately wish I had written it.

[🐴 🍖]

yee haw. as lurid as you think this might be it's like a good 15-20% lurid-er. also accomplishes sth vanishingly rare in that it describes fictional pieces of music in a way that actually makes you want to hear them; wish we had a numero reissue of "tidal wave of flame" on the way. my quibble here is tough to address without spoilers, but: midway thru the book something severely momentum-killing appears to happen & it's like 40pp before you discover that it didn't happen. so brace yourself for that i guess. funny resonances w/ blue velvet coming out in the same year...

[Katerina Trichia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Κατηγορία: ΜΗΝ ΕΙΣΑΙ ΤΕΜΠΕΛΑ, ΝΑΤΑΣΑ ΣΥΡΕΓΓΕΛΑ aka Πολύ κακή μετάφραση

[Warren Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my third James Robert Baker novel (after Adrenaline and Testosterone), and I was surprised to find it centered around a straight man.

A radio DJ with a firmly bachelor lifestyle gets involved with a thinly veiled facsimile of Phil Spector, and falls in love with the producer's imprisoned wife. But the past holds a very dark key, and it tears everyone's lives apart.

Baker spins a fast-paced story from very familiar elements. It takes place around Los Angeles, like the other two books I've read, and is chock full of pop culture references spouted at a lightning pace, laced with the kind of acidic wit and systemic disenchantment for which I love Baker's writing. When Baker gets on a roll, he has that feverish zest for language that excited me about Henry Miller in my early 20's.

[Ebenmaessiger · Rating 2 out of 5]

the brat pack write the scuzziest american graffiti. starts with promise, like a trump sky alpha for the 80s, and then rapidly devolves, as it becomes clear that baker is not playing with form so much as failing to match any.

[Nick Melloan-ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow truly wild loved it

[Kendra Kobler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was crazy in the best possible way.

[Victor Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Descubrir las novelas del malogrado James Robert Baker estás siendo una experiencia maravillosa. Aunque no supera a "Boy Wonder" (estoy empezando a ver que eso es imposible), su segunda novela es una excelente mezcla de thriller sucio y violento y sátira postmoderna sobre la figura de un sosias de Phil Spector. Muy intensa y entretenida.

[Steve Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the life of record producer Phil Spector, this book takes you on a pretty wild journey into the life of someone who went from fame to isolation from society. It is chalk full of sex, music culture, and some eccentric personalities.

[Ian Towey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ferocious read, superb. Has one of the most electrifying and pathetic characetrs- Dennis Contrelle. Funny, intense and grisly.