Most people know William Shatner for his iconic role as James T. Kirk, the Captain of the USS Enterprise on the 1960s TV series Star Trek (and its subsequent movies). The actor went on in the 1980s to popularize the title character on TV’s TJ Hooker and today he’s a favorite on the show Boston Legal, where he plays law firm partner Denny Crane. Oh, and let’s not forget his most-seen persona as The Priceline Negotiator in the Priceline commercials.
While everyone knows William Shatner the actor, how many people are familiar with William Shatner the music artist? I’m guessing not many. Now’s your chance to check it out, because Amazon’s MP3 album deal of the day is William Shatner’s The Transformed Man for only 99 cents (discounted price is for today only).
The Transformed Man, released in 1968, was Shatner’s first foray into music and contains six tracks of the actor performing spoken word versions of some popular tunes of the time like The Beatles’ “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Most of the songs are accompanied by dramatic (and … I … mean … dramatic) readings from the works of William Shakespeare against psychedelic orchestrations and definitely what sounds like the Star Trek television series soundtrack. Shatner took the opportunity to juxtapose classic literature with modern-day poetic lyrics, and til this day, stands by this experimental endeavor.
No, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke, this album exists and I’m guessing Amazon has a sense of humor spotlighting this album today, as the songs of the The Transformed Man have been mocked far and wide. Nearly everyone I know that listens to it for the first time a) thinks it’s supposed to be a joke, and b) goes on to laugh about it for hours. But Shatner was serious when he made this record, so if you’re a fan of the Shat (as I surely am, I already own this album), you’ll want to check it out.
It’s … a great … deal!
Comment by LobeFace — April 1, 2009 @ 10:06 am
This is a hilarious album, but a better deal would be Spaced Out, which is the best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. Brilliant stuff. (If you are really drunk/stoned/out of you mind in general….)
His album Has Been from a few years ago is actually a very good record.
Comment by Jeff R Hall — April 1, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
@Jeff R Hall
Agreed! My wife gave me Has Been as a present when it came out and it’s been in my car ever since. I’m a big fan of the Shatner/Ben Folds musical collaborations.
Comment by Dave3 — April 1, 2009 @ 12:51 pm