Vintage Albums, LPs, Records

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by ZapBrannigan, Dec 11, 2013.

  1. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    THE TRANSFORMED MAN is a cultural landmark in Shatner history. Over the years, some people have debated whether Bill was trying to be campy or not. If you read the 1968 liner notes with his extensive comments, it's plain that he was serious.

    And a lot of Star Trek fans took the album seriously right through 1970s, on its own terms as a daring artistic creation. If you were a young person who hadn't been exposed to much actual highbrow material, this was high culture from a top theatrical artist. It was pretty cool. And it still bears listening, no matter how much we and the world have changed.

    When fans got more cynical and "hip" around the '80s and Shatner found that people were laughing at the album, he obviously rolled with the punches as a secure, well-adjusted performer. It might even have been a nudge toward his big turn to comedy.

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    Comic Book Guy still rates it among the best albums ever. So how bad can it be?

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    Leonard Nimoy mixed a little humor into his albums deliberately, but he was serious about his singing voice. He put out a surprising number of LPs. I have the Varese CD of Mr. Spock's Music that has bonus tracks from The Two Sides LP.

    While this material is worlds away from Shatner's album, it too is quite good. The instrumentals have to be taken as very '60s vintage, very hipster, rather than very dated, but give him that and you're off and running.

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    DeForest Kelley's LP was so unknown to me that when I learned of its existence, I wondered if it was an Internet mockup. A lot of fake LP covers get created in Photoshop. But this is real. I just haven't heard it. Anybody?

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  2. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I kind of like Nimoy's "Cotton Candy," with that high bassoon countermelody. A song written by one of the Star Trek cameramen. :wtf:

    According to this, the Kelley album is a fake.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2013
  3. Ssosmcin

    Ssosmcin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Come on, the Theme from Mannix?! That alone made me laugh my ass off. Yeah, she's a fake. but a brilliant one.
     
  4. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'd like to hear him make "Just an Old-Fashioned Love Song" come down in three-part harmony. Bet it really would come down.

    "Battle Hymn of the Republic (spoken)" seems like an homage to Nimoy's spoken final verse of "If I Had a Hammer" backed with the strains of "America the Beautiful."
     
  5. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    "It's a faaaaake."

    The front photo is culled from an old clothing ad with De and Bill. Also. look at the "spine" on the first photo with it's mock perspective. It's a pretty unconvincing 'shop job.
     
  6. 1001001

    1001001 Serial Canon Violator Moderator

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    "Damnit, Jim! I'm a doctor, not a singer!"

    :lol:



    Sorry...

    :shrug:
     
  7. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The Kelley mockup fooled me, alright. I should have listened to my first instinct, that such a thing could not have escaped my notice for so long if it were real.

    And I should have looked more closely at the back cover. CD editions never say Side One and Side Two. And if you look closely, Side Two alone runs over half an hour. I really should have caught that.

    I also briefly thought the Leonard Nimoy Butterscotch Kisses LP was real, and I was very dismayed by its crappy title. The trouble is, I saw these things in image searches with no context. And Nimoy put out so many LPs, who could say he didn't do one more?
     
  8. bbailey861

    bbailey861 Admiral Admiral

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    Ditto, ditto, and ditto. Still, I had a really good chuckle at this one!
     
  9. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    One thing I would say about The Transformed Man is that I wish the opposing pairs of songs had been presented as separate tracks rather than welded together. I think the LP producer was trying too hard to force us into a pre-set, engineered listening experience. You can cut it up yourself, but you shouldn't have to.
     
  10. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, to be fair, it was that heady age when the concept album was the latest thing and Sergeant Pepper had just wowed everybody with the tracks all running together. They were trying to make the album an artistic unit because that was the hip thing to do.

    It certainly worked for Bill ("the thrill I got from hearing this album all the way through was deeper and more satisfying than anything I had ever experienced") Shatner. (I'm sure his wife was happy to read that remark.) :p
     
  11. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    You'd have thought a record album would make for a better fake.

    I can see you falling for it though just because the notion of such an album is so awesome as to cloud judgment. I'd love to hear it if it were real.
     
  12. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    And the Nimoy pull-quote reads like a Nimoy quote. That's what really fooled me.
     
  13. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That was the whole point. For most self-respecting musical artists back then, the album was considered an art form of its own, not just a collection of songs. You were supposed to sit down and listen to the sides all the way through. Track arrangement, lead-ins and -outs, and run-on tracks were all given consideration by the artist, and that's how they wanted you to listen to it.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2013
  14. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Add me in as someone who was momentarily fooled, but then, who wouldn't like the prospect of De's efforts at a contemporary music album?
     
  15. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Track sequencing is still an art form. It's sad to see that disappearing.

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  16. Push The Button

    Push The Button Commodore Commodore

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    Was Kelley's "cover" photo shot out at Vasquez Rocks?

    Even more difficult to find nowadays is James Doohan's 1969 album, "Songs a Drinkin' n Fightin'"
     
  17. Gov Kodos

    Gov Kodos Admiral Admiral

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  18. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Looks like it, doesn't it?
     
  19. Stompy

    Stompy Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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  20. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I count five, not including reissues. So, um, no.