Vintage Albums, LPs, Records

[ZapBrannigan]

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.

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

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.

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?

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

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

According to this, the Kelley album is a fake.

 

[Ssosmcin]

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

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

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."

 

[Maurice]

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?

"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.

 

[1001001]

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?

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





Sorry...

 

[ZapBrannigan]

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?

 

[bbailey861]

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?

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

 

[ZapBrannigan]

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.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

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.

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.)

 

[Mr. Adventure]

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.

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.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

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.

And the Nimoy pull-quote reads like a Nimoy quote. That's what really fooled me.

 

[J.T.B.]

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.

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.

 

[Amaris]

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.

And the Nimoy pull-quote reads like a Nimoy quote. That's what really fooled me.

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?

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

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.

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

Nimoy had one or two songs AS Spock one on album. If only Kelley sang just ONE song as McCoy and made the song about Spock.....it would've been glorious.

 

[Push The Button]

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'"

 

[Gov Kodos]

A fun album to play along with the likes of Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space is Project: Comstock Music from Outer Space. http://www.317x.com/albums/c/frankcomstock/card.html

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

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

Looks like it, doesn't it?

 

[Stompy]

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.

For more info on all of Leonard's Albums please visit http://www.chaseclub.com/records.html

He recorded more albums than the Beatles you know...

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

For more info on all of Leonard's Albums please visit http://www.chaseclub.com/records.html

He recorded more albums than the Beatles you know...

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