The Transformed Man is the debut album by actor William Shatner. It was originally released in 1968 by Decca Records (Cat. #DL 75043), while Shatner was still starring in , and began his musical career. The album's cover refers to Shatner as "Captain Kirk of Star Trek".
Premise.
Each of the first five tracks pairs Shatner reciting a monologue from a piece of classical literature (William Shakespeare is featured three times) with a spoken word interpretation of a contemporary pop song, with either section intended to complement the other thematically. The closing title track is an entirely original composition. Shatner is accompanied on the album by dramatic orchestration and, occasionally, backing vocalists.
In the decades since its release, most of the album's tracks (particularly the song lyric readings) have been used satirically, either on compilation albums meant to showcase bad celebrity singing (the Rhino Records "Golden Throats" series) or by radio disc jockeys looking for laughs.
Critical reception.
In a retrospective review in 2011, Greg Prato of music database website AllMusic rated "The Transformed Man" four-and-a-half out of a possible five stars, although with serious reservations. He stated that when listening to the album, "it's unclear if Shatner is merely having a good time and goofing around, or if he's embarrassingly dead serious, and creating an overly indulgent work. Most of the album turns out to be a bit too tedious..." He also noted that "you cannot tell if Shatner is play-acting or painfully serious. The result is a must hear, (unintentional?) comedy classic," comparing this attraction to that of comedian Andy Kaufman.
In 2000, the album was voted number 3 in the All-Time Worst Albums Ever Made from Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums".
In 2006, "Q" magazine ranked it No. 45 in their list of the 50 worst albums ever.
In 2016, the website Alternative Nation crowned the album number 1 on a "Top 10 Musical Oddities" list.
Track listing.
Because Shakespeare's and Rostand's work had lapsed into the public domain at the time of the recording, they are not credited on the album.
References.
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