From his crazed, overdramatic “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” in the ’60s to his pseudo-Sinatra rendition of “Rocket Man” at the Saturn Awards, William Shatner has always had a unique speak-sing style that went from being derided back in the day to ironically appreciated a generation later, and legit appreciated today. More recently, though, collaborating with the likes of Ben Folds and doing sci-fi themed covers on Cleopatra Records, he’s been genuinely making a go of being both “in on the joke” and sincerely trying to make the joke a genuinely good one. As such, OF COURSE he’s doing a Christmas album. And of course it’s called “Shatner Claus.”
To show you the kind of fandom Shatner’s song stylings have generated over the years, however, just take a look at the track list:
1. Jingle Bells Feat. Henry Rollins
2. Blue Christmas Feat. Brad Paisley
3. Little Drummer Boy Feat. Joe Louis Walker
4. Winter Wonderland Feat. Todd Rundgren & Artimus Pyle
5. Twas the Night Before Christmas Feat. Mel Collins
6. Run Rudolph Run Feat. Elliot Easton
7. O Come, O Come Emmanuel Feat. Rick Wakeman
8. Silver Bells Feat. Ian Anderson
9. One for You, One for Me
10. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Feat. Billy Gibbons
11. Silent Night Feat. Iggy Pop
12. White Christmas Feat. Judy Collins
13. Feliz Navidad Feat. Dani Bender
Okay. Can we hope that Henry Rollins gets to yell “KHAAAAAAAAN!” at least once? Iggy Pop on “Silent Night”? And are we actually going to hear Shatner…do…Thatthinghedoes…InSpanish…for “Feliz Navidad”? (If you’ve seen Incubus you know he can do it in another language, albeit in that case a made-up one.) “One for You, One for Me” is an original number, so odds are it’ll be the best, most Shatneresque track of the bunch. Or perhaps the “one for me” refers to Hanukkah, which could use a celebrity song besides Adam Sandler’s.
Shatner Claus comes out Oct. 26th but you can preorder it now, on CD or vinyl, if you want to frighten Picard fans with it on Halloween. It’s a shame Leonard Nimoy isn’t around to give Rudolph, the bravest little reindeer of them all, the Bilbo Baggins treatment.
Are you ready for a very Shatner Christmas? Set your comments to “stunning” and let us know below.
Images: Hallmark Channel, Cleopatra Records
