While Nichelle Nichols has a beautiful voice this CD makes the vocal stylings of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy seem positively polished and understated by comparison.
Seriously.
I was a "Star Trek" fan when I was a kid, and have over the years developed a penchant for peculiar outsider music, so after hearing the other "Star Trek" albums and being hopelessly amused by them I had to investigate this one. The reason I hadn't gotten around to it earlier, you see, is that I expected it to be much better than the Shatner and Nimoy recordings, and thus, less entertaining as kitsch. Boy was I ever wrong. The problem here isn't so much that Nichelle has a bad voice or is a terrible singer (neither is true,) but the material and production are extremely amateurish.
The album consists of nine songs, one poem, and a long interview. The interview is interesting enough to sit through once if you are interested in "Star Trek," but the songs are what really makes this into a monstrosity. The concept album is always hard to pull off, and the pervasive theme here is (surprise!) space. Pink Floyd fans can relax: "The Wall" is not going to be bested by this album. More surprisingly, neither will Bobby "Boris" Pickett's 1962 frightfest, "The Original Monster Mash:" I would rather listen to "Blood Bank Blues" by Pickett 100 times than to listen to Nichol's "Star Rock" ever again.
The songs span many musical genres, but what they have in common (besides the space theme) is that the sound quality is awful and the instrumentals are beyond cheesy. Think lots of early-generation drum machines and electronic keyboards. The disco synthesizer-intensive "Star Rock" is probably my least favorite song on the album, and is, believe it or not, about hydroponic farming in space. The excited chorus contains endless variations on the line "There's nothing in the world like an Agronaut!" An Agronaut? Yes. On the other end of the cosmos is the ballad "Gene" dedicated to the visionary creator of "Star Trek" Gene Roddenberry. She likes this song so much that she sings it once and then speaks the exact same lyrics over the backing track and calls it a poem later on. Two versions for the price of one!
The rhythm-impaired "Hauntingly" takes as its muse tribal music from some distant part of the Crab Nebula apparently, and involves a number of high notes that Nichols has absolutely no business exploring. "Ancestry" is no better, pairing a very basic rhythm track with ridiculous lyrics jammed in to the music with little thought for the concept of meter. "You're Out of This World" is a Rasta-tinged electronic ballad of extraterrestrial romance, while "Rock the World" is a horrible techno song that reminded me of "We Built This City," only infinitely worse. (Yeah, I didn't think that was possible either.) Finally, for all you Trekkies and Trekkers, Nichelle presents a punched-up version of the "Theme From 'Star Trek'" complete with lyrics that should never have seen the light of day (be forewarned that only dogs can hear all of the final note.)
Despite being one of the worst recordings I have ever heard, I gave it two stars for two fundamental reasons: first, Nichols seems sincere and makes as much with this material as anyone could, and with the credibility of having been Lieutenant Uhura; second, there is some absurd pleasure to be gained for those who appreciate outsider music, bad music, and high camp. This is an extremely difficult CD to listen to, but if you enjoyed the songsterings of other "Star Trek" veterans for what they are, you will likely appreciate this too.
- Audio CD (June 10, 2010)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: GNP Crescendo Records
- Run Time: 69 minutes
- ASIN: B000001OY5
- Average Customer Review: 12 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#352,331 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #7957 in Easy Listening (CDs & Vinyl)
- #4969 in Vocal Jazz (CDs & Vinyl)
- #11686 in Broadway & Vocalists (CDs & Vinyl)
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