William Shatner
Ponder the Mystery
(Cleopatra Records)
What do Mick Jones of Foreigner, Steve Vai, Vince Gill, Robbie Krieger of Yes, and Zoot Horn Rollo have in common? As you’ve guessed since you decided to read this review, or because you’re the Shat’s number one fan, they all appear on Ponder the Mystery.
I was previously unaware of Shatner’s foray into music, so I thought it might be an hour of some spoken word poetry with his signature delivery style. To an extent, I was right. However, Shatner doesn’t do all of the vocals himself. Ponder the Mystery sounds like he found a pile of ‘80s demos gathering dust in the attic and decided to add his own insights over the grooves.
The result is too listenable to be ironic and too poetic to be funny. There’s true effort here, from the lavish descriptions of colors in “Sunset†to the categorization of animals making their own individual sounds on “Rhythm of the Night.†And then there are rock and jazz legends crafting songs right along with him.
If you like classic rock or spoken word poetry, seriously, give this a shot. It might be your jam. But don’t listen to this for “the lolz.†It’s not funny, and Shatner’s efforts deserve a better audience than that.
