No matter how crazy it sounds, William Shatner's new album Ponder the Mystery – a collection of prog rock songs paired with Shatner's original spoken word poetry – is not a joke. It's actually his fifth album, going all the way back to 1968's infamous The Transformed Man. Created with former Yes guitarist Billy Sherwood, the LP (in stores on October 8th) features guest spots by Rick Wakeman, Vince Gill, Steve Vai, Robby Krieger, Mick Jones and others.
How did this album come about?
The label came to me and said, "Would you like to do another album?" and I said, "Absolutely." Then they said, "Well, what would you like to do?" In that moment, I had a creative thought. I said, "I'll take that period of time, an hour before sunset, where a guy is at the beach and in despair about his life, and write music that goes through twilight and sunset into the sounds of the night. Gradually, with the beauty of the night and his thinking, he regains the joy of his life."
That story will not be evident to anybody listening to the album unless they listen really carefully, but it provides inspiration for me to write songs. I took the idea and ran with it. I created these poems that suggest this transformation. Then Billy Sherwood, who the label teamed me up with, took my words and made them into songs. His is a true genius.
Are you a prog rock fan?
I think that prog rock is the science fiction of music. Science fiction speculates on what the future might be and look like and how we'll get there, and yet there's always a central theme of humanity, or there should be. Progressive rock has the same concept of exploration into the parts of the music world that hasn't been explored.
Did you buy prog rock albums when they came out back in the 1970s?
Yeah. I would listen to the music. . . This has always been a fault of mine. In entertainment, whether it's movies or television or whatever, I'm a great audience, but I don't remember the names of the people I've seen or the groups that I've heard. So yes, progressive rock, I began to discover, was my music.
I imagine that many Star Trek fans also like prog rock.
I agree, and that's the reason I've gone there with Billy.
Read more:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...ck-album-and-star-trek-20130911#ixzz2gfvUWcWl
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