While William Shatner has gone on record saying he’s not interested in doing another Star Trek series, he apparently has a renewed interest a different kind of record. On the heels of congratulating Patrick Stewart on the revelation that there will be a new Trek series featuring Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Shatner had a new announcement.

You guessed it. He’s doing a Christmas Album.

He’s already released a country album called Why Not Me, which is already out (but doesn’t have cover art on Amazon.com for some reason). The new album, titled Shatner Claus, has just been made available for pre-order. It features fourteen tracks with Shatner doing Christmas classics as duets with artists from a variety of music genres, including Henry Rollins, Brad Paisley, Iggy Pop and Judy Collins. 

Curiously, there is also second Christmas record by Shatner coming out as well, and for some unknowable reason is a punk rock record, being released only on vinyl. The description is a little thin, but it is apparently an EP (“extended play”, something between a 45 RPM single and an LP, or “long play” album). The record seems to be the release of two cuts from Shatner Claus, a version of Jingle Bells featuring Henry Rollins, and the B side is Silent Night featuring Iggy Pop. Because seeing is disbelieving, here’s the album cover for that:

The enduring appeal of listening to William Shatner, song after song, doing his level best to avoid having to actually sing a single note, has been one of the great puzzles of our modern age. It’s like listening to somebody raking their fingernails across a chalkboard – you can’t stand the sound, but the curiosity to hear the sound itself can be overwhelming, if for no other reason than you want to experience the spine-chilling sensation for yourself.

Shatner Claus will afford you the opportunity to listen to another whole album of William Shatner teasing you with the prospect that he might actually sing something, but never quite getting there. You can preorder it, but it releases October 28.

Just in time for Halloween. How fitting.

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SCIFI Radio Staff
SCIFI Radio Staff

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