"Star Rock"
Nichelle Nichols
from the album "Out Of This World" (GNP Crescendo, 1991)
This is a painful post for me to write, because I adore Nichelle Nichols -- though I've never met her, she just strikes me as being a very pleasant and delightful person to be around. But, with utmost respect to Ms. Nichols, this song (and the album it rode in on, for that matter) is crappy ... but in an Audio Train Wreck kind of way that Mr. Spock himself would probably call, with that trademark tweak of his eyebrow, "fascinating". Prepare to boldly go where your auditory senses have never gone before.
While it's true that the late '80s and early '90s were mostly a taste-impaired era for popular music anyway, somehow I expected more from Ms. Nichols ... she's blessed with a beautiful voice and has an extensive resume of music credits to her name, so I'm baffled as to why she took part in this travesty. Instead of an album of tastefully ordinary pop or easy-listening tunes, our ears are phaser-stunned with a twisted blend of real-world Nichelle and fantasy-world Uhura belting out one sci-fi cliché after another. Have you ever wondered what the aural equivalent of a guy in a cheesy lizard-monster costume throwing around papier-maché rocks in front of a cardboard backdrop might sound like? Well, wonder no more.
If this album was meant not to be taken seriously, à la William Shatner, then there should have been at least some humorous lyrics thrown in as clues. I get the distinct impression that the guy who wrote and produced this pile of ... uh, songs ... was little more than a Trekkie who had the money and desire to make an album featuring one of the objects of his adoration ... which would be fine, if he demonstrated any gift at all for songwriting or producing -- or, alternatively, the instincts to hire someone who did. Live long and prosper ... and remember, everybody needs a little Agrinaut.
No comments:
Post a Comment