The Transformed Man is the debut album by actor William Shatner. It was originally released in 1968 by Decca Records (Cat. #DL 75043), while Shatner was still starring in the original Star Trek series, and began his musical career. The album's cover refers to Shatner as "Captain Kirk of Star Trek". The concept of the album was to juxtapose famous pieces of poetry with their modern counterparts, pop lyrics.
In the decades since its release, most of the album's tracks have been used satirically, either on compilation albums meant to showcase bad celebrity singing (the Rhino Records "Golden Throats" series) or by radio disc jockeys looking for laughs.
In a retrospective review in 2011, Greg Prato of music database website AllMusic rated The Transformed Man four-and-a-half out of a possible five stars, although with serious reservations. He stated that when listening to the album, "it's unclear if Shatner is merely having a good time and goofing around, or if he's embarrassingly dead serious, and creating an overly indulgent work. Most of the album turns out to be a bit too tedious..." He also noted that "you cannot tell if Shatner is play-acting or painfully serious. The result is a must hear, (unintentional?) comedy classic," comparing this attraction to that of comedian Andy Kaufman.[1]
In 2000, the album was voted number 3 in the All-Time Worst Albums Ever Made from Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[3]
In 2006, Q magazine ranked it No. 45 in their list of the 50 worst albums ever.[4][5]
In 2016, the website Alternative Nation crowned the album number 1 on a "Top 10 Musical Oddities" list.[6]
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