Golden Throats Celebrity Sing- [Compilation]

And of course, it is most certainly good for a laugh, particularly Eddie Albert's "Blowin' in the Wind" and Jim Nabors's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (Nabors's operatic voice was definitely wrong for an easy listening pop song.)

However, to my suprise, as another reviewer of this album has noted, most of the tracks are surprisingly listenable and good. Nimoy may not have the best voice in the world but he at least sings on key (more than can be said for most "modern rock" vocalists today, who whine and scream into a microphone and call it singing). Shatner of course is such a ham that it's enough to make you die laughing; but hey, he puts his heart and soul into it and you have to give him credit for that.

Sebastian Cabot's spoken-word renditions of old Dylan favorites are...well, odd and certainly are not my favorite tracks on the album (kind of bizarre to have Mr. French doing Dylan and there's not much oomph there).

Noel Harrison's "Whiter Shade of Pale" may actually be better than Procul Harum's; and Joel Grey's "White Room" may be better than Cream's version. On the original versions of both of these tracks, I was never able to understand what in the world the original artists were singing about, but with both Harrison and Grey I actually was able to make out what was being said (rock singers tend to mumble a lot and sing only for themselves, but Harrison and Grey both enunciate nicely so you can understand them).

Probably could've done without Mae West's "Twist and Shout," but hey, by the time she did this she was pushing eighty years old, got to at least give her credit for effort. And Andy Griffith's "House of the Rising Sun," while not nearly as good as the Animals' version, is an interesting interpretation.

So the upshot is - it will not only make you laugh, it may make you revisit your opinion of the "definitive versions" of old rock favorites! Buy it.