Whoa! Shatner returns! Backed by the songsmithing of Ben Folds, “Captain Kirk” returns as a singer/lyricist, only this time its not all cheese. In fact, there are at least two moments of sheer chilling baring of the soul that will convince you that good old Bill is really a poet, deep, worthy of respect. He’s joined by some all stars, including Joe Jackson, Henry Rolllins, Aimee Mann on vocals, lending their skills where most needed. And the music is top notch pop, interesting, as might be expected from Ben Folds. Don’t worry, there is certainly enough Shatner cheese inside, references to his fans, Trekdom and his fame and fortune. But the songs that clearly reflect his ordinary human misfortunes border on creepy. Holy crap this is good. Ahead, warp factor 9 Mr Sulu!!

1) Joe Jackson guest vocs, upbeat Britpop, cover of Pulp song and it has all the brilliance you’d expect, wow, “common people”- play for the hipsters pretending poor is cool, or for the Stanford/Palo elite who think otherwise
2) Shatner waxes philosophical, reflects on his life, the meaning of success, fear of failure, all over a cheesy sensitive 70’s lounge feel
3) “youre gonna die”, epic gospel style, complete with gospel choir, cliché message of “live life to its fullest” delivered in a most entertaining and in your face manner, so good
4) Aimee Mann joins in on this super personal expose of parental guilt, not being involved with his child’s life, still entertaining, bittersweet, with a ballady piano music and McCartney’esque chorus
5) HOLY FUCKING SHIT, Shatner reads a poem written about finding his former wife drowned in the pool, about as personal , sensitive, and haunting as it gets
6) Lemon Jelly programmed pleasant electro rock, a love song, quite nice, almost lack of schtick
7) cheesy love song, cheesy music
8) exotic lounge music, another love song but with funny flare, great
9) “Has Been”, absolutely hilarious, title says it all, background answer call vocs, spaghetti western music, watch one FCC “never done shit”
10) “I cant get behind that”, cynical observations on modern life, hypocrisy, excellent, with Henry Rollins guest duet, driving tone, Adrian Belew guitar
11) if you can get past the terrible “new country” vocals you’ll find a great song, rather first person Captain Kirk/Shatner