Shatner still pursuing music

TORONTO — When it comes to talking about his new album, William Shatner is like a kid on Christmas morning.

“I’m scared, I’m frightened, by how good I think the album is,” says the 87-year-old TV icon.

The new Christmas CD, “Shatner Claus,” features mainly holiday standards such as “Jingle Bells,” “Little Drummer Boy” and “White Christmas.” Earlier this year, he released a country album — “Why Not Me?” — a collaboration with Alabama’s Jeff Cook.

Not bad for a guy who admits he can’t really sing.

What the Montreal native does is interpret song lyrics as if they were poetry, wringing out meaning while surrounded by talented musicians and singers who carry the melodies. In the case of “What About Me?” it is a blend of Shatner’s urgent, spoken-word style, infused with Cook’s country twang.

It’s an experiment in music that began in 1968. That’s when Shatner, then rocketing to fame as the captain of the starship Enterprise on the original “Star Trek,” recorded “The Transformed Man.” To reviewers at the time, his halting, high-volume take on Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sounded like bad trips.

Shatner wasn’t the only “Star Trek” actor to release what would later be considered a camp classic. His cast mates Leonard Nimoy (who took a wild whack at “If I Had a Hammer”) and Nichelle Nichols also recorded albums.

It was 36 years before Shatner tried again. His collaboration with producer Ben Folds on 2004’s “Has Been,” however, was warmly received by many critics.

If anything, Shatner’s voice sounds better with age, or, as one reviewer put it, “as soothing as a warm cup of eggnog.” On the new album, Shatner says he’s tried to “bend the Christmas music a little bit, give it a little slant that an actor might give it.”

That includes teaming with Iggy Pop on a not-so “Silent Night,” amplified on a robust punk rock reprise of the same tune with actor/singer/commentator Henry Rollins.