''Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space'' is the debut album of

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy ( ; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes Development of Spock, originating Spock in Star Trek: T ...

, recorded in character as Mr. Spock from the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

TV series ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

''. It was released in April 1967 by

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In its early years, Dot sp ...

and reached number 83 on the ''

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

''.

Background

The album capitalized on the popularity of the Spock character on ''

''. The songs contain many outer-space elements, science fiction-themed narrations, and space sound effects. Opening with a rendition of the show's main theme, the album also features a take on the theme to '' Mission: Impossible'', which Nimoy would incidentally go on to join as a cast member in 1969. Also featured is an instrumental version of the song "Beyond Antares", written for the ''Star Trek'' episode "

The Conscience of the King "The Conscience of the King" is the 13th episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series ''Star Trek''. Written by Barry Trivers and directed by Gerd Oswald, it first aired on December 8, 1966. The series, which ...

" and originally sung by

Nichelle Nichols Nichelle Nichols ( ; born Grace Dell Nichols; December 28, 1932 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress, singer and dancer whose portrayal of Uhura in ''Star Trek'' and its film sequels was groundbreaking for African American actresses on A ...

. Nimoy sings two show tunes, " Where Is Love?" (from ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...

'') and "Lost in the Stars" (from the musical of the same name). Closing track "A Visit to a Sad Planet" is a

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

science fiction piece that was released as a single and charted at number 121 on ''Billboard''.

Track listing

Side one

#" Theme from Star Trek" ( Alexander Courage,

Gene Roddenberry Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter and producer who created the science fiction series and fictional universe ''Star Trek.'' Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up ...

) #"Alien" (

Cy Coben Seymour "Cy" Coben (4 April 1919 – 26 May 2006) was an American songwriter whose hits were recorded by bandleaders, country singers, and other artists such as The Beatles, Tommy Cooper and Leonard Nimoy. Biography Early life Coben was born i ...

) #" Where Is Love?" (

Lionel Bart Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was an English writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical ''Oliver!'' (1960). With ''Oliver!'' and his work ...

) #" Music to Watch Space Girls By" ( Anthony Velona, Sidney Ramin) #"Beyond Antares" ( Wilbur Hatch, Gene Coon) #" Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Earth" ( Charles R. Grean, Fred Hertz, Leonard Nimoy)

Side two

#" Mission: Impossible" (

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Music of Latin America, Lati ...

) #"

Lost in the Stars ''Lost in the Stars'' is a musical theatre, musical with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson and music by Kurt Weill, based on the novel ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' (1948) by Alan Paton. The musical premiered on Broadway theatre, Broadway in 19 ...

" (

Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Anderson faced many challenges in his career, frequently losing jobs for expressing his opinions or supporting ...

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

) #"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (Alexander Courage) #"You Are Not Alone" (Don Christopher) #"A Visit to a Sad Planet" (Charles R. Grean, Don Christopher) "A Visit to a Sad Planet" was released as a single, with "Theme from Star Trek" on the b-side. It became Nimoy's only hit single, reaching number 121 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

chart. The album itself reached number 83 on the magazine's album charts.

Re-release

The album was re-released in the UK in 1973 on the

Rediffusion Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV (TV network ...

label as ''Mr. Spock Presents Music From Outer Space''. The track listing is identical to the original Dot Records release, but with a new sleeve design by Stephen Hill Design Services, including a different photo of Nimoy as Spock (front), and new liner notes by Ron Edwards (rear). It was re-released again on October 10, 1995 by

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...

. This reissue features side one of the LP '' Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy'' as a bonus. #"Theme from Star Trek" (Alexander Courage, Gene Roddenberry) #"Alien" (Cy Coben) #"Where Is Love?" (Lionel Bart) #"Music to Watch Space Girls By" (Anthony Velona, Sidney Ramin) #"Beyond Antares" (Wilbur Hatch, Gene Coon) #"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Earth" (Charles R. Grean, Fred Hertz, Leonard Nimoy) #"Mission: Impossible" (Lalo Schifrin) #"Lost in the Stars" (Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill) #"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (Courage) #"You Are Not Alone" (Don Christopher) #"A Visit to a Sad Planet" (Grean, Christopher) #"Highly Illogical" (Grean, Hertz) #"The Difference Between Us" (Coben) #"Once I Smiled" (Grean, Nimoy) #"Spock Thoughts" (Grean) #"By Myself" (Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz) #"Follow Your Star" (Grean, Hertz) #"Amphibious Assault" (Grean, Mason Williams)

References

External links

Review of ''Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space''
at maidenwine.com, a detailed Leonard Nimoy fan site. {{Authority control Leonard Nimoy albums Albums produced by Charles Randolph Grean 1967 debut albums Dot Records albums