William Shatner And Zakk Wylde’s Cover Of “Iron Man” Streaming Online

Revolver Mag debut William Shatner Iron man feat. Zakk Wylde by Cleopatra Records

A lot of people felt that I was too harsh on both William Shatner and Zakk Wylde when it was revealed that the two were recording a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” As Bram pointed out, there was a good chance this could be really awesome (it worked when Henry Rollins and Shatner teamed up). Well, the cover of “Iron Man” has just been posted online, and…so much for potential.

Unlike his previous recording work, Captain Kirk’s cover is less spoken word and more actual singing. Actually, to be more direct, the cover features more singing from Zakk Wylde than it actually does of Shatner. Nothing against Wylde, but it sounds like he covered “Iron Man” with a really crappy backup vocalist. Sure, the kitsch factor of The Shat doing his over-enunciating speak/sing thing could’ve been way fun, but Zakk doesn’t even give him a chance to do what he does best.

Maybe you’ll think I’m being too harsh again, but trust me when I say that I really did want to give this a shot. Give it a listen for yourself in the Soundcloud player up top, and THEN tell me whether I’m still being too critical.

The song will be featured on Shatner’s new rock covers album Searching For Major Tom. The album will be released on October 11 via Cleopatra Records, and features appearances from Mike Inez, Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, and many others. Hopefully his covers of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Space Oddity” are better than “Iron Man,” but why re-record“Rocket Man” when his original cover of it was pure genius?

Trek Label Society: The Photo And Video

Our readers thought Zach was a little harsh last week when it was announced that Zakk Wylde would be making an appearance on William Shatner’s forthcoming album for a cover of “Iron Man.” I agree. William Shatner isn’t so much a singer as a spoken word artist, and any ill will towards him should be erased by listening to his cover of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” or his take on Blur’s “Common People.” In addition, “I Can’t Get Behind That,” his collaboration with Henry Rollins, is a free jazz freakout that’s pure gold where the two trade rants for three minutes. In short, the man’s a national treasure, and it’s not like Zakk isn’t used to playing with elderly vocalists. At any rate, here’s what the two looked like and sounded like in Zakk’s studio.

Check out “I Can’t Get Behind That” after the jump. [photo credit: Eric Hendrikx]
Read more »

Both Ozzy And Zakk Wylde Find New Ways To Embarrass Themselves

When we discussed who we’d love to see collaborate in some way in last week’s Headbangers’ Brawl, this was not what we had in mind. USA Today is reporting that Ozzy Osbourne will appear in a Super Bowl commercial for Best Buy with Justin Bieber. No word on what the two will actually be doing together, but it’ll probably be painful to watch either way. Even if Ozzy bites Bieber’s little head off, it’s still more screen time than I’d rather be watch of the teen heartthrob. Making this a tad more awkward, though, is that when jokingly asked if he listens to Bieber by Mark Hoppus during an interview on Fuse TV, the Prince Of Darkness replied “Who the fuck is Justin Bieber?” Way to go, Oz (you can see the video of him making the comment above).

However, even Ozzy’s upcoming commercial seems normal compared to what his old guitarist Zakk Wylde is up to. The BLS mainman has recorded a cover of “Iron Man” with (drum roll please)…William Shatner! That’s right, Wylde will appear on Captain Kirk’s new rock cover album Seeking Major Tom, set to be released sometime this year via Cleopatra Records. The Star Trek star confirmed the odd pairing via his Twitter account, saying in two separate tweets:

“Just watched tracks being laid down by Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society for my upcoming record Seeking Major Tom.

Zakk is one of the great guitarists who played with Ozzy Osbourne. A master playing a cover of “Iron Man”. He’s fantastic! I’m energized.”

As we’ve mentioned before, Mr. Wylde is no stranger to making bad choices in collaborations, but this is just bizarre. On the one hand, it’s cool that Shatner actually went out of his way to get someone as talented as Wylde to perform on the cover. But on the other hand, it’s weird  to even think of Shatner incredulously talking his way through “Iron Man,” let alone hearing that Zakk Wylde will be joining him. In a weird way, Shatner and Wylde’s collab almost makes this duet look normal…almost. We’ve included Shat’s incredible take on the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” after the jump. Read more »