3) Two-Sides of Leonard Nimoy (1968)
While Leonard Nimoy’s first album, Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space, could be now called a tie-in, his second album, Two-Sides of Leonard Nimoy, is when he really started to show off his range. It was the second of five albums released by the actor, and probably also the most famous for it featured Mr. Spock’s serenade of life in Middle-Earth, titled “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.”
The three albums released after Two-Sides saw Nimoy indulged more in his passions for folk music than sci-fi riffs on everyone’s favorite Vulcan. His final album, The New World of Leonard Nimoy, which included covers of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” and John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary,” was released in 1970, but that wasn’t the end of Nimoy’s musical career.
You may not find them on the original vinyl, but Nimoy’s music has been re-released in different collections over the years. Furthermore, you may also remember him doing absolutely nothing in the alternative video for Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song,” which is just further proof that even in his later years, Nimoy still had his finger on the pulse.
In the end, while his Star Trek co-star William Shatner has a more well known musical career, Nimoy’s, at least, is enjoyed without irony.