| | William Shatner Has Been CD William Shatner Discography of CDs
 (6 Customer Reviews)
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Actor, author, pitchman, and recording artist, William Shatner has become a virtual pop icon, in no small part due to his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk in the STAR TREK TV show and films. While his past recordings have been known for their camp value (including a bizarre version of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man"), HAS BEEN finds Shatner venturing into Serious Artistic Statement territory. Here Shatner recites his lyrics in a stentorian, animated tone and runs through a reflective take on Pulp's "Common People," aided by Joe Jackson and Ben Folds, who provides bright, elegant arrangements throughout the record. (In addition to Jackson and Folds, the album's guest list includes Aimee Man and Brad Paisley.)
HAS BEEN is vastly enjoyable because Shatner refuses to take his seriousness too seriously--the tirade "I Can't Get Behind That" (which features fellow actor, author, pitchman, and recording artist Henry Rollins) includes a playful dig at himself. Drawing inspiration from and making forays into rock, country music, electronica, Western movie soundtracks, and Beat poetry, Shatner proves there is no medium he cannot master, no genre he cannot subvert.
Prod.By Ben Folds Feat.J.Jack- Son,A.Mann,B.Folds,H.Rollins++
Liner Note Author: Ben Folds.
Photographers: Jeri Heiden; Frally Folds.
Arranger: Ben Folds.
Personnel: William Shatner (vocals); William Shatner; Brad Paisley (vocals, guitar); Ben Folds (vocals, piano, tack piano, electric piano, organ, Wurlitzer organ, keyboards, synthesizer, bass guitar, drums, background vocals); Sebastian Steinberg (vocals, bass instrument, upright bass); Lemon Jelly (various instruments, programming); John Mark Painter (guitar, baritone guitar, trumpet, bass guitar, background vocals); Lindsay Jamieson (drums); Joe Jackson (vocals, piano); Henry Rollins, Aimee Mann (vocals); Jon Auer (guitar, background vocals); Adrian Belew (guitar); Matt Chamberlain (drums, percussion); Louisville Common People's Choir (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Joe Costa; Ben Folds.
Uncut (p.138) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[I]t is definitely deserving of the cult status that it will inevitably earn."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.110) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[B]ig issues - death, love, a life's work - are chewed over with bittersweet humour and musical sophistication." Has Been Music | List Price | $9.98 (You save $0.03) | | Category | Rock/Pop Albums, Rock CDs, Pop, Vocal, Spoken, Comedy | | Label | Shout! Factory | | Orig Year | 2004 | | All Time Sales Rank |  16130  | | CD Universe Part number | 6781048 | | Catalog number | 30349 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | Oct 05, 2004 | | Studio/Live | Studio | | Mono/Stereo | Stereo | | Producer | Ben Folds; Ben Folds | | Engineer | Joe Costa; Joe Costa | | Personnel | Adrian Belew - guitar
Matt Chamberlain - drums, percussion
Brad Paisley - vocals, guitar
Sebastian Steinberg - vocals, bass instrument, upright bass
John Mark Painter - guitar, baritone guitar, trumpet, bass guitar, background vocals
Lemon Jelly - various instruments, programming
Lindsay Jamieson - drums
Jon Auer - guitar, background vocals
William Shatner - vocals
Louisville Common People's Choir - background vocals
Also: Henry Rollins, Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann, Ben Folds |
William Shatner Has Been Songs Has Been Music Review Average Rating: (4.8 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews It's hilarious *and* serious!
While some of the tracks on "Has Been" are definitely FUNNY (purposely typed in caps), there are also a few that cut to the marrow and feel reflective and visceral. There's even some fine musicianship here...just glance at the roster of guests! I didn't expect to find this CD so vastly entertaining, but my boss persuaded me to listen to it as we tidied up the store after hours one night -- and I can't say that I've been the same since then. (And that's a damned GOOD thing!)
Submitted by StargazerLotus (Branford, CT, USA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No  Lots of fun - If you like Shatner
Solid musicianship and Shatners 'lyrics' i.e. mostly spoken word, are quite good. The title cut is particularly fun and makes a good point.
Steve Dirkx
Submitted by stevedirkx (Dallas, tx USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
I Can't Get Behind That
What a song. Shatner and Rollins is one of the best spoken combinations there has ever been. Real good CD.
Submitted by Simon (Plymouth)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Great Album....
I would definitely recommend this album to anyone wanting to hear something different. There's rock, jazz, spoken word, all kinds of music on this cd, as well as great lyrics. Lots of laughs too...but its definitely a cd to be taken seriously.
Submitted by Skippy (Chapel Hill, NC)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No antiMUSIC.com review
"Has Been" is a great CD on many levels by an unlikely artist. It's fun to listen to but with the diversity of subject matter, it will make you think about life and yourself as well as appreciating Bill Shatner in a way you've never before. In playing this CD for a friend, his words summed it up quite nicely, "Wow, there's more to this guy than I had thought."
Submitted by Marc Wiggins - antiMUSIC.com (Orange, Ca, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No List All Reviews | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Has Been CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Spaced Out: The Best Of Leonard Nimoy And William Shatner CD (1997) (Import) England
Has Been album
 $6.59
One of the true ultimates in so-bad-it's-sublime listening. This collection culls the most interesting results of the famously bad recording careers of Star Trek's Kirk and Spock, both of whom recorded albums in the late 1960s. William Shatner's seven cuts all stem from his notorious album The Transformed Man, which the liner notes here ...
| | Rockpile Seconds Of Pleasure CD (1980) Bonus Tracks; Remastered
Has Been CD music
$7.59   
The CD contains the four songs from the bonus EP--NICK LOWE & DAVE EDMUNDS SING THE EVERLY BROTHERS--included with the original LP release.
Kindred spirits Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe had worked together extensively in different capacities in the 1970s, but their on-again/off-again band Rockpile only recorded one album, 1980's superlative SECONDS OF PLEASURE. It stands as one of the finest examples of the pub-rock/power-pop crossroads that defined the band's aesthetic. Edmunds and Lowe's American influences are worn on the sleeve (literally), as they spark new life into tunes by Chuck Berry ("Oh What a Thrill") and soul man Joe Tex ("If Sugar Was as Sweet as You").
Incredibly, the duo's own compositions stand up just as well. "When I Write the Book" would have ...
| | Los Lobos Ride CD (2004)
Has Been music CDs
$12.15 
More than two decades into their recording career (discounting their private-press 1970s debut album), Los Lobos still kick up an earthy mix of rock, funk, blues, and pan-Latin rhythms. Generally, few bands are more self-contained than this L.A. quintet, with its multi-instrumentalists and three powerful songwriters, but, for THE RIDE, the door to the outside world has opened up. More than half the songs here are collaborations with artists who've ...
| | Tom Waits Real Gone CD (2004)
Has Been songs
$13.99 
The absence of piano is significant--Waits's jazzy harmonic underpinning is entirely dismantled here, leaving only the most basic, blues-oriented structures ...
| | William Shatner Transformed Man CD (1968) Remastered
Has Been album
$7.29
All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.
William Shatner is known first and foremost as Captain Kirk, the central character from the classic Star Trek TV series from the '60s, and a string of motion pictures starting in the '80s, as well as an author of Star Trek-based books. Trekkies everywhere worship Kirk (many refuse to see that Shatner is merely playing a role) -- they have Star Trek conventions globally, where they buy/trade rare memorabilia, analyze episode/movie plots, and dress up like their favorite Star Trek characters. Apart from his most ardent admirers, most people do not know that in 1968, Shatner recorded ...
| | Aimee Mann Forgotten Arm CD (2005)
Has Been CD music
$9.59
| | Minutemen Paranoid Time CD (1980)
Has Been music CDs
$9.29
| | Eels Beautiful Freak CD (1996)
Has Been songs
$7.29 
| | Texas Greatest Hits CD (2000)
Has Been album
$10.89
| | Heartache Avenue: The Very Best Of The Maisonettes CD (2004) (Import)
Has Been CD music
$15.65
Over the course of 19 songs the Maisonettes invite listeners to talk a walk down their HEARTACHE AVENUE, a perfectly titled album that is full of their brand of bitersweet pop.
Despite a thorough sleeve note from David Virr (who ran the Maisonettes' label, Ready, Steady, Go!), there aren't any concrete details as to where and when each of these 19 tracks was released. It can be reasonably assumed, however, that all of them were recorded between 1982 and 1984, and include most or all of the songs from their singles and sole LP, as well as a few previously unreleased cuts. Although the Maisonettes were characterized as a '60s revival band in some of their U.K. press clips (several of which are reprinted in this package), really they sound far more like a fairly slick '80s pop ...
| | Tomoe Sawa Aishite Kudasai CD (2005) (Import) Japan
Has Been music CDs
$48.79
Details TBA. Col. 2005.
| | Justice On A Budget CD (2004)
Has Been songs
$7.99
Various Artists/Justice on a Budget: John Conahan (vocals, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer piano, organ, ...
| | Patrick Porter Die Wandaland CD (2006)
Has Been album
$10.09
| | Mayra Casales Woman On Fire: Mujer Ardiente CD (2006)
Has Been CD music
$17.09
| | Winterhorde Nebula CD (2006) (Import)
Has Been music CDs
$18.49
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