his disc is William Shatner's second release, his first since The Transformed Man in 1968. It boldly goes where a few other cast members of the original Star Trek series, including Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols, have gone before.
Has Been displays a number of musical styles, from rock to soul to country. This time out, Shatner and his producer, Ben Folds, have taken along a crew of accomplished and rather more famous musicians. Joe Jackson adds some edgy vocals that punch up the opening cut, "Common People," and contributes some gospel piano to the dark-humored "You'll Have Time," which was recorded live. Aimee Mann and Folds join Shatner on "That's Me Trying," which was co-written by Folds and Nick Hornby. The U.K. ambient duo Lemon Jelly provides all the music on the droning "Together," the album's longest cut. "I Can't Get Behind That," an up-tempo rocker with drums to the fore, is about life's everyday annoyances It includes former punker Henry Rollins on vocals and Adrian Belew on guitar. Jon Auer of the Posies played guitar on five of the disc's other tunes and contributed vocals.
"Familiar Love" sounds like lounge music with a sweet Manhattan Transfer vocal ensemble providing tasty vocal backup. ("Boy, do I love that," Shatner murmurs as the song ends.) The tongue-in-cheek title track itself, "Has Been," sounds as if it came off a spaghetti western soundtrack.
The CD comes packaged with a 20-page booklet, including photos and lyrics. The front cover shot is a stark photo of Shatner with his hands over his face next to a naked light bulb, but the back cover is a sort of retro-'60s "visual echo" pic that shouldn't have made it past the comp stage.
Transformed performances
Some listeners will inevitably say that the long hiatus between releases just means that it took Shatner this long to live down The Transformed Man. It's just possible, though, that life experience has given him the depth he needed to carry this one off. Certainly there's more of that life on display here, and he never makes the mistake of taking himself too seriously. Of course, no one would ever mistake Shatner for a real singer; the liner notes refer to him as a "musical orator." But he is an actor with long experience, and he knows how to spin a lyric.
The entire project is rather reminiscent of the old Ken Nordine "Word Jazz" material, though not as interesting or accomplished. In fact, it's fair to say that this album wouldn't have any legs at all were it not for Shatner's renown. To be fair, he himself realizes this and even refers to it outright in "I Can't Get Behind That"; "I can't get behind so-called singers that can't carry a tune, get paid for talking; how easy is that?" Then he pauses to reflect, and says, "Well, maybe I could get behind that." "Well, I can't!" adds Henry Rollins.
And in fact the disc's humor is its saving grace, because most of the attempts at expressing deeper feelings—as on the drippy "That's Me Trying" and "Real"—are a bit strained. The one that works is "What Have You Done," a short piece about the 1999 incident in which Shatner found his wife of two years, Nerine Kidd, drowned in their swimming pool. This track is unaccompanied except for a restrained free-form double-bass solo in the background.
William Shatner, at 73, doesn't really need to be doing projects like this. Priceline.com spokesman, successful writer, working actor, pop-culture icon—one would think he's got enough laurels to rest on. The man does deserve some credit for being willing to push his personal envelope, though. Certainly there's nothing as wretched as the infamous "Mr. Tambourine Man" on "Has Been," but that may only mean that there isn't anything here to keep it alive for the next 36 years.
