Oh Joy, The Shat's New Album Is Here And Is Called "Has Been"!

john williams · October-13th-2004, 10:18 PM

Quote:

William Shatner, Has Been

Beyond the star system (Columbia)

Pascal Wyse
Friday October 1, 2004
The Guardian

Complete the following sentence: "Ben Folds, Nick Hornby, Brad Paisley, Joe Jackson, Aimee Man ... " The chances of an average life-form guessing "William Shatner" are equal to the Starship Enterprise turning out to be made entirely of smoked salmon. But these are the crew members for the further musical voyages of Captain Kirk. Words cannot ... capture the ... delivery. The ... impossibility of working out how seriously to take this mission of super-sincerity.
You can see Spock with a big, specially shaped pair of headphones: "Diverse, and most illogical, captain." Here is Shatner speaking on success, his wife's bad habits, what he has missed in his children's upbringing (class lyric: "Get a little daughter-dad action going"). Folds has produced this to ballady, genre-hopping music. You'll Have Time, a blues, beams Shatner up into sprechgesang: "Live like you're gonna diiiiiiie, because you're gonna./ It's going to happen because it's happened to a lotta people I know." And then there's the jewel, the cover version of Common People. This CD is beyond good or bad. It is from a world where concepts such as "unique" and "indispensible" live happily alongside "hilariously, brain-tearingly wrong".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/revie...316492,00.html

Monte Smith · October-13th-2004, 10:23 PM

Look forward to hearing this and will never pay for it.

But Shatner isn't a has been, please. Data is a has been. Worf is a has been. But Kirk lives BABY! Priceline.

Vince Kargatis · October-13th-2004, 10:24 PM

Seriously, this album has got something going. My friends' and my favorite phrase about it is "oddly compelling". It's serious lounge action, with a healthy dose of self-deprecation and quirky charm.

Underhound · October-13th-2004, 10:33 PM

That Shat's a bad mother...

moneyp · October-14th-2004, 12:03 PM

...shut yo mouth!

Interesting review. I'll give it a listen.

graypencil · October-14th-2004, 01:27 PM

is it too late to nominate this CD for the special " Celine Dion/Wayne Newton super louche production of the year " in the Grammys ??

I understand the last winner of this rarely awarded Grammy was to Esquivel ..

Sergio Zamora · October-14th-2004, 01:32 PM

I dunno about 'has been'. I've watched an episode of 'Boston Legal' and his guest appearances in the last season of 'The Practice', and I thought that role was made for him, and he played it for all its worth. I mean, he's no James Spader, but he's much better than in anything I ever saw him in before.

frankiepop · October-14th-2004, 01:32 PM

i got it and i like it a lot. it's one of the better pop lps that i have heard in recent times....i bet 'common people' with joe jackson will be one of the best songs you will hear this year....youll never drink dance or screw cause there's nothing else to do...there are a couple clinkers but some good jokes too

Deke · October-14th-2004, 07:44 PM

"Get a little daughter-dad action going".

I thought that was illegal, except where the grass is blue outside...

Chris D · October-18th-2004, 02:58 PM

up for SDQSteve

Squaredancecalling Steve · October-18th-2004, 05:27 PM

Sorry about the duplicate thread, since deleted. I saw this thread title a few days ago and logically assumed The Shat was a punk band, never opened the thread.