Has Been (studio album) by William Shatner

From paladisiac 12/10/2011 05:01

i discovered the "nu-" william shatner (versus the artist of 1969) through his pairing with ben folds (fear of pop) on "in love" on a CMJ disc. There's a childish seriousness to ben folds' music. shatner's air of wisdom and levity matched nicely with mr. folds. Shatner was able to parlay that combination, with ben folds producing and playing piano, on his album has been. The album is cluttered with guests, but shatner makes this album work, often tongue-in-cheek with a more thoughtful, rounded grounded-nutjob performance he merely hints at on those Priceline commercials. He brings a been-there-done-that gravitas to the pulp cover "common people", bringing weight to lines like "Laugh along although they're laughing at you / and the stupid things that you do / because you think that poor is cool". He brings an album equal parts sincere humor and comical earnestness, like on "you'll have time" (the perfect party killer i've found out), a song about your (and shatner's) eventual demise which is hilarious in its truth ("By the time you hear this I may well be dead / And you my friend might be next / 'Cause we're all gonna die") and how shatner delivers that truth. Then there's "that's me trying", a beautifully, sincere song about trying to reconnect with an estranged daughter ("if we never had a problem then that's what life would be like / Easy, uncomplicated, cool"), perfectly produced by ben folds. The song brings some tears now'n'then. "real", a plaintive song about how shatner's human like everyone else despite his star status, tries for the same territory and mostly hits, with lyrics like "while there's a part of me / In that guy you've seen / Up there on that screen / I am so much more" and brad paisley (?!) providing the guitar & chorus (and it works well regardless of my disdain for pop country). On the other side of the spectrum are songs like "i can't get behind that", a hilarious stream-of-consciousness tirade on the petty little things people do, ranted in duet form with henry rollins (like "I can't get behind the Gods, who are more vengeful, angry, and / Dangerous if you don't believe in them / Why can't all these Gods just get along? / I mean, they're omnipotent and omnipresent, what's the problem?"), and "has been" with its faux "gunsmoke" soundtrack poking fun at himself finally concluding "Has been implies failure. Not so. Has been is history. Has been was. Has been might again". One song, "what have you done" , overestimates the song's poetic "reach". But songs like "together", which breezily captures its poetic qualities, easily make up for it.

Can't wait for the tenth anniversary set of this