Review: William Shatner – Has Been
William Shatner is still a very busy man, while starring on ABC’s Boston Legal, he’s still very much linked to his Star Trek history (and he’s still attending conventions here and there). Besides that he’s still developing for other TV projects, and starring in movies (upcoming Miss Congeniality sequel). And THEN he still has time to dive into a recording studio.
He made his story telling mode style his own, and the historical names The Transformed Man and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds must ring a bell. Decades have passed, but in 1998 he guest-starred on Ben Folds’s solo album Fear of Pop Vol. 1, singing a funny and quite ingenius In Love. The collaboration must’ve been so great, that now a whole album has been born. 10 songs (an eleventh is more a eulogy for his late wife, who drowned in their swimming pool in 1999) are very alike the In Love song. With strange background music, ranging from jazzy to country to hard rock, Ben Folds proves a versatile producer. He mixes it well, keeping it interesting and making every story stick. Guest vocals add something extra too. Besides Ben himself, Aimee Mann, Joe Jackson and Brad Paisley elevate the stories to a slighty more swinging experience.
Truth be told, the oldies were a bore, but In Love was enlighting. Luckily this album falls in the second catagory. While it’s definitely not a firecracker, it definitely works well in the background and may even persuade you to sway your head, unintentionally or not.7.