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Has Been
 
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Has Been

William Shatner
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (231 customer reviews) | More about this product
Price: $12.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
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Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Common People 4:38$1.29 Buy Track
listen  2. It Hasn't Happened Yet 3:46$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. You'll Have Time 5:15$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. That's Me Trying 3:45$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. What Have You Done 1:43$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. Together 5:36$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Familiar Love 3:57$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Ideal Woman 2:22$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Has Been 2:16$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. I Can't Get Behind That 3:00$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. Real 3:08$0.99 Buy Track

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Image of album by William Shatner

Biography

The crew of the Starship Enterprise no longer soars through the galaxy under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, but they continue to inhabit the airwaves on a number of pop and rock recordings. The Vulcan Mr. Spock, aka Leonard Nimoy, Lieutenant Uhura, aka Nichelle Nichols, and several others from the series' next generation of actors have released albums, and Kirk -- actually his alter ego,… Read more in Amazon's William Shatner Store

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Frequently Bought Together

Has Been + The Transformed Man + Spaced Out: The Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner
Price For All Three: $34.46

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  • This item: Has Been ~ William Shatner

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    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
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  • The Transformed Man ~ William Shatner

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
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  • Spaced Out: The Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner ~ Leonard Nimoy

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (January 8, 2007)
  • Original Release Date: October 5, 2004
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Shout! Factory
  • ASIN: B0002RUPH4
  • Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (231 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,995 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #39 in  Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy > Comedic Music > Novelty Music
    #48 in  Music > Miscellaneous > Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews > Spoken Word

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After his rendition of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" on the infamous Golden Throats album (though it first appeared on the Transformed Man LP), one could argue that the world needed a new William Shatner album about as much as it needed a big-screen remake of TJ Hooker. But Shatner's back all the same with an intriguing, introspective collection of mostly spoken-word tracks that are all the more compelling when it becomes clear that Has Been is, in fact, no joke. Ben Folds played on and produced the record, creating rich, melodic, and varied pop musical backgrounds to Shatner's world-weary, boozy-suave yet thoroughly impassioned delivery. Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins, Brad Paisley, and Adrian Belew also stop by to lend their divergent talents. Highlights include the Rollins/Shatner rant "I Can't Get Behind That" and the Folds/Mann/Shatner collaboration "That's Me Trying", which tells the painful story of an attempted family reconciliation. Shatner mixes a healthy amount of self-awareness with a just a dollop of self-mockery and then combines it all with plenty of raw vulnerability to create an effect that is surprisingly touching, highly entertaining, and unlike any music you've ever heard. --John Moe

Amazon.com Exclusive Footage
William Shatner was recently caught on tape by paparazzi responding to reports that some people hadn’t yet heard his new album. See him read Amazon.com customer reviews of Has Been as he makes his case: high bandwidth, low bandwidth.

Product Description

From pop-culture icon William Shatner comes Has Been, an album unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Produced and arranged by Ben Folds and featuring numerous notable guest appearances, Has Been is the result of the collision of two great creative forces — a surprisingly pop-driven, lyrically potent collection of songs to enlighten and entertain.

Throughout Has Been, Shatner’s own insightful lyrics are masterfully woven into perfect pop melodies written and arranged by Ben Folds. Giving Shatner and Folds a hand on the project is an incredible lineup of singers and musicians, including Jon Auer, Adrian Belew, Matt Chamberlain, Joe Jackson, Lemon Jelly, Aimee Mann, Brad Paisley, Henry Rollins and Sebastian Steinberg.

Highlights include the poignant "That’s Me Trying," penned by Ben Folds with High Fidelity author Nick Hornby, a brilliant version of the Pulp Britpop classic "Common People," featuring vocals by Joe Jackson and closing track, "Real," a duet with country star Brad Paisley, written exclusively for this project.

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Customer Reviews

231 Reviews
5 star:
 (169)
4 star:
 (50)
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 (1)
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 (2)
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (231 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
120 of 121 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Surprise Of The Year, October 9, 2004
By Dean Esmay (Westland, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I would never have believed I'd give a five star review to a William Shatner album, and be serious about it. But I am serious. Kudos to both Shatner and to the producer Ben Folds for this brilliant little gem of an album.

For those sneering without hearing, I'll merely note that if you remember the William Shatner Priceline commercials, you'll have some idea what this CD is like. Only it's even better than those were.

The hard-rocking (yes hard-rocking!) Common People kicks the album off perfectly. From there we have an astonishingly wide array of tracks, some moody, some wistful, some funny, but none of it ever truly descending into camp or schmaltz. One track is a genuinely moving tribute to his tragically deceased wife. Another is one that every child of divorce will recognize and empathize with. Then there's the duet with Henry Rollins, in which both men are simply hilarious.

Quite simply, this album is excellent listening. It's the surprise of the year: a good, genuinely very, very good, William Shatner album. It's worth owning just for the title track alone, but everything on here is good. Highly recommended.
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79 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Shatner Comes Alive, Or, I Can Get Behind That, October 10, 2004
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This CD is not at all what I expected. I have long been a fan of William Shatner's "singing" most notably on the Golden Throats CDs and on his remarkable album "Transformed Man" from many years ago. The reason that I liked the previous efforts was clearly due to the over-the-top cheese value of an untalented singer crooning out classics like "Mister Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" with severe rhythm impairment, not to mention original efforts like "Spleen" featuring such delicious phrases as "my bent skull" peppered throughout. Everyone laughed at these songs, and as he got older, so did Shatner himself. I thought it was great when he signed up to sing in the Priceline.com television commercials. He clearly realizes in his own self-deprecating way, that he is a poor singer, and that that is why people beg for him to sing.

When I saw he was releasing a CD of new material, I feared for the worst, but I was most certainly wrong to be concerned. Shatner still can't sing, but has now written material that largely allows him to get by with his sing-speaking technique that is more akin to a dramatic recital set to music than a real song. In this case, Shatner teamed up with talented pop star Ben Folds, who scored most of the music and produced the CD, and much to my amazement, the album isn't especially funny in the traditional sense, but it is good. Mostly it is interesting and introspective into Shatner's real life. Some of the songs are really dark and almost painful to listen to, where others are lighthearted and wacky. My favorites on the CD are "Real" written by country star Brad Paisley (who also sings on the track), and the odd title track "Has Been" which has an interesting backing track. My hands down favorite on the CD, though, is "I Can't Get Behind That" performed with co-writer Henry Rollins (!), which is at once a hilarious rant, and simultaneously a legitimate and valid piece of societal criticism. I too am especially annoyed by leaf blowers (the most futile machine in the universe) and inattentive drivers talking on their cell phones, and I love hearing Bill and Henry screaming about these issues and more.

This CD is absolutely impossible to categorize: it isn't so bad it's funny like "Transformed Man", and Shatner still isn't a great singer, but I really enjoy this CD. I like that Shatner is secure enough to relax and laugh at himself. It took guts to make this album (without trying to be excessively camp), and took guts for Ben Folds and other guests to put their reputations on the line collaborating on this. It was certainly worth the risk: without question "Has Been" is far better than anything currently in the Top 40 and is funny and charming to boot.
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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great, isn't it?, October 23, 2004
By Just Another Number (Cardiff, Wales, UK) - See all my reviews
I approached this album with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, having heard Bill's jaw-dropping cover version of Common People. I was looking forward to hearing it, expecting lashings of excrutiating yet laugh-a-minute so-bad-it's-good comedy.

And yes, I found it, the comedy's there. On songs like You're Gonna Die and the magnificient title track, but it's genuine, ballsy, rapier-edged wit - not half-assed, lame attempts at laughs.

But what I wasn't expecting was the genuinely heartfelt warmth of feeling on some of the other tracks.

That's Me Trying, Real and - one of the standouts - Together, really are emotionally moving; the musical arrangements are effortless yet exemplary, and Shatner's lyrics are nicely poetic but still accesible.

However, the most striking thing on these more contemplative tracks is the man's voice. Shatner moves away from the deadpan bemusement we might be familiar with on the more humorous songs - and his voice becomes remarkably tender and touching.

I think every track on this album hits the target it aims for. The grumpy-old-man rant he shares with Henry Rollins on I Can't Get Behind That captures quite perfectly the feeling of frantically struggling with the pace of change in the modern world. And of course that cover of Pulp's classic Common People is just great, Shatner's North American (I know he's Canadian) take on singing about such British concepts as fags, flats and chips achieves just the right level of wry detachment - just as Jarvis Cocker did in his arch original perfomance, though in a subtly different way.

Spot on!




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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greeks valued their great orators. I can get behind that.
I am glad I took the chance to get this cd, not being sure that the 60's vibe I enjoyed on "Transformed Man" would translate well to today's styles. Read more
Published 21 days ago by K. Krause

1.0 out of 5 stars Find the mixer and break his fingers
"that's me trying" is awesome and simply fantastic ... if you could only hear it. BUT YOU CANT because the idiot mixer has the lame muxic louder than anything Shatner is saying!
Published 2 months ago by Pissantra

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, self-aware, at times insightful - great rainy day album
First off, for all the people who are complaining that Shatner can't/doesn't sing, I think you are missing the point. An album does not necessarily have to be singing. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Marie L

5.0 out of 5 stars A Visionary Look at Pure Wisdom
Bravo! William Shatner for shattering the myth that everyone over 50 is teetering on the edge of uselessness and senility. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Travec Tiy

5.0 out of 5 stars So good that it's GREAT!
My predecessors in this review-line have said it all quite well. Suffice it for me to add that I was expecting "so bad that it's good," a la Shatner's "Rocket Man," "Mr... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Paul McComas

1.0 out of 5 stars Label me astounded
The fact that this piece of garbage can average 4.5 stars proves everything that is wrong with the Amazon rating system.
Published 7 months ago by Ryan Goedken

5.0 out of 5 stars Shatner and Folds, a Match Made in Heaven
It's always great when you run across an album you can play into the ground and never tire of. It's even greater when it's an album you couldn't have imagined buying in the first... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Robert F. Gaydos

5.0 out of 5 stars has been/still is
William Shatner has excelled himself with this album. That voice conjures up so many emotions and tells such heartfelt stories. Read more
Published 10 months ago by thibault

5.0 out of 5 stars Oddly Beautiful
I bought this CD as a lark when I heard the track "You'll Have Time" (AKA, 'You're Gonna' Die.') I loved that track for it's flat out lack of subtley and it's pure basicness... Read more
Published 11 months ago by dcitrow

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Convert
I was working in a music store when this one came out. My manager was going to put it on and I begged him not to. He insisted, though, so I gave it a shot. Wow. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Formal Treehouse

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Has Been
72% buy the item featured on this page:
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