Weekly Music Review: Has Been
 

Automatically generated comment thread for Weekly Music Review: Has Been.

I don't care what anybody says to the contrary; this was one of the best albums of 2004. Brad Paisley was, however, one of my least favorite things about this album. I still wish there was a follow-up record but it's hard to imagine a second one up to this quality.

The Rollins duet is my favorite I think, but I gotta say this album is the culmination of a career arc. I've been championing Shatner as a force of nature or over twenty years now. I did an imitation of him reading Moody Blues poetry as part of my original stand up set in the early eighties. His halting, sometimes spazzy Captian Kirk rhythms informed acting style. I'm not claiming he was anything but a cheesy B actor, but he was the king of cheesy B actors and his presence catapulted everything he did past B acting into something entirely transcendent. When he first started doing comedy (Think that SNL sketch, or his performance in Airplane II or III, whichever it was) I think he really found his mark, and on Has Been, which has more than it's share of comic moments, he moves beyond classification into just being Shatner the way Brando was just Brando and Nicholson is just Nicholson.

Really? Shatner? REALLY?? I mean if you guys say so I'll give it a try. Maybe I'm too young but my whole life this guy has just been a living joke.

This is actually one of my favorite albums. I'm the music manager at Barnes and Noble and I put this cd up as a staff recommendation (I also play a couple tracks in the store over our stereo system) and I heard a customer say to his wife that if he had seen that was a staff recommendation he would have left immediately and not bought anything. My favorite songs are That's me Trying and You'll Have Time, any song with a choir singing the name Joey Ramone is awesome in my book.

I mistook Henry Rollins for Fred Willard. :( I love this whole damn album.

Max, it was Airplane II (Gods I am such a nerd for knowing that) and he does the most incredible sendup of himself doing Captain Kirk ("The lights, they're FLASHING and they're BEEPING ...."). His charm is in not taking himself at all seriously - heck, look at all those Priceline commercials. I loved "The Transformed Man" by the way.

The Shat is one of the coolest men alive. Kids these days don't have a clue, I tell you. "The Transformed Man" is fantastic, and his performance at the 1978 Sci-Fi Film Awards set a new standard. Five pickles all the way.

Now to set a new standard - of nerddom! Watch the Shat's masterful performance as Buck Murdock in "Airplane II" courtesy of Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCl6RCGkPuo

Got to agree with our dear Mr. Burbank here. The duet with Rollins is ten shades of brilliance. Anyone whose listened to that particular track has had to have some one else to sing along with them (ok maybe not SING per sey) as it was on.Great choice most honorable RoG!

One of the things I always loved about this album, was how pathetic every song title sounded. Even the record title sounded sad for the shat.....at least he can take that stuff in stride and not get upset every time someone plays "It hasn't happened yet".....

Shatner/Spock For President!!!

I admit I haven't heard this yet, but I have been curious about it ever since I heard his interview where he plugged it on Preston and Steve (A free podcast I listen to in case you were wondering. :P ) I will have to give it a try when I go on my next CD spree.

Just listen to a few samples of it on Amazon.com if you're not sold on it yet. Trust me, if you buy it, I guarantee you'll be replaying it constantly for a long time to come.

This is definitely my favorite album of 2004, and since Tom Waits came out with an album that same year, that says a LOT coming from me.

wow, shatner? I will certainly try this out, thanks RoG

This album was just way too good. Why? Because William Shatner never takes himself seriously. Ever. It's all so damned hillarious and at the same time well put together. Plus I love Rollins. This guy will do anything if it's rad enough and hearing him and Shatner going tongue and cheek back and forth is nothing short of brilliance.

There's seriously ass-bad bands from Norway that could actually learn something from this album. Namely that if you're going to act like a fucking joke, at least enjoy it. And nothing says "no talent joke" like running around in studs and a leather codpiece. Shatner's more hardcore then the Viking poop-eaters. Shatner rules.

Thanks for manning up to reality, Shatner, and not taking yourself any more seriously than the rest of us do.

I think the whole reason Shatner is still so popular is that he's realized that fans are more important than critics, that he was never that great of an actor to begin with, and that he has limitations that he can work with.

I think it's that open acceptance of his limitations that makes him so awesome.

Doesn't this album contain the track "No Tears For Ceasar". If so, I'm surprised that there was no mention of it in this article.

That track is definitely not on the album, unless there's an import version with bonus tracks or something.

I am not surprised at all that an album from William Shatner is worth listening to.