Has Been | ||||
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Studio album by William Shatner | ||||
Released | October 5, 2004 | |||
Genre | Indie rock, spoken word | |||
Length | 39:49 | |||
Label | Shout! Factory | |||
Producer | Ben Folds | |||
William Shatner chronology | ||||
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Singles from Has Been | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The Guardian | neutral |
Pitchfork Media | 7.5/10 |
Has Been (2004) is William Shatner's second musical album after 1968's The Transformed Man.
The album was produced and arranged by Ben Folds and most of the songs are co-written by Folds and Shatner, with Folds creating arrangements for Shatner's prose-poems, and features guest appearances from Joe Jackson (on a cover of Pulp's "Common People"), Folds and Aimee Mann (backup vocals on "That's Me Trying"), Lemon Jelly (on "Together"), Henry Rollins and Adrian Belew (on "I Can't Get Behind That"), and Brad Paisley (on "Real", which he wrote specifically for Shatner).
Henry Rollins also talks about the making of the song "I Can't Get Behind That" on his spoken-word album Talk Is Cheap Vol IV.
In 2007, a ballet called Common People, set to Has Been, was created by Margo Sappington (of Oh! Calcutta! fame) and performed by the Milwaukee Ballet. Shatner attended the première and had the event filmed. This footage became William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, a feature film with a well received world première at the Nashville Film Festival on 17 April 2009. The documentary also features interviews with William Shatner, Ben Folds, and Henry Rollins.