William Shatner’s best album
In 2004, the fearless, brazen William Shatner released his second album Has Been, and I defy anyone who’s heard it to deny that it’s the best thing in the universe.
Oh sure, it’s easy to laugh. People have been yukking it up at the words “William Shatner album” since 1968’s The Transformed Man. That one probably deserves to be scorned as a waste of vinyl. But if so, Has Been wastes nothing, and William Shatner deserves mountains of praise for recording it.
7 reasons why Has Been is the best album ever
1. He doesn’t sing. Ha ha, right? He doesn’t need to sing. He’s the king of the spoken word. The man’s been performing since before most of us were born, and he knows how to use his glorious voice. He can get more truth and emotion into a whisper than an opera singer at full howl.
2. Other people sing. Ben Folds. Joe Jackson. Aimee Mann. Beat that.
3. He’s utterly honest and fearless. Unafraid to show people who he is and what he really thinks, the songs on this album are about his real life: interactions with fans (good and bad), horror at losing his wife to suicide, memories of being a starving actor, a bad father, a has been.
4. He’s outspoken. He knows what we think of him and he doesn’t care. He’s fat and old, and happier than a pig in shit.
5. He’s funny as hell. Check the song You’ll Have Time. It should be called You’re Gonna Die, because that’s what he talks about, backed by a gospel choir.
6. Because of the man he was. Have you seen Incubus, the 1965 Esperanto horror film? The man was a hot HOT young piece of meat.
7. Because of the man he is now. He’s nearly 80, and he ain’t going to live forever. He was 75 when he recorded the album. Yeah we all adore Star Trek TOS, but Has Been is his finest legacy as a performer, character and deathless personality.
You have a limited amount of time, so why spend it reading about things that suck or are only kind of okay? Favorite thing EVER is not a review site. We're unrepentant fans, and this is the stuff we love. Hope you like gushing, because we're about to embarrass ourselves.
YOU UNDERSTAND.
This is one of my favourite albums, and “You’ll Have Time” is one of my favourite songs. I don’t even feel the need to qualify that by saying, you know, “Considering it was recorded by The Shat.”
Well exactly! He had me at the “Joey Ramone” line.
I freaking love that album! Especially “But I’m Real” and “It Hasn’t Happened Yet.” But there are a LOT of amazing songs on there. I also love the one where he yells about how much he hates ads on TV. It always makes me think of the scene in Star Trek IV where he and Spock are horrified by the punk music. YOU CRAZY KIDS, GET OFF KIRK’S LAWN!
(I have to admit there are also a few songs I really dislike. I’m not a fan of the one about his daughter, and the song about his wife’s death kind of creeps me out–to me it feels too much like his standard attention whoring (remember when he pretended to see a UFO?) but on the WORST possible subject. However, I acknowledge that we all deal with grief differently, and that this is a subject on which reasonable adults can differ!)
They aren’t my favourites, but I kind of like the song about his wife’s suicide and the one about his daughter. They feel true to me, and I appreciate his openness. They’re not exactly rocking tunes, though.
Wiliam Shatner is so classy, he SIGNS HIS TWEETS. Seriously, dude has 140 characters to work with, and he commits 13 of them to “My best, Bill.”
I know! I love his tweets so much. He’s just so darn cool.
How did I miss this article when it first came out? How did I not know about this album? Why am I still typing instead of buying the album?
Buy the album! It’s brilliant!