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Has Been
 
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Has Been

~ William Shatner
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
Price: £8.48 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Has Been + The Transformed Man + Spaced Out - The Very Best of William Shatner & Leonard Nimoy
Price For All Three: £22.24

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Product details

  • Audio CD (4 Oct 2004)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Epic
  • ASIN: B0002XK4CO
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 12,786 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in these categories:

    #29 in  Music > Miscellaneous > Novelty
    #99 in  Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

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 (Album Version) 4:38£0.69
Listen  2. It Hasn't Happened Yet (Album Version) 3:46£0.69
Listen  3. You'll Have Time (Album Version) 5:15£0.69
Listen  4. That's Me Trying (Album Version) 3:45£0.69
Listen  5. What Have You Done (Album Version) 1:43£0.69
Listen  6. Together (Album Version) 5:36£0.69
Listen  7. Familiar Love (Album Version) 3:57£0.69
Listen  8. Ideal Woman (Album Version) 2:22£0.69
Listen  9. Has Been (Album Version) 2:16£0.69
Listen10. I Can't Get Behind That (Album Version) 3:00£0.69
Listen11. Real (Album Version) 3:08£0.69

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Ah, the ultimate musical joke. William Shatner, well known for his 60s Transformed Man LP (containing unequivocally the worst Beatles cover ever), returns to do what he does second-best, creating Has Been with help from his famous conspirators like Joe Jackson, Henry Rollins, Lemon Jelly, and Ben Folds. But the situation seems to be reversed--is Shatner deliberately playing up to his thespian tendencies for laughs?

Part of the appeal of his earlier album was that he was earnest and serious, despite the nonsense poured out. But here, the irony has turned in on itself creating one long paradoxical knot. Here's a 72 year-old actor narrating Pulp's "Common People" a song that defines Britain for anyone currently aged between 25 and 35, complete with a punk-rock middle-eight. It's impossible to discern if he's the joke or the listener is, or both, or neither. Likewise, the poetry by Shatner, backed by Lemon Jelly on "Together"--is this Lemon Jelly's toytown chillout gone too far? Whether it's good, and why depends entirely on the listener--is this the ultimate novelty record or something more credible? As Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel once said "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" --Thom Allott



Product Description

Famed for his unusually kitsch and incredibly unique approach to music, William Shatner’s Has Been is more of the same. Features the Pulp classic, "Common People", plus ten other tracks.

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Customer Reviews

38 Reviews
5 star:
 (19)
4 star:
 (19)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (38 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars William Shatner's Has Been, 2 Jun 2005
By C. V. Henry - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I work in a Library and this CD came up as part of an exchange between library's in the pop section. Those of us who heard it all have differing taste etc, but we just loved this album. Your' gonna die is hilarious and I thank Mr Shatner for bringing such joy to what can sometimes be a world too full of its own self-importance.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, 27 Sep 2005
By Jason Mills "jason10801" (Accrington, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
This album is funny when it wants to be, serious when it wants to be, brilliant throughout. It's impossible to ridicule Shatner because he does it so well himself; he's got there first.

Ben Folds has created a superb musical environment for these songs(?), whilst Shatner's lyrics are often subtle and always honest. Did you ever see "Dumb & Dumber"? It's like that - it shouldn't work, but it does!

With input from Joe Jackson and Brad Paisley, among others, the album's only problem is that it's so good that it always draws your full attention. You have been warned!

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Shatner returns after a short 36 year absence, 7 Oct 2004
By Stoofer "QA Manager" (Oxfordshire, England) - See all my reviews
Anyone aware of Shatner will instantly think of MR TAMBORINE MAAAAAN! or Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, which either arouse hoots of laughter, or immediate hatred from those with no humour.

"Has Been" opens with a cover of Pulp's Common People... while you may think that he's continuing in the same vein as Transformed Man, this is not the case and you cant help but take the album seriously once you're half way into it. Sure there are still smiles to be had, but they're of a different kind.

Produced by Ben Folds (of Ben Folds Five fame) and featuring Adrian Belew, Joe Jackson, Lemon Jelly, Aimee Mann, Brad Paisley and Henry Rollins (amongst others) the musical composition actually oozes class. In Transformed Man, Shatners monologues were back by Star-Trekkish music - this is not the case with 'Has Been' and Shatner can be heard to actually sing correctly with choral or orchestral backgrounds.

Opening with a strong cover of 'Common People' that will have the listener smiling, the album follows with "It Hasn't Happened Yet" which sets the tone for what the album really is - it's about where Shatner is at the moment, and is a fairly personal album.

You'll have time is a strong track 3 designed to provoke thought, will at the least leave you smiling when constantly told that "you're gonna die." Other memorable tracks are the title track "Has Been" which is a stab at armchair critics "I can't Get Behind That" for one of the best last lines of a song ever.

If you liked Transformed Man in any way, this album is far better in every way. You wont be laughing at Shatner shouting familiar lines as if threatening the Klingons as Kirk, but you will come away appreciating the man more. You may not play the album much, but it's worthy of being in a collection.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Well well well
Bought after hearing the track Common People on You Tube and to be quite honest expecting a dire experience- how wrong could we be. Read more
Published 15 months ago by A. P. Duff

4.0 out of 5 stars Respect
So Shatner can't sing, so his Star Trek days are long gone. So what? Here we have a mature, self-aware human being who's been through some extraordinary times, but knows who he... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mr. G. C. Stone

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album
The music's great (as you'd expect from Ben Folds) and Shat draws you in with his delivery. Poignant lyrics in places. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Sean O'Brien

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good
William Shatner's music career has a bad press. His 1968 album The Transformed Man is pretty widely mocked by all and sundry. Read more
Published 22 months ago by D. Hughes

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucy in the sky with diamonds this aint...
It's a long tiem since his (and Nimoys) early musical careers blossomed, stank, and died. So the return of Shatner to the recording studio here sounded bizarre. Read more
Published on 11 Oct 2007 by Koncorde

4.0 out of 5 stars Nothing short of astonishing
William Shatner - cult.

So let's now forget that, and look at the album as a stand-alone work.

It works. Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2007 by C. Porter

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic!
My boyfriend introduced me to this album I thought he was mad. I only liked the first song (common people) and just skiped over the rest, that was till recently. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2007 by julie

4.0 out of 5 stars Quality
I was looking forward to hearing this album. I wanted to play it to my friends and laugh "at" the actor turned singer wannabee. And to a certain extent I did. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2006 by Mr. J. MCCAFFERTY

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm Shocked...
Bought this over Christmas as kind of a joke present for myself, but discovered that it is actually really, really good. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2006

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT kitsch or post-modern - simply an extraordinary album
I bought this album after hearing Shatner's version of Common People featuring Joe Jackson on the radio and enjoying it immensely. Read more
Published on 3 May 2005 by Mr. A. G. Beard

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Has Been
66% buy the item featured on this page:
Has Been 4.5 out of 5 stars (38)
£8.48
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