It’s an album that has already instigated a pedantic and infuriating game of Orwellian ‘double think’ over at magazines like the NME in Britain; are we to say it’s good and risk being ripped apart by the street savvy youth with his I-Pod and his copy of The Steet’s ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ or do we say it’s bad and risk missing the kitsch-retro post-modernist boat altogether? Or is this what folks are expecting? We’ll sit on the fence. We’ll namecheck the staggeringly infectious cover of Pulp’s ‘Common People’ and simply not comment on the rest..
And this is how it continues.
So lets get one thing straight: you’re more than likely to have made your mind up about this album or ready. But be ready for the unexpected all the same..
In a bizarre alternate universe it would of course seem entirely natural that a fading TV icon should mind meld with a crew as diverse as Lemon Jelly (‘Together’), Aimee Mann , Ben Folds, Henry Rollins and light-literature giant, Nick Hornby (‘That’s Me Trying’). So when it happens for real – in world populated by far more ordinary things – it seems all the more exceptional. I could be talking about the shock felt at seeing the collapse of the twin towers – but I’m not. I’m talking about the return of transformed man, William Shatner to rock history. It’s one of those things should never have happened. But with the release of new album ‘Has Been’ this month – it did happen. Only not with half as much cheese as was expected. Producer Ben Folds has managed to exact the square, arresting tenor of Shatner’s spoken voice and smoothed it over the mellow, Burt Bacharachisms of ‘It Hasn’t Happened Yet’ – gentle and autumnal and flirting with all the usual sixties curios including high-octave Star Trek signature tune vocal wail – the gospel flavoured and amusing ‘You’ll Have Time’ and the generously lachrymose and moving family drama of ‘That’s Me Trying’.
You might balk at the difficult heroic stature of the weakly defiant title track ‘Has Been’ and its awkward (and ultimately futile) slights to armchair critics of the Shat – but its one saving grace is that it’s amusing all the same – amusing and from the heart. Which is also what redeems such crooning, maudlin’ joys as ‘Familiar Love’ written for his wife Elizabeth and the uncomfortable narrative on the death of his previous wife on ‘What Have You Done?’ My only real gripe is with the tracks ‘Real’ and ‘Ideal Woman’ which betray the natural humour and candour of the remainder of the album, not least the immensely satisfying and tasty spoonful of Lemon Jelly on the magnificent ‘Together’ (produced, written and indeed won over by Lemon Jelly).
It’s cheesey, retro, self-depracating and kitsch yes, but it would be, it the Shat’. But beyond this there’s so much more.