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Has Been
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 31 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Shout! Factory
Release Date: 05 October 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): [There is no word to explain this genre.]
Summary
Yes, it 'has been' a long time since the last William Shatner album (and with good reason), but the veteran recording artist returns for this collaboration with Ben Folds. Other guests include Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann and Adrian Belew, but sadly, no Leonard Nimoy.
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Playlouder
'Has Been' is just about as far as you could possibly get from your regular solo offering and as such arrives as one of the year's most strangely captivating albums.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
It may not be an album that's as funny or timeless as The Transformed Man, but Has Been is every bit as bizarre.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
For an album I approached ready to shrug off as sheer novelty, its humor and candor give it a fair amount of staying power.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
Fun, sad and oddly affecting... [a] highly enjoyable album that will catch you off guard. [#8, p.112]
ShakingThrough.net
It's that sobering confessional quality that gives the album an unexpected dose of depth and grace.
Read Full Review >Uncut
It is definitely deserving of the cult status that it will inevitably earn. [Dec 2004, p.138]
New Musical Express
Listen once, chuckle lightly, rip 'Together,' then run a fucking mile. [9 Oct 2004, p.57]
Mojo
Big issues... are chewed over with bittersweet humour and musical sophistication. [Nov 2004, p.110]
Q Magazine
Great non-rap spoken-word albums comprise a list shorter than Wiiliam Shatner's critically acclaimed film roles. Yet [Shatner and Folds] have got closer here than most. [Dec 2004, p.144]
The Guardian
This CD is beyond good or bad. It is from a world where concepts such as "unique" and "indispensible" live happily alongside "hilariously, brain-tearingly wrong".
Read Full Review >Village Voice
On the scale of Singing Shat, Has Been ranks above the Shakespeare rap in Free Enterprise, but below "Mr. Tambourine Man."
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
Despite somber interludes like the Shatner-only confession of his third wife’s death, “What Have You Done?” or the subtly rich “Together,” Has Been does little to rescue the Priceline spokesman from the novelty bin.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
The problem, of course, is that Shatner knows he’s Shatner now. And so does everyone else. It’s the joke that stops being funny after you hear the premise.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
nemo 20000 gave it a10:
I'm no Shatner fanboy. Thought Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was ludicrous. Never watched TJ Hooker. Didn't buy his books. Heard this CD by accident. Oh wow. Just ignore the Metacritic score. Pity the professional critics who were so busy laughing at Shatner they forgot to listen to the music or, more importantly, Bills lyrics - for all but three tracks are co-written by the man himself, and they are hauntingly biographical. Ignore those pundits, trust these reviewers. This is a must-have CD, and you will love it. You will put it on auto-repeat (but not shuffle, no no no). You will play it to your friends and probably discover, as I did, that they already have it, but were too ashamed to mention. Well it's Captain Kirk 'innit? As the closing number puts it "though there's part of me in that guy you've seen, up there on that screen, I am so much more". Believe it.
Stephen H gave it a10:
Wonderful, funny and touching -- words that one would not immediately ascribe to Mr. Shatner's on-stage personas, but which apply to the breadth of emotion and talent he has loaned to this album. It moved me.
David S gave it a10:
It is massively surprising how good this album is - it's so full of raw emotion that you'll find that you don't mind the spoken-word style any more. Further still, you'll find yourself liking it.
Wayne N gave it a10:
It's just fantastic! I was not particularly a William Shatner fan before this album and didn't even know he had recorded a previous album. But I quite simply can't stop listening to this CD, it is well balanced and at times funny and sad, pure genuis. 10/10
Robert J gave it a10:
Quite surprisingly, it's a wonderful album.
James F gave it a10:
This album is extremely addicting and I have listend to hit hundreds of times in the past week I have had it. It has everything. Bill is a poet and Folds is a genius.
Nate A gave it a9:
A one of a kind experience to say the least, and It's a lot better than it has any right to be. Sure, it's hit and miss at times, but when it hits...brilliant. Common People, Has Been, and I Can't Get Behind That (a hilarious rant-fest w/ Henry Rollins) are worth the price of admission alone. If you're reading this you're obviously interested in this CD...try it, you won't be disappointed.
