Has Been or Denny Crane?

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Shatner’s Has Been album was in my iTunes shopping cart, all ready for checkout and download, but Jim Hart gives me pause. So, should I go for it? Or is it enough to just watch Boston Legal?

Update: Well, I’m going to wait for Has Been to turn up in some future bargain bin. Meanwhile, the money I would have spent on it has instead gone into Spanish Dances: Selections from Ruiz de Ribaya’s “Luz Y Norte”. Lovely, exotic album, and the second track is especially evocative.

Comments

  1. Jim says:
    2004-10-10 at 00:52

    Oh, dude, you’re a long-time Trek fan – ultimately you have to get it, even if you decide it to be awful…. Go to the website and listen to the various clips (http://www.shatnerhasbeen.com/). The problem with “Common People” (and I really stopped listening to it after that) was the wierd convergence of a song laden with class issues being twisted up into kitsch, and the weird embarrasing Joe Jackson stuff. I think if I’d heard another of the songs first, I’d have been able to stomach it.

    Really, though, as much as I enjoy Shatner, I would never have bothered to listen to any of it if I didn’t have access to the whole album on Rhapsody.

    As I’m sitting here now listening to more of the album and thinking about it, I have to caution against it ultimately. And the main reason is that you’re thinking about buying it on iTunes. Since there’s virtually no musical value in the album, the only reason I can think to actually spend money on the thing is for the kitsch value, and the only way it will provide kitsch value is if you have a physical product to pull off a shelf in ten years. Really, just listen to the clips on the website, giggle a bit, and stick to the Boston Legal episodes. That any good, by the way?

  2. filmgoerjuan says:
    2004-10-10 at 04:15

    Just ask yourself this: Did anyone who bought “The Transformed Man” regret that decision?

    There’s your answer ;)

  3. rowie says:
    2004-10-10 at 10:28

    Off topic. Regarding the Spam picture below … do you know that there’s now a restaurant here that serves different dishes with one common ingredient: SPAM? It’s in Glorietta I think.

  4. Paulo says:
    2004-10-10 at 20:41

    Thanks, Jim. Being a moderate Shatner fan, I’ll hold off on buying it from iTunes and wait for the CD to turn up in some future bargain bin. Boston Legal is great, by the way. I can watch Denny Crane for a whole hour and never once think “Captain Kirk.”