Shatner’s Has Been Released

Well, it’s out, William Shatner’s new album, “Has Been” as hit the stores. Yes, I plan to get a copy of it. Unfortunately, it looks like it is lacking the rap piece he did for the movie “Free Enterprise.”

Fox News has the following to say:

NEW YORK — Just in time for Halloween comes a CD from a guy more likely to inspire a holiday costume than a musical following — William Shatner. The one-time James T. Kirk of “Star Trek” fame has released an 11-song collection this month, a follow-up to his 1968 spoken-word debut that garnered such critical infamy it became a camp classic.

So it must be asked: Is this a trick or a treat?

“It’s a treat for me,” Shatner, 73, said by telephone from Los Angeles, where he was taping an episode of “Boston Legal,” his latest TV show. “I hope nobody turns a trick on it.”

The new album — slyly titled “Has Been” — once again puts Shatner’s choppy, emphasis-added words to music. But this time he’s penned his own lyrics and tempered the cheese quotient with a few musical friends. Ben Folds, who produced and arranged the new album and co-wrote many of the songs, wrangled guest appearances by Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins and Brad Paisley.

I’ll have to swing by a couple of stores tomorrow to see if I can pick up a copy. So far, the reviews by the fans over on Amazon look very favorable.