archenemy blog

I give you the Shat (reproduced in its entirety, Globe archives, silly corporation, etc., etc. - ok, mostly just to try out WP’s ‘more’ and ‘page’ features):

Shatner boldly goes back into the studio

By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff | November 3, 2004

There are certain artistic endeavors that shouldn’t work, but do, and we just can’t explain why. Such is the case with “Has Been,” the musical collaboration between actor William Shatner and pop songwriter Ben Folds, released earlier this month. Theirs is the sort of unholy coupling that screams novelty but promises little in the way of songs that a person might actually want to listen to, let alone take to heart. Shatner’s last recording was 1968’s “The Transformed Man,” which featured conceptually elusive spoken-word interpretations of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” To the question of why he waited 35 years to make his second album, Shatner, on the phone from Los Angeles, replies succinctly but not bitterly: “Nobody asked me.”