Another Form of Relief

I’ve been planning to write about William Shatner for a little while now, but was finally spurred into action by Tim’s post at the excellent People of Paper. He put up a little Ben Folds Five material, and also included Shatner’s cover of Pulp’s ‘Common People’, which was produced by Folds. If you haven’t heard this little masterpiece, head on over there and get it. You won’t be disappointed.

The Shatner/Folds story goes back a lot further though, starting with a collaboration all the way back in 1998, for Folds’ side-project, Fear Of Pop. Fear Of Pop was Folds’ way of putting out completely different music to what the Five were making at the time, allowing him to dabble in electronica, soul and random instrumentation. One of the more intriguing parts of the album though, was ‘In Love’, featuring Shatner reciting the lyrics. Anyone who has heard Shatner’s early forays into the world of music will likely be sceptical that anything he does could actually be any good, but the work here was a pleasant surprise. Of course, it’s all very ironic, but that’s what Shatner does best. A rambling poem over a drum machine and some pleasant backing vocals from Folds made this one of the most entertaining songs on the album.

MP3 Fear of Pop feat. William Shatner - In Love (expired)

Six years later, it was time for Shatner to release another solo album (his first in nearly forty years), and thankfully, Ben Folds was on call to oversee the entire project. Folds drafts in a bunch of others, including Lemon Jelly, Nick Hornby and Henry Rollins, leaving us with one of the strangest musicial combinations in quite some time, but one that somehow manages to work. The main reason it does is that it’s all carried out with a wry smile. Shatner knows that is a useless singer, and plays that up no end, sticking with a spoken word delivery that actually ends up fitting the tone perfectly, particularly on things like the ‘Common People’ cover. And seeing as he’s in on the joke, it all becomes wonderfully ironic. That’s not to say it all works well, some of the albums attempt at more serious fare flounders a little, but if you’re willing to just take it for what it is, it’s a hell of a lot of fun

MP3 William Shatner - I Can’t Get Behind That (expired)
MP3 William Shatner - That’s Me Trying (expired)
MP3 William Shatner - You’ll Have Time (expired)

‘I Can’t Get Behind That’ is the perfect example of Shatner not taking himself seriously in the least. The duet with Henry Rollins is essentially two bitter old men rambling about everything that bugs them. “I can’t get behind so called singers / That can’t carry a tune / Get paid for talking / How easy is that? / Well maybe I could get behind that” bellows Shatner, fully aware of the irony and easily heading off the possible criticisms that would be levelled at him if he was taking all of this seriously. ‘That’s Me Trying’ is an actually quite touching account (written by Nick Hornby) of a father trying to reach out to his estranged daughter. This is the kind of thing that could quite easily work as a typical Folds ballad, but the spoken word delivery of Shatner gives it an incredibly human feel. ‘You’ll Have Time’ is just a downright hilarious look at mortality, somehow managing to draft in an entire choir to gleefully celebrate that “you’re gonna die”.

If you want to explore more of the awesomeness that is William Shatner, you can trying his official website where you can read all about, erm, his dvd club and how he just sold a kidney stone for $75,000. Thankfully this was for charity and not just to an obsessed Trekkie, but even so, who in their right mind pays that for a bloody kidney stone? Just as amusingly, you can also be his friend on Myspace! Seriously, even William Shatner has a Myspace. What on earth is the world coming to?