By Steve Krutzler / 12:13, 13 August 2004 / People

William Shatner continues his foray into multiple media this fall when he will not just appear on ABC's new BOSTON LEGAL, but croon on a new CD produced by Ben Folds entitled HAS BEEN. The record contains songs written by the actor and performed by him and several guest vocalists. The new web site ShatnerHasBeen.com has launched, providing audio clips from the CD and audio interview bits with Shatner about each song.

HAS BEEN includes guest appearances by a range of artists such as Adrian Belew, Joe Jackson, Lemon Jelly, Aimee Mann, Brad Paisley, Henry Rollins, as well as Folds. Shatner's riffs -- something like a dramatic (or comedic?) reading -- are mixed with the singers' performances to create an interesting musical experience.

Shatner describes the creative process in one of the clips:

"I didn't want to be conventionally hidebound," he says. "I didn't want to go to Frank Sinatra, as much as I admire him. I wanted to go somewhere that was us -- Ben and me -- as Ben did. Now, Ben is the epitome of going somewhere else. But I didn't know that. When he said 'look, you write the material and let me fashion the song, that's my job, you write what you want to say, let me make the song'... what an open door that is, and that's what happened."

HAS BEEN includes a range of topics for Shatner, who writes about his relationship with his daughters in "That's Me Trying," talks of his wife in "Together," and his own press in "Has Been." He says the term shouldn't be used pejoratively, and the song pokes fun at the stabs he's often taken.

"I was reading a tabloid on the way to Nashville and I'm reading something that someone said about me the 'has been'," he explains. "I thought, what a weird term to apply to anybody, but especially to me because I don't feel like a 'has been'. I thought, these people who write things like that don't have any idea--'has been' should really be a term that's salutory. 'Hey, he has been... something. He has been a great chef, he has been a great driver, he has been a great father'. Now, the child's gone, the restaurant burned down, the horse has died, you know, so 'he has been a great rider, but no longer because he doesn't have the horse, but he has been'. So when I said that 'has been' is history, 'has been' was... and 'has been' might again."

HAS BEEN will be, in fact, on October 5th. You can pre-order now to support TrekWeb.