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Captain Kirk Sings Pulp

added 22 July 2004 at 10.46

William Shatner (also known as Captain Kirk from cult TV series Star Trek) has been recording a new album of songs with Ben Fold’s Five singer, Ben Folds and an array of surprising guests.

The new record is actually Shatner’s second musical effort. His first ‘The Transformed Man’ came out in 1968 and featured quite remarkable versions of The Beatles 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' and a medley of the ‘To Be Or Not To Be’ soliloquy from Hamlet and Sinatra’s ‘It Was A Very Good Year’.

Now we can report that Shatner is preparing for the release of a new album ‘Has Been' on the Shout! Factory label this September. The record has been written and produced by Ben Folds and alongside Shatner’s own…. timeless… vocal… delivery… are contributions from Henry Rollins, Amy Mann and High Fidelity author Nick Hornby.

Also featured is a remarkable cover version of Pulp’s ‘Common People’ with Shatner dueting with ‘80s singer songwriter Joe Jackson.

"It is a great record and it is really worth going out and doing some shows in major cities," Folds told Billboard, before adding that Shatner was "not a musician at all. But he is still part of the music. I've never heard a record quite like it."

The pair knew each other since 1998, when the actor made a guest appearance in on Folds' first solo album ‘Fear of Pop, Vol. 1.’

In other Ben Folds cover version news, Fold's new EP (the third in a series of limited edition releases he’s been recording over the past year) ‘Super D’ will be released on August 3 and features a cover of The Darkness' ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’.

Folds will also be making a rare trip to the UK and Ireland to play a 10 date UK tour, his first live dates this side of the Atlantic since 1992.

The full dates of the solo ‘Ben Folds And A Piano Tour’ are:

• Leicester, De Montford hall (November 12)
• Manchester, Lowery (14)
• Dublin, Vicar Street (15)
• Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall (16)
• Sheffield, Octagon (18)
• Brighton, Dome (19)Warwick, Arts Centre (20)
• Southampton, Guild Hall (21)
• Cambridge, Corn Exchange (23)
• London, Barbican (25)
  

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