Dok (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cyberinsekt) wrote,@ 2008-05-12 23:30:00 |
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William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man
Few. Actors have ever. Created a style that bears their name, that is. Immediately recognised as. Their own.
In essence, that's why William Shatner has enjoyed such success. You can't quite believe what you're seeing, and certainly not what you're hearing. By breaking up the cadence of regular sentences, he created a style that is uniquely his own. In the hands of a more polished actor, it might achieve the effect of making his words seem more both measured and more naturalistic. It could be the voice of a man digging deep for the right phrase. But this is Shatner, a man who is hammier than an air-dried prosciutto.
That he brought the same style of delivery to his music is an unalloyed delight. It also suggests that the man is quite aware of how the world perceives him, and doesn't want to spoil the fun by stepping out of character. And yet, maybe this wasn't always so. His version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man comes from Shatner's 1968 album The Transformed Man, in which dramatic readings of Shakespeare sit next to dramatic readings of '60s pop. It hardly suggests the most grounded perspective.
But perspective be damned. Sometimes the sheer lack of taste that accompanies the blithely self-unaware is the greater gift. Who else could have produced something as extraordinary as this? It might be wrong on any number of levels, but it's still fascinating and compelling.
William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man
Few. Actors have ever. Created a style that bears their name, that is. Immediately recognised as. Their own.
In essence, that's why William Shatner has enjoyed such success. You can't quite believe what you're seeing, and certainly not what you're hearing. By breaking up the cadence of regular sentences, he created a style that is uniquely his own. In the hands of a more polished actor, it might achieve the effect of making his words seem more both measured and more naturalistic. It could be the voice of a man digging deep for the right phrase. But this is Shatner, a man who is hammier than an air-dried prosciutto.
That he brought the same style of delivery to his music is an unalloyed delight. It also suggests that the man is quite aware of how the world perceives him, and doesn't want to spoil the fun by stepping out of character. And yet, maybe this wasn't always so. His version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man comes from Shatner's 1968 album The Transformed Man, in which dramatic readings of Shakespeare sit next to dramatic readings of '60s pop. It hardly suggests the most grounded perspective.
But perspective be damned. Sometimes the sheer lack of taste that accompanies the blithely self-unaware is the greater gift. Who else could have produced something as extraordinary as this? It might be wrong on any number of levels, but it's still fascinating and compelling.
William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man
