Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk

First and foremost, hope everyone is enjoying their morning.  Over the weekend, I was able to catch up on some of my less than distorted tunes an kick back with some blues/jazz with a cup of coffee.

While scanning through the top selling albums on the internet, I came across quite the interesting concept.  For those of you not aware, Hugh Laurie (actor, House MD) has been gaining quite the reputation not only as an actor, but as a talented musician as well.



He is a very diverse performer, ranging from singing, to sax, guitar, and also piano!  His debut album titled "Let Them Talk" was released on May 9, 2011 via Warner Bros Records.

“There is a musicality to words. They are instruments, in a way. They are notes, and there is a particular way of sounding a note where sometimes, like it or not, in this particular idiom, to sing a sort of defiantly English version is as jagged and musically wrong as playing a wrong note. You’d just be hitting the wrong note by saying ‘chance’ instead of ‘chair-nce’.” - Hugh Laurie (taken from Culture Magazine)



In this album, Laurie gives us a reason why he is featured on songs in his hit show House.  The track that instantly caught my attention was 'Battle of Jericho' (track #5).  The southern twang and the blues really became predominant in this track, which is what Laurie was trying to offer fans of the album.  Even though Laurie's voice could use a little touch up, the other instruments and compositions make up for the lack of vocal range.



Other tracks in the album feature performers such as Dr. John, Irma Thomas and Sir Tom Jones.  Overall, I enjoyed my Sunday morning/afternoon quite nicely with this album and hope that others will check out his work.  Be sure to check out his website (Hugh Laurie Blues.com) dedicated entirely to his music efforts and links to various sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc...



Laurie also revealed he will be releasing a special edition of his debut album "Let Them Talk".

1. Saint James Infirmary
2. You Don t Know My Mind
3. Six Cold Feet
4. Buddy Bolden s Blues
5. Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho
6. After You ve Gone
7. Swanee River
8. The Whale Has Swallowed Me
9. John Henry
10. Police Dog Blues
11. Tipitina
12. Winin Boy Blues
13. They re Red Hot
14. Baby, Please Make A Change
15. Let Them Talk
16. Guess I'm A Fool
17. It Ain't Necessarily So
18. Lowdown, Worried and Blue

The special edition also includes a beautiful bound 44-page booklet with exclusive photos and the CD includes three bonus tracks.  Click here to purchase an online copy.

Music has been present in Hugh Laurie’s career in some form or another since the days of Fry & Laurie, even working its way into House, the American television series that turned him into an international star in the 2000s. Without House, Laurie would never have been granted the opportunity to record an album like 2011’s Let Them Talk, a full-blooded immersion into American blues via New Orleans, shepherded by acclaimed roots producer Joe Henry and featuring such Big Easy heavy-hitters as Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, and Irma Thomas. To his enormous credit, Laurie never sounds like a dilettante among this group; he holds his own, working his way into the marrow of the songs, playing credible piano throughout the record. Which isn’t to say that he quite makes this selection of standards his own, either. There are reworkings and reinterpretations, “Tipitina” in particular being turned on its head, but the problem with Let Them Talk isn’t the guts and blood of the music, or the slightly studious air Henry cultivates. No, the problem is how Laurie’s blues accent inevitably slides into affectations quite familiar from House. He can’t help it, that’s his American accent, but it’s disarming to have a number cooking along and all of a sudden Princeton Plainsboro’s favorite misanthrope has taken the lead. -All Music



So blues is played as jazz, jazz standards are played as blues, bluegrass is played as soul, and so on. 19th century standard Old Folks At Home is even re-invented as a Cajun / boogie-woogie stomp on Swanee River. Only Robert Johnson‘s They’re Red Hot is played wholly straight, a joint-jumping 72-second palate cleanser.


Aside from the impeccable musicianship, Laurie chooses collaborators judiciously, notably the New Orleans legends Dr John and Irma Thomas. The only truly puzzling guest artist is Tom Jones, whose chest-beating bulgy-veined shtick on Baby Please Make A Change runs wholly contrary to the slick, breezy style of the rest of the album. -Music OMH