James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
Hugh Laurie the actor? Of course! Hugh Laurie the comedian? Sure! But Hugh Laurie the Blues singer? Well I wouldn’t have believed it either until the album Let Them Talk appeared in stores on Sunday 15th May. The album consists of 15 blues tracks from various artists such as Robert Johnson and Leroy Carr and have been performed by artists such as Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong and many other great jazz artists; a lot to live up to you would think, but remarkably the Englishman has done his country proud.
First glance at the track list and I am impressed to find an array of melancholy and up beat tunes; the compilation of which were all chosen by Laurie as was the instrumentation and featured choice of soloists. This in itself demands confidence in the man to know what he is doing and I settled down happily to an hour of easy listening music… And I was not disappointed.
The first track, 'St James Infirmary', immediately shows the adeptness of Laurie’s musical nature. He makes the piano sing, life flowing out into the stillness of the moment, and a pleasure to listen to. Three minutes into the piece and the mood swings into a quicker beat and Laurie comes in with his slightly nasal voice, a minor mar and anti-climax to the temper of the piece and also in each subsequent track, however as he puts it himself, “Let this record show that I am a white, middle-class Englishman, openly trespassing on the music and myth of the American south.” And he deals with this vocal situation well by either voice-acting, as he does in 'Buddy Bolden’s Blues', or speeding up tracks as he does in "Guess I’m a fool" and 'Swanee River'. And honestly who does have the deep dulcet tones of Tom Jones who features alongside him in After you’re gone or have the wonderfully charismatic voice of a classic such as Louis Armstrong?!
It is noticeable too that his voice suits the more up-beat and cursory tracks such as 'They’re Red Hot' while his guest soloists take on the more melancholy songs giving the album a chance to fluctuate through different types of moods. If his voice continues to grate however then the instrumentation certainly won’t fail to impress; with the saxophone solo being of particular note in 'Six Feet Under' in the Ground and the small glissandi on the string instruments adding flavour to each track.
But what makes Laurie’s album so enjoyable to listen to repeatedly is his obvious musical awareness and soulful instinct to each piece, the basic ingredients to any piece of music and in particular the blues. The reason for this albums existence is clearly a way for Laurie to share with the world his love for blues music and I for one am glad he did so.
As Laurie’s Album name clearly states to any who dare to criticise his work: let them talk.
If you like this try: Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf
Elvis Presley a jazz great?
Ignorant and subsequently inaccurate remarks such as this appear to be prevalent in a lot of the so called "writing" on this site at the moment.
As much as I like Hugh Laurie and admire his musical talents, I don't think his voice is suited to this style of music. His voice lacks the slow gravelly quality which makes this genre of music so easy to listen to.
Saying that, I have listened to this album multiple times and enjoyed it.
actually some would say elvis has his rock and roll rootz in jazz http://www.publicbookshelf.com/nonfiction/jazz-history/roots-jazz
I listened to a live performance of Laurie's on Radio 2 the other week. It was fun to begin with but his voice sounded whiny after a while. Still, he's got more musical talent than your average bear - just don't quit the day job.
Also, #1 "artists such as Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong and many other great jazz artists" From that, I think it's fairly ambiguous whether the author is claiming that Elvis was a jazz artist, otherwise it would read "Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley and many other great jazz artists". Elvis was probably influenced by jazz music anyhow, though I leave that to people who actually give a shit about these things to answer.
I agree with James; it seems obvious to me that the author is claiming that the songs have been performed by artists such as Elvis and jazz artists like Louis Armstrong; there might be some ambiguity but it certainly doesn't seem to deserve the vitriolic outburst.
And I like Hugh Laurie but in small quantities, and while I welcome this U-turn from the frankly repetitive House, I can't help but wish he'd do another series of Blackadder
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