Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk

As far as expectations go, the prospect of Hugh Laurie releasing a record was pretty far down my list at the start of the decade. However the actor, best known for his current role as House, is not a stranger to music; having featured on Meatloaf's album last year and his current membership of the charity covers band 'Band From TV' (featuring several other American TV stars from the casts of House and Heroes amongst others). But it's the genre that Laurie's decided to venture into that's the surprise - he acknowledges this himself:

"I was not born in Alabama in the 1890s," he acknowledged. "I've never eaten grits, cropped a share, or ridden a boxcar. I am a white, middle-class Englishman, openly trespassing on the music and myth of the American South."

And with a record featuring Tom Jones it seems likely that Robert Johnson needn't yet worry. Opener 'St. James Infirmary' is a bleak piano-led contemplation lasting 3 minutes before Laurie's vocals kick in - pretty unrecognisable under his croaky interpretation - and all initial fears of a career embarrassment are brushed aside. Indeed, Hugh is more than capable at emulating his idols - 'You Don't Know My Mind' introduces female backing vocals for something similar to the Rolling Stones (circa Exile on Main Street), a radio-friendly, upbeat blues with comic lyrics ("sometimes I think she should be burned alive"). Death is pondered in 'Six Cold Feet', a slow and clumpy track that's pretty much Blues For Dummies - however his saxophone pieces add another tick to the pretty long list of talents.


On 'Buddy Bolden's Blues' it's his piano skills that take centre stage, with all the quirky eccentricities that give Randy Newman perpetual soundtrack opportunities. Indeed the tune sounds a little like "You've Got A Friend In Me". A lively interpretation of the Biblical tale ('Battle of Jericho', taken from the book of Joshua) then takes place, a fitting tale given its legend of taking down a whole city with the sound of trumpets and horns. Laurie then pulls off a collaboration as earth-shattering for him in 'After You've Gone', featuring the legend Dr. John:

"(I) nearly had a heart attack (when he agreed to collaborate). After the session I went out to my car and just sat there and wept. I couldn't believe I'd played with one of my heroes and that it went so beautifully."

It's a pretty sublime track - Dr. John in his effortlessly cool prime over Laurie's subtle piano and sax accompaniments.

The classic blues standard 'Swanee River' then gets an inclusion - the perfect combination of morose introduction and raucous honky-tonk breakdown that was inevitably going to find its way onto Later... with Jools Holland (amazingly the man himself stayed away from the piano). The return to Biblical influences and nods to the South's heavy religious imagery and morality in 'The Whale Has Swallowed Me' is slightly underwhelming. 'John Henry' finds another coup in the featured appearance of Irma Thomas, who together ably do justice to the folk hero classic (folklore tells of a man who raced against a steam-powered hammer, and died in victory).

Laurie is at his most tamed in 'Police Dog Blues', a subdued and yet serenely satisfying track telling of the slight inconvenience of being unable to go and see his girl because of her restless guard dog. The piano talents continue with a nice cover of Professor Longhair's 'Tipitina', a track which introduces some funk elements (church organ, brass and electric guitars make subtle appearances). This all disappears however in 'Winin' Boy Blues', a pretty forgettable track. There's then a break from the standard twelve-bar blues in the cover of Robert Johnson's 'They're Red Hot', a short burst of energy.


Tom Jones and Irma Thomas lend their talents to 'Baby, Please Make A Change' and I'm still not convinced that Jones and Blues are a good combination - his voice dominates everything and whilst Laurie's saxophone solos do their best to compete for attention it's all background noise to Jones' trademark warbles. The final track 'Let Them Talk' is a piano-led stripped bare closer that really gives Laurie's voice and talents the time and room to bloom.

It's by no means going to change anything, but I think it would be foolish to think that Laurie ever tried to. What we have here is a worthy testament to the greats of blues and rock-and-roll, and a pretty entertaining tribute from one of entertainment's great eccentrics.

Rating: 6.5/10
Highlights: Let Them Talk, After You've Gone, Police Dog Blues, Swanee River, You Don't Know My Mind
Avoid: Winin' Boy Blues, Six Cold Feet, The Whale Has Swallowed Me