Most people know him as the the star of House, others can't get over the fact that a ...

Hugh Laurie - Let them Talk Album Review
07-26-2011
- by Dante Alexander, Staff Mumbler
Most people know him as the the star of House, others can't get over the fact that a human being can fake an accent- but past all of that, he's actually a fairly decent musician as well.

Hugh Laurie is a man of many talents. We all know him from his hit television show, House, where his character is famous for being antisocial, misanthropic, and overall quite an asshole. He plays the kind of character who will tell you that you're dying and immediately follow by telling you why it is your own damn fault. But he can do much more than act. He plays guitar and piano (as fans may have noticed on the show) and has even written his own book. And what has he been doing with those talents lately? Well, something like this:

I was surprised when first hearing about this album. It's not that actors never cross over into the realm of music, God no- in fact, I think there are too many attention-hungry stars who seem to forget that music is not what they're good at. At some point, every ultra-famous movie star gets an itch to be a rock star as well- because damn it if they can only have a few million fans! But despite all this, the album was still surprising, because Hugh Laurie doesn't at all give off the air of these typical, talentless, attention-craving hacks. He seems to be rather low key, laid back, and comes across as fairly humble in interviews. So what is happening? Is Hugh Laurie changing? Is he growing an ego to match that of the character he plays?

"...there's no I in 'team'. There is a me, though, if you jumble it up." - House

So there comes the question, then, the elephant in the room. Everyone is wondering- is it actually any good? We've seen every other actor and actress attempt to branch out this way, and in the rare occasion that it's not completely terrible, it tends to be just a bunch of studio musicians with the celebrity slapping their name on the cover. But I can tell you in all honest that this is not the case with Mr. Laurie; Hugh is a guy who knows what he's doing before he gets into it, and it's obvious by listening that he has put many years into perfecting his craft. There is nothing about this album that is predictable and, thankfully, this is one attempt by a celebrity to branch out that will not make any of us cringe.

As for the music itself, we are given track after track of well produced jazz and blues. Hugh Laurie pulls some great sounds out of the piano with ease, and even out of a guitar from time to time. The only complaint I could possibly give would be that his voice doesn't match up to some of the tracks he covers. While he's not at all a bad singer, and he does a great job on vocals, it would be futile for him to attempt to match the power and soul of the original singers. One great example would be the first track on the album: St. James Infirmary. It is a cover of a Louis Armstrong song, and a good one at that- I thought that Hugh's piano skills were a great addition and improvement to the original -but to say that he could match such a prominent voice as that of Louis Armstrong is ridiculous.

So, in conclusion, this album has its ups and downs, it has great points and it has flaws, but overall I think Hugh Laurie did a fantastic job. I would give this album somewhere in between 7-7.5 out of 10, depending on what your tastes are.