Let Them Talk

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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

英米で人気の俳優のデビュー作ですが、プロデュースが何とジョー・ヘンリー。バックもグレッグ・レイズらお馴染みの面々で、ホーンアレンジで参加のアラン・トゥーサンや、Dr.ジョン等ゲストも凄い。内容はヒューが好きだというブルース名曲集で、一聴オールドスクールですが、よく聴けばジョーらしいエッジの立ったサウンドや仕掛けが張り巡らされていて、クオリティは相当高い。どこかジョーに似たヒューの歌声も渋くてグー。
intoxicate (C)杉本文宣