I believe there was a little documentary with him posted in the Share The Music group here on CBN.com a while back. Worth a watch.
And, besides... he's turning people on to good music, getting people to take note and talk about him, and probably making some decent money from it... ALL BY PLAYING MUSIC HE LOVES.
Well I have now seen the offending footage and know what.........I enjoyed it. He is fresh and I like his humility and his honesty.
He may not be everyone's cup of tea but neither are some of the performers who post to this site my cup of tea. (That does not stop me listening for the positives instead of writing them off.) At least he admits his "amateurish" effort.
Still and all he is my cup of tea as a refreshingly honest performer. He may be banking on his fame from Black Adder, House, Jeeves and Wooster etc but he has put together an album which has fun and musical talent at its heart.
The mans piano work cant be questioned and if his voice seems unauthentic to some, I think it has character. His style is not just the same old stuff. For me it is fun.
At least he is not doing the Auto tuned to death I wanna be a rock-star gig. The singing is a little raw but more natural than forced in my opinion. Heres the thing I noticed, expecially in the "Today Show" clip- There is the joy of performing the song on his face.
I also enjoyed seeing what looks like a vintage Martin in his hands, even though it looks more like he used it as a prop in the performance. Hey, I know the guy collects guitars and noodles a bit. I think he has a late 50's Gibson Flying V for example. He doesnt claim to be a masterful player, just a fan. (I also dug the little guitar his bandmember switched to for the slide portion.)
If nothing else, he digs a genre of music many here enjoy. If he turns some of his fan base on to it and that helps sustain and spread its popularity......
To further stir the pot: some people like Hugh Laurie as an actor. Some people like him as a musician. Some people don't, either way. He is uncomfortable in his own skin, as he has frequently stated in interviews (there's a very recent one in the New York Times that details this, and includes comments on his piano playing and new Blues album). Maybe that's why some people don't like him. They sense something "wrong."
We are all entitled to our opinions. It's kinda like the Bacon Brothers band, or Johnny Depp's former rock band, or Bruce Willis, or Hugh Grant, or Tony Blair, or Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood (Dan Akroyd) Blues, or anyone stepping outside of his publicly-accepted, 90% of the time, niche. Some people don't like this (which may be perfectly justifiable from a personal taste perspective - me, I don't particularly like rap or hip hop; but I can still recognize that some people have talent at it). Some people are multitalented, but their talent in one field may justifiably eclipse their talent in another field or fields. Human beings are like that. I bet most of you have day jobs at which you are expert, that have absolutely nothing to do with being an amateur luthier.Some / many of you are also expert woodworkers, and have applied that to luthing...luthiering...building rather elegant CBGs.
I say, at least give the man a listen. If it ain't your cup of meat (I found it just OK, and share Tom's analysis above), then wait for Quinn the Eskimo! ;-). Carve another neck. Design another build. Build another CBG. Heck, send Hugh Laurie one of your builds (how many of us have actually done this?)! See what he does with it.
I think I'm gonna jump in here. I saw Laurie a couple of weeks ago when the album came out, and I didn't like what I saw, something just didn't seem right. I just viewed the Today Show clips, and still had a sense of something not quite right, and I think I figured it out. To me I think he is "acting" in his musical performance. Laurie is good at accents so he has tried to do some type of singing accent (the high nasal) that just does not work on any level. I'd like to hear the guy just sing in a normal voice.
I think it answers the question "Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?" (No)
I've actually seen this phenomenon at some local gigs where some very talented but youthful "old time" performers adopt a slurred "down home" banter on stage that is all act. One guy ( a guitar picker) in particular spoke between songs, sounded like he had mush in his mouth, and you couldn't understand him. Another gentleman ( a fiddle player) though pulls it off quite well because he has actually adapted the persona on and off stage.
I don't think Hugh Laurie can stop acting, and I wouldn't want him to. I found his Prince Regent quite hilarious in the Black Adder series. But some rolls work, while others are best left alone.
And finally I wish I had 1/1,000,000 if his talent either in acting or in music. But it's ok as long as I have fun making noise on my instruments (I just got a kid's concertina to make another gawd awful racket with).
'The Merkins" were a great hard rock band from wollongong (Australia) back in the nineties,previously known as "The Threadbare Merkins" and "Threadbare".I never knew 'em to play cigarbox guitars,though.songs included "Bubble","teacup" and 'hindu kush".probably find them on the internet somewhere.
Sherlock Holmes was referred to as an amateur detective, simply because he wasn't a member of the "regular" police force. On the other hand, he was also fictional...
Replies
I believe there was a little documentary with him posted in the Share The Music group here on CBN.com a while back. Worth a watch.
And, besides... he's turning people on to good music, getting people to take note and talk about him, and probably making some decent money from it... ALL BY PLAYING MUSIC HE LOVES.
http://www.thehousefan.com/view/1015/hugh-laurie-the-today-show-int...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M4D5L2Grms
Well I have now seen the offending footage and know what.........I enjoyed it. He is fresh and I like his humility and his honesty.
He may not be everyone's cup of tea but neither are some of the performers who post to this site my cup of tea. (That does not stop me listening for the positives instead of writing them off.) At least he admits his "amateurish" effort.
Still and all he is my cup of tea as a refreshingly honest performer. He may be banking on his fame from Black Adder, House, Jeeves and Wooster etc but he has put together an album which has fun and musical talent at its heart.
The mans piano work cant be questioned and if his voice seems unauthentic to some, I think it has character. His style is not just the same old stuff. For me it is fun.
We all have our opinions. This has been mine. :-)
Some good comments here, additional thoughts:
At least he is not doing the Auto tuned to death I wanna be a rock-star gig. The singing is a little raw but more natural than forced in my opinion. Heres the thing I noticed, expecially in the "Today Show" clip- There is the joy of performing the song on his face.
I also enjoyed seeing what looks like a vintage Martin in his hands, even though it looks more like he used it as a prop in the performance. Hey, I know the guy collects guitars and noodles a bit. I think he has a late 50's Gibson Flying V for example. He doesnt claim to be a masterful player, just a fan. (I also dug the little guitar his bandmember switched to for the slide portion.)
If nothing else, he digs a genre of music many here enjoy. If he turns some of his fan base on to it and that helps sustain and spread its popularity......
Hey its all good!
meh. he's a great comedy actor who obviously loves playing music. not a patch on your walking after midnight rendition, but me likey.
Gents,
To further stir the pot: some people like Hugh Laurie as an actor. Some people like him as a musician. Some people don't, either way. He is uncomfortable in his own skin, as he has frequently stated in interviews (there's a very recent one in the New York Times that details this, and includes comments on his piano playing and new Blues album). Maybe that's why some people don't like him. They sense something "wrong."
We are all entitled to our opinions. It's kinda like the Bacon Brothers band, or Johnny Depp's former rock band, or Bruce Willis, or Hugh Grant, or Tony Blair, or Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood (Dan Akroyd) Blues, or anyone stepping outside of his publicly-accepted, 90% of the time, niche. Some people don't like this (which may be perfectly justifiable from a personal taste perspective - me, I don't particularly like rap or hip hop; but I can still recognize that some people have talent at it). Some people are multitalented, but their talent in one field may justifiably eclipse their talent in another field or fields. Human beings are like that. I bet most of you have day jobs at which you are expert, that have absolutely nothing to do with being an amateur luthier.Some / many of you are also expert woodworkers, and have applied that to luthing...luthiering...building rather elegant CBGs.
I say, at least give the man a listen. If it ain't your cup of meat (I found it just OK, and share Tom's analysis above), then wait for Quinn the Eskimo! ;-). Carve another neck. Design another build. Build another CBG. Heck, send Hugh Laurie one of your builds (how many of us have actually done this?)! See what he does with it.
No Roolz!
I think I'm gonna jump in here. I saw Laurie a couple of weeks ago when the album came out, and I didn't like what I saw, something just didn't seem right. I just viewed the Today Show clips, and still had a sense of something not quite right, and I think I figured it out. To me I think he is "acting" in his musical performance. Laurie is good at accents so he has tried to do some type of singing accent (the high nasal) that just does not work on any level. I'd like to hear the guy just sing in a normal voice.
I think it answers the question "Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?" (No)
I've actually seen this phenomenon at some local gigs where some very talented but youthful "old time" performers adopt a slurred "down home" banter on stage that is all act. One guy ( a guitar picker) in particular spoke between songs, sounded like he had mush in his mouth, and you couldn't understand him. Another gentleman ( a fiddle player) though pulls it off quite well because he has actually adapted the persona on and off stage.
I don't think Hugh Laurie can stop acting, and I wouldn't want him to. I found his Prince Regent quite hilarious in the Black Adder series. But some rolls work, while others are best left alone.
And finally I wish I had 1/1,000,000 if his talent either in acting or in music. But it's ok as long as I have fun making noise on my instruments (I just got a kid's concertina to make another gawd awful racket with).
Tom
Amateur: from Webster's Dictionary:
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