The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #137871 Message #3155613
Posted By: Will Fly
17-May-11 - 07:18 AM
Thread Name: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River
I have that same EP - Nicky Hopkins on piano, etc. - and it's a splendid disc. Cyril D was a driven man and gave his all in those recordings.
But - alas - how black and white (no pun intended) the debate has yet again become. Criticism of Hugh Laurie somehow turns into another example of Mudcat curmudgeonliness.
A guy who loves the music getting the chance to perform it with other guys who love the music. Isn't that what it's all about?
Of course it is, and it goes on all the time everywhere - and I hope every 'Catter has the opportunity to do the same in their own circle - but it doesn't mean that I can't look upon the performance with a critical eye. It also doesn't mean that I can't wish for something a little better on TV. I've just listened to him singing "Hot Tamales" and, frankly, it's very average indeed. Hugh Laurie seems to be an immensely likeable man and a very accomplished actor. He's also a reasonable musician but - and here's the point - he doesn't cut it enough for me to rate him as anything out of the ordinary.
As others have said, good luck to a good man for doing what he loves and believes in. It doesn't mean I have to swallow his performance whole or look at it without any critical faculty. As for it being a useful way of introducing blues to people who've had no interest in, or experience of blues, well... that's also debatable. If you're going to go on that tack, why not have someone like Bill Wyman present a programme on blues? Wyman has an immense knowledge of the genre, he's been a professional musician all his life, and he's compiled a fascinating and interesting book on the subject. For example.
I can't go through life giving a warm blanket of approval to everything that appears on the telly, however well-meant. Nor do I go through life trashing everything on telly. We all make choices and, as long as those choices are reasoned, we ought to be able to state them on a forum like Mudcat without being labelled as curmudgeons.