 sj |
||
|
||
Hugh Laurie - Down By The River
|
|
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 17 May 11 - 10:22 AM " ... Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden works as an airline pilot in his spare time." What?! I had to read that several times. Is this statement true? Does he just turn up at an airport when he fancies a spot of flying? |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Peadar (formerly) of Portsmouth Date: 17 May 11 - 11:31 AM Amen to Howard If you malign the decision of the producers to put this show together, you're missing the point. Have you bothered to read the series info? As HJ said, the production was not a documentary about the blues, but one person's relationship with the music -- both as a fan and as a musician (amateur or otherwise). That concept that's completely in line with the other shows in the series: Andrew Lloyd Webber on pre-Raphaelites, or Ian MacKellen on the painter Lowry. So you're bitter that HL's interest in the music and his 'average' ability to perform it gets him airtime? Tough. Always remember they create TV programs to make money: And the harsh truth is that the segment of the population that finds the passions of these celebrities interesting ... ...is infinitely larger than those that care about your opinions about how "THE MUSIC" should be presented. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 17 May 11 - 11:58 AM What I object to is the dreadful, dreadful, very dreadful, phoney voice that he adopts! It's just ...well... dreadful! |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: gnomad Date: 17 May 11 - 12:00 PM Specially for Shimrod: BD Wikipedia page It seems to be true, though it appears to be a bit more formal than just fancying a bit of flying today. As to the programme, I saw it and was interested that HL's formal piano instruction had been so short. I am no blues aficionado (nothing against it, it is simply outwith my experience) but he seemed to be a reasonably competent amateur who had the chance and ability to communicate something of his enthusiasm for this style of music. He held my attention, and I learned just a little. As such I suspect that the programme fulfilled its purpose, which cannot have been to satisfy the real blues fan. TV in the UK generally does only surface stuff for music, depth is reserved for soaps, "reality" shows, and sport. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST Date: 17 May 11 - 01:10 PM 'Always remember they create TV programs to make money: And the harsh truth is that the segment of the population that finds the passions of these celebrities interesting ... '...is infinitely larger than those that care about your opinions about how "THE MUSIC" should be presented.' Stand by for Kerry Katona's album of operatic duets with Placido Domingo.
|
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: Will Fly Date: 17 May 11 - 01:16 PM Always remember they create TV programs to make money As an ex-employee of a broadcasting company, I'm well aware of that - and it's why I watch very little TV these days. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Hootenanny Date: 17 May 11 - 02:25 PM I have just watched the whole programme. I thought his playing in the style of Roy Byrd was fine but the music as a whole didn't really take off. His singing like all attempts by English people to sing blues was abysmal. I think that this is the longest plug for an album that I have ever seen. Hoot |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: Richard from Liverpool Date: 17 May 11 - 03:37 PM I'm a big fan of Hugh Laurie as an actor, I haven't really had much to say on this one, because I think I agree with the sentiments of others. Speaking as a pianist (classically trained, not blues) I think his piano playing is very good and I really admire it. Less keen on the singing. My need to say something was triggered by Hootenanny's comment above: "His singing like all attempts by English people to sing blues was abysmal." I think the problem is EXACTLY that it wasn't like an English person singing the blues. It was quite clearly an Englishman trying to sound American while singing the blues. I don't see anything wrong with the idea of singing the blues with real English accents, just the same as I think that (some) UK hip-hop is fantastic without trying to be imitative of American hip-hop. It's its own thing, it has its own clearly developed style. I guess my point is - I do think Blues can reach beyond American cultures and speak to our British cultures, and I would like to hear a talented Englishman or woman singing the blues as an Englishman or woman. And this just wasn't it for me, as impressive as I find Hugh Laurie's piano playing. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Hootenanny Date: 17 May 11 - 04:53 PM Richard, I don't know if you know many blues lyrics but I would suggest that you read a few or listen to a few and see how they would sound with an English accent. Or, do you mean that English songs should be written and sung in a blues format and thus become blues?? Just asking. The Blues does reach out to British culture, that is why so many of us including Hugh Laurie it seems have been listening to and enjoying the real thing for years. Instrumentally many people from many cultures can perform the genre very well but when it comes to singing, forget it. When I sing Blues it is strictly in the privacy of my own home. Hoot |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Frug Date: 17 May 11 - 06:54 PM HMmmmm So amongst those forgettable British Blues pretenders we have Jo Cocker, Maggie Bell, Jo Anne Kelly, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Elkie Brooks, Robert Palmer, Van Morrison, Eric Burdon, Rory Gallagher |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST Date: 17 May 11 - 08:47 PM a) I think that the language of all songs is malleable. You just have to look at the evolution of Child ballads as they made their way from the British isles to America. b) We are perhaps being a bit general when it comes to the "English accent". Perhaps we are thinking of Hugh Laurie's Etonian voice as the model here because of the context of the thread, but this might be misleading. But the British Isles has a pretty exciting linguistic diversity. I don't think blues lyrics would necessarily sound so alien among many of our dialects. I'm not a blues expert, but just be provocative - I just looked randomly through some of the lyrics of my favourite, Robert Johnson, and I don't think there are many things there that would sound out of place coming from a Scouse mouth. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: Richard from Liverpool Date: 17 May 11 - 08:49 PM (Sorry, above was from me, forgot to log in) Also, would like to note that when I say "coming from a Scouse mouth", I don't necessarily mean my own, as I have rather a peculiar accent! |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: cooperman Date: 18 May 11 - 04:36 AM Blues is feel not accent or even language. Claude Bourbon is a favourite of mine. I prefer his blues songs in French and I don't know the meaning of some of the lyrics! I once heard an american white guy trying to sing like an american black guy and it was comical. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Hootenanny Date: 18 May 11 - 06:03 AM Frug, in my opinion Darn Right! Bearing in mind that what I said was about vocal NOT instrumental prowess. Hoot |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 18 May 11 - 12:43 PM harsh Mr Hoot! To be honest, I think i like the English version of blues and r and b - more than the American really. More urbane, literate and with links to European cabaret and (it has to be said - though hotly disputed by the thickos of this world) links to our folk music. St James Inf. and the Unfortunate Rake being a good case in point. really its more like real folk music than most current English folk music. that's why so many folkbands (Bellowhead, Steeleye Span) borrow from it. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 18 May 11 - 03:21 PM There's no doubt that a musician of any nationality or colour can play the blues, and if such an individual has the talent, and immerses themselves in the genre, they will become good - even - great at playing the blues. But singing the blues? Now that is another matter. A lot of Britains blues singers are merely doing an impersonation; a very good impersonation in the case of someone like Joanne Kelly but it has to be said that it's not the "real deal". |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 18 May 11 - 03:57 PM 'it's not the "real deal". .....' unlike Carthy's impersonation of an 18th century sailor. Why do you think Clapton's song of unrequited love Layla, and his song about his small child dying - has resontated with millions of people worldwide.... Surely its up to the audience to decide on the 'reality of the deal'. And in a democracy - the English traddies would have lost their deposit. You can't help feeling the reason so many English folkies are springing to Hugh's defence is something to do with class solidarity. Let's face it with that 'England can muddle through' voice and a loose leaf folder for the lyrics he couldn't be bothered to learn - he would fit in great with the average singaround. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 18 May 11 - 04:09 PM Clapton will always be the white boy singing the blues in a pseudo- American accent. That may be an attractive sound, but it isn't the "real deal". We can't talk about Eric's singing the blues in same breath as Son House, Bobby Bland, B B King etc. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: Gurney Date: 18 May 11 - 04:24 PM I put on the DVD 'Lightning in a Bottle' last night (nothing on TV!)and the opinions of the (surviving, real, superficially-interviewed, and chatting) bluesmen on there were as diverse as any here. So there ain't no answer, folks, just opinions. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 18 May 11 - 04:28 PM Clapton's take on the blues has affected and pleased far nore people than the artists you mention. That's what clapton did with his life, and with the form of music called the blues. Tears in heaven, and the unplugged album came out a few years after my Mum died. I can remember my father hearing the song and his eyes filling with tears as he was remembering his wife. Just how many folks does a song have to make people feel the humanity within themselves - before its a folk song. Sorry we're back to 1954 and all that..... |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 18 May 11 - 04:38 PM I'm talking about Eric's blues singing! Not his songwriting! A friend of mine lost her son (in his twenties) in a climbing accident and she totally relates to "Tears in Heaven". |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Mayday Date: 18 May 11 - 04:58 PM Huh. As a Blues fan lucky enough to have lived in Chicago and to be good friends with Delmark owner Bob Koester's son, I did not know several things going into this: - Personal dislike/preference for a given individual's artistic style or even their heritage influences their actual ability and merit as artists and human beings. Also, each television show must be every possible television show. - Robert Johnson sang the blues. Extremely well. Better than Hugh Laurie. Hugh Laurie would totally deny it. - Suffering in life, rather than practice added to talent, radically increases technical proficiency in music. As with any musical genre, blues musicians are performers, and the huge majority have been talented amateurs rather than geniuses who are also full time professionals. - All African Americans and all European Americans sound alike, separately and equally, with no crossover. Toussaint MacColl and BB King in no way sound(ed) upper class compared with me. You can tell Dr. John from every single other blues musician in New Orleans just by listening, and Stevie Ray Vaughn sounded like his little brudduh. - American folk music is way better than English or Scottish folk music. This is not subject to personal taste, do not dispute it. - Hokey accents and deliberately malicious "Negro Minstrelry" are exactly the same thing. - Hugh Laurie is a barely competent piano player. I frankly can't imagine anyone who listened without prejudice coming to this last conclusion. I wager I could fool anyone with this opinion by merely detaching his image from a performance. I'd peg his singing voice as pleasant. In these qualities he is much like Thomas Dolby, one of my favorite musicians. Who incidentally gets to be a professional musician because I hear engineering pays awfully well when you're a genius inventor. I wouldn't complain if I could accompany myself at all on any instrument, so I'd be thrilled to be as average on guitar. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: Gurney Date: 18 May 11 - 05:28 PM Hi, Mayday. How long have you been a spokesman FOR Hugh Laurie? |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 18 May 11 - 06:49 PM What Clapton and many other singer songwriters (indeed like myself) do, is use the techniques of the blues and gospel and American country music. That is to say a song like tears in heaven is permeated throughout with gospel and blues feeling. if you like, that is its traditional roots. the songwriting is what HE does with the blues. You don't have to write about traditional blues subjects - because you take the form as your starting point. You personalise it. But the blues is the basic building block. In the same way that say Dave Webber or Peter Bellamy have used English folksong as a source of inspiration and technique. Why you think its not valid if a person from iceland or Russia uses American roots music as a source of inspiration is your problem. the millions of people (like your friend) who can relate to this music tell another story. |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: GUEST,Hootenanny Date: 19 May 11 - 04:34 AM Mayday, As your nom de post indicates, you are in need of help. I would suggest you ask your friend's daddy Ole Bob to let you spend a lot of time listening to his record collection. Then you might be able to understand why so many folks do not appreciate Hugh Laurie's attempts. Hoot |
|
Subject: RE: Hugh Laurie - Down By The River From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Apr 22 - 04:53 PM Yesterday I shared a link to Laurie's performance of St. James Infirmary to the thread by the same name (the Lyr Req one). Now that the entire video is viewable anywhere, I wonder how people view it? Have the critics mellowed? I enjoyed it. |
| Share Thread: |