Let Them Talk (Hugh Laurie album)

Let Them Talk is the debut studio album by English actor and musician Hugh Laurie.

Let Them Talk
Studio album by Hugh Laurie
Released	18 April 2011 (2011-April-18) (France)
Recorded	26–27 July, 1 September, 4–8 & 21 October 2010
Genre	Blues
Length	57:56 69:02 (Special Edition)
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Joe Henry
Hugh Laurie chronology
Let Them Talk (2011) Didn't It Rain (2013)
Singles from Let Them Talk
"You Don't Know My Mind" Released: Early 2011 "Winin' Boy Blues" Released: 2 October 2011

The album, which consists of classic blues songs, was released on 9 May 2011.[1] Some of the songs are collaborations with well-known artists such as Tom Jones, Irma Thomas and Dr. John.[2] Laurie plays piano and guitar on the album in addition to providing lead vocals. Kevin Breit plays guitar[3] and Vincent Henry plays saxophones.[4] The album was produced by Joe Henry and features horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint.[1]

Laurie premiered some of the songs in a small New Orleans club in March 2011,[5] and started officially touring with these materials on April 2011 with two consecutive live concerts in Germany.[6] In the UK, he performed at the Union Chapel in London,[4] at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival,[3] Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry, and at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music.[7] Laurie also made several television appearances, including BBC2 programmes The Graham Norton Show and Later... with Jools Holland,[8] and was interviewed on BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans Breakfast Show.

On 15 May 2011, Laurie appeared in the UK ITV series Perspectives, explaining his love for the music of New Orleans and playing music from the album, at studios and live venues in the city of New Orleans itself.[9]

A special edition of the album, containing three more songs, was released on 15 May 2011.[10] A second blues album, named Didn't It Rain, was released on 6 May 2013.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	61/100[11]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[12]
musicOMH	[13]
The Independent	Positive[14]
Mojo	[15]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"St. James Infirmary"	6:25
2.	"You Don't Know My Mind"	3:39
3.	"Six Cold Feet"	4:55
4.	"Buddy Bolden's Blues"	3:12
5.	"Battle of Jericho"	3:47
6.	"After You've Gone" (featuring Dr. John)	4:09
7.	"Swanee River"	2:43
8.	"The Whale Has Swallowed Me"	3:37
9.	"John Henry" (featuring Irma Thomas)	3:34
10.	"Police Dog Blues"	3:33
11.	"Tipitina"	5:06
12.	"Winin' Boy Blues"	2:59
13.	"They're Red Hot"	1:11
14.	"Baby, Please Make a Change" (featuring Sir Tom Jones & Irma Thomas)	4:57
15.	"Let Them Talk"	4:10

Songs of the Deluxe Edition

No.	Title	Length
16.	"Guess I'm a Fool"	3:09
17.	"It Ain't Necessarily So"	3:46
18.	"Lowdown, Worried and Blue"	4:14

Songs of the Special Edition

No.	Title	Length
16.	"Hallelujah I Love Her So"	3:09
17.	"Crazy Arms"	3:11
18.	"Waiting for a Train"	3:34
19.	"You Don't Know My Mind (Live in Paris)"	4:42

Reception

The album received favorable reviews, and holds a Metacritic score of 61 out of 100, based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[16]

Chart performance

"Let Them Talk" was the biggest-selling blues album of 2011 in the UK, with sales of 192,000 copies.[17]

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2011)[18] Peak position Argentinian Albums Chart 1 Australian Albums Chart 37 Austrian Albums Chart 1 Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart 22 Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart 5 Canadian Albums Chart[19] 18 Czech Republic Albums Chart[20] 7 Dutch Albums Chart 25 French Albums Chart 2 German Albums Chart 8 Hungarian Albums Chart[21] 35 Italian Albums Chart 55 Polish Albums Chart[22] 22 Swiss Albums Chart 4 UK Albums Chart 2 US Billboard 200 16 US Blues Albums 1

Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position Austrian Albums Chart[23] 60 Polish Albums Chart[24] 59 Swiss Albums Chart[25] 60 Certifications Region Certification Certified units/sales Argentina (CAPIF)[26] Platinum 40,000^^ France (SNEP)[27] 2× Platinum 300,000^* Poland (ZPAV)[28] 2× Platinum 40,000^* United Kingdom (BPI)[29] Gold 100,000^^ ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date
France	18 April 2011
Germany	29 April 2011
UK	9 May 2011
US	6 September 2011

Tour

Date	City	Country	Venue
North America
22 May 2012	Solana Beach	United States	Belly Up Tavern
23 May 2012	San Juan Capistrano		The Coach House
24 May 2012	Los Angeles		El Rey Theatre
26 May 2012	Turlock		Turlock Community Theatre
27 May 2012	San Francisco		Great American Music Hall
29 May 2012	Napa		Uptown Theatre
31 May 2012	Eugene		Jaqua Concert Hall
1 June 2012	Portland		Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
2 June 2012	Spokane		Martin Woldson Theater At The Fox
4 June 2012	Seattle		Benaroya Hall
South America
8 June 2012	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Luna Park
9 June 2012
10 June 2012	Rosario		Metropolitano de Rosario
12 June 2012	Santiago	Chile	Movistar Arena
Europe
20 June 2012	Kiev	Ukraine	Palace "Ukraine"
22 June 2012	Minsk	Belarus	Palace of the Republic
24 June 2012	Saint Petersburg	Russia	BZK Oktyabrsky
25 June 2012	Moscow		The Magic Centre
26 June 2012
29 June 2012	Glasgow	Scotland	Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
30 June 2012^[A]	Oxford	England	The Great Tew Park
1 July 2012	Salford		The Lowry
2 July 2012	London		Hammersmith Apollo
7 July 2012^[B]	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Rotterdam Ahoy
10 July 2012	Paris	France	Le Grand Rex
11 July 2012			L'Olympia
12 July 2012^[C]	Vienne		Le Théâtre Antique
14 July 2012	Berlin	Germany	Tempodrom
15 July 2012	Hamburg		Hamburg Stadtpark
16 July 2012	Frankfurt		Jahrhunderthalle
17 July 2012	Bochum		RuhrCongress
19 July 2012^[D]	Spa	Belgium	Place de l'Hôtel de Ville
21 July 2012	Zurich	Switzerland	Zurich Congress Hall
22 July 2012	Vienna	Austria	Vienna Konzerthaus
24 July 2012^[E]	Monte Carlo	Monaco	Salle des Etoiles à Monaco
27 July 2012^[F]	Madrid	Spain	Teatro Circo Price
29 July 2012^[G]	Marbella	Spain	Auditorio de Marbella 'La Cantera'
31 July 2012	Lisbon	Portugal	Coliseu dos Recreios

Festivals and other miscellaneous performances

^A This concert was a part of "Cornbury Festival" ^B This concert was a part of "North Sea Jazz Festival" ^C This concert was a part of "Jazz a Vienne" ^D This concert was a part of "Les Francofolies de Spa" ^E This concert was a part of "Monte-Carlo Sporting Summer Festival 2012" ^F This concert was a part of "Veranos de la Villa 2012" ^G This concert was a part of "Starlite Festival 2012"

References

1. "Let Them Talk". Amazon.com. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
2. "'House' star Hugh Laurie's blues album 'Let Them Talk' out in May". NME. March 23, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
3. Fordham, John (May 3, 2011). "Hugh Laurie – review". The Guardian. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
4. McCormick, Neil (May 5, 2011). "Hugh Laurie and his fake American accent". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
5. Smith, Caspar Llewellyn (March 23, 2011). "Hugh Laurie plays first ever blues gig". The Guardian. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
6. On April 27, 2011 in Hamburg, and on April 28, 2011 in Berlin. see Hugh Laurie's Blues - the official Site back Tour listings, as reflected in the Internet Archive, retrieved on June 10, 2018
7. "Welcome thenatter.co.uk - BlueHost.com". Thenatter.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
8. "BBC Two - Later... with Jools Holland, Series 38, Episode 3, Hugh Laurie chats to Jools Holland". Bbc.co.uk. 2011-04-23. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
9. Hugh Laurie: Down by the River, The ITV.com webpage, as reflected in the Internet Archive, retrieved on June 10, 2018
10. "Official website". Hugh Laurie official website. Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved Aug 29, 2012.
11. "Reviews for Let Them Talk by Hugh Laurie". Metacritic. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
12. Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2011-05-09). "Let Them Talk - Hugh Laurie | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
13. "Hugh Laurie – Let Them Talk | Album Reviews". musicOMH. 2011-05-09. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
14. "Album: Hugh Laurie, Let Them Talk (Warner) - Reviews - Music". The Independent. 2011-05-08. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
15. "Critic Reviews for Let Them Talk". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
16. "Let Them Talk Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
17. "The Top 20 blues albums of 2011 revealed". Official Charts Company. 19 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
18. Steffen Hung. "Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk". Lescharts.com. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
19. "Canadian Albums : Sep 24, 2011 - (Biggest Jump) | Billboard Chart Archive". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
20. "Čns Ifpi". Ifpicr.cz. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
21. "MAHASZ – Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége". Mahasz.hu. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
22. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. 2011-05-29. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
23. "Ö3 Austria Top40 - Album Charts 2011". oe3.ORF.at. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
24. "Top 100 - lista roczna - 2011". ZPAV. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
25. Steffen Hung. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2011". Hitparade.ch. Archived from the original on August 15, 2013. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
26. "Argentinian album certifications – Hugh Laurie – Let Them Talk". Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers.
27. "SINGLES OR 2013 - 150 000 exemplaires vendus" (PDF). Proxy.siteo.com. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
28. "Polish album certifications – Hugh Laurie – Let Them Talk" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry.
29. "British album certifications – Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Doo-Wops & Hooligans in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.

External links

• Official website
• Promotional video on Laurie's official YouTube channel