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The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
This is my guilty little secret. I should point out that I hated Original Pirate Material when I first heard it (now I’m tempted to go back and have another listen) so it seems odd that I should choose to even look at this album. The thing is, I read some reviews and became intrigued, then I downloaded a track and loved it, then I downloaded another and loved that, and somehow or another I ended up parting with cash for the thing and I don’t regret it one bit. I think the key to enjoying The Streets is to view it as a spoken word album rather than the hip-hop/garage/whatever tags that Mike Skinner and co. have been lumbered with. The music is really just a backdrop for the lyrics, and really wouldn’t work by itself. It is largely comprised or repetitive keyboard and drum loops, though the almost slightly experimental electronica of ***Not Addicted***, bouncy Blur guitar line of Fit But You Know It and acoustic guitar of Dry Your Eyes may herald something more complete for the future (I’m praying for Mike Skinner to collaborate with the Dust Brothers personally). But it is the lyricism that makes this amazing a collection of almost stream of consciousness poetry complete with a sharp dry wit and a meticulous attention to minute detail. The music catches the life and times of the world Mike Skinner comes from perfectly. It is this kind of music people will look back on to find out how we lived, and considering that it is just a spoken voice, the emotion captured is amazing (check out the drug dazed uncertainty of Blinded By The Lights or the heart wrenching break up of Dry Your Eyes). The narrative element to the album, usually something reserved for pretentious arty types or prog rock bands, works incredibly well too, largely due to the detail that links all the songs together. The addition of an alternative ending in the finale of Empty Cans is one of the most magnificent things I’ve heard in a long, long time perfectly capturing the character. It’s not all good. The music could easily be better. The female vocals on Get Out Of My House and the chorus of Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way are maddeningly bad and come very close to making the songs skippable (which, as part of a narrative, is a very bad thing) and while Fit But You Know It is incredibly catchy, you kind of wish it wasn’t. This is a long review, and that’s because this is a complex album, it’s got a lot going for it, but has a lot of things that may make this hard or impossible to listen to for some people. I would plead though that people try to look past these things, or at least read the lyrics somewhere, because there is a lot more to A Grand Don’t Come For Free than meets the ear.
8 out of 10