It was supposed to be so easy (The Streets) (LP 4580)

The Streets  A Grand Don't Come For Free (CD, Locked On Records, 2004) **  

Genre: Hip hop, Rap

Places I remember: Fives

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Fit But You Know It

Gear costume: Dry Your Eyes 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Basically, The Streets is a vehicle for vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner.

This album was their second album and it appealed to me as a shaggy dog story. Plus, it was recommended in a book I was reading (1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die). Plus, I was living in Essex at the time and the language quirks of Mike's delivery worked for me.

It's now 20 years later and I live in NZ and the music and story about his relationship with Simone and the missing grand, and an idle urban youth world of spliffs, betting, and boozers doesn't work for me. Actually, it never did to be fair.

Where do they all belong? The rap genre continues to be a bridge too far for me.

Hope I made you proud (The Streets) #541

The Streets Never Went To Church/ When You Wasn't Famous  (679 recordings, 2006)

The Streets is really a vehicle for Mike Skinner; he's the vocalist, writer and multi instrumentalist behind The Streets.

And when he's on, he's on. His A Grand Don't Come For Free album, for example, is a great shaggy dog story that Arlo Guthrie would admire.

He can often sound like a musical David Beckham, which he does on this really affecting song about his dad. That's not to say that it's offputting - for me, it makes it even more authentic sounding.

Sidebar: At one point he thanks Paul McCartney and says, "The cheque's in the mail" - presumably because he rips off The Beatles' Let It Be for this song. At least he has the good sense to steal from the best, and acknowledge it! 


Hidden gem: The B side was released as an A side in another format but, for me, there is nothing like the same magic as there is in Never Went To Church.