Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Review
After five albums recording as The Streets, Brummie exile Mike Skinner has spat his last rap and built his last beat. He should be proud: Dylan Mills aside there hasn’t been another consistently exciting and commercially successful urban UK voice to touch him over the last decade.
It’s fitting that Skinner chooses now to skank off into the sunset to make films and TV, or just bang out Tweets and blog posts, as he may just have produced his best album. Original Pirate Material had the energy, A Grand Don’t Come for Free took him to the big time, and Everything Is Borrowed had the maturity and at times epic sense of perspective. This album sums it all up with a wink, a sigh, and some crucial dance moves.
As is customary for a Streets album, the start absolutely smacks it. Outside Inside is a deranged shuffle replete with analogue bleeps, a lead riff that’s half Vampire Weekend, half the theme music from Rainbow, and packs some terrific submerged bass. It’s busy, but has the deep complexity of a classic Roots Manuva tune.
First single Going Through Hell is just as great, all National Grid-voltage guitar, chanting and The Music’s Robert Harvey doing a baggy Robert Plant vocal. It manages to evoke both Skinner’s own Fit But You Know It and the Beastie Boys’ Fight for Your Right.
The best moments here are two tremendous tunes that would rock any party worth its noise abatement order. Trust Me is a brief but brilliant French house-inspired whirl of disco piano beauty that’d get even the stiffest square shouting for a rewind. Those That Don’t Know, meanwhile, is a stylish piece of MJ Cole-flavoured melodic UK garage. It even includes hilarious and knowing lines like "Fall asleep past your stop / Creep in, eleven o’clock in the morning / No dawn is ever boring".
Emotive protest anthem Soldiers and the Facebook romance of OMG will please Skinner’s fans, but final track Lock the Locks will yank at the heartstrings the most. A marvellous slab of industrial soul, it includes a smoky Clare Maguire vocal and the timeless couplet, "Read the funny card signed by all / That was purchased by the person I will always recall". A parting gift to grip, sadden and elate. You’ll be missed, Mike.
--Lou Thomas
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
There's a pretty relaxed vibe to this album; it's not chillout music or anything, but it feels like the end of an era, in that it's warm and vaguely wistful, but not really immediate. In true Skinner style, he's going out sounding as he started, with a spliff and a reflective whisky, rather than with a bombastic bang. This is the last Streets album, and it's no exaggeration to say they encapsulated some people's youth, especially if you were into them between 2002 and 2005. `A Grand Don't Come For Free' has an incredible nostalgic emotional resonance to me and several people I know, and it's not just our rose tinted classes; most end of decade lists had The Streets top ten, with The Guardian claiming `Original Pirate Material' was the best album off the 00's [not sure I agree, but still...].
Quality wise it's been downhill since the first two releases, but as a final album this is a more than respectable effort. His flow isn't great these days, but as a beat-maker he's maturing with age like a fine wine, and will craft a fine career as a producer if he wants to stay on behind the scenes in the music business. Lyrically he's preoccupied with technology, with liberal references to Google, Facebook etc, and is essentially wondering about electronics and their relation to human emotions, with copious weed references, for old times' sake.
Nothing on here is going to match the finest songs he's written [Weak Become Heroes, Blinded By The Lights etc], but if you go in with lower expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find fourteen very enjoyable, nicely crafted tracks. `Blip on a Screen', `Puzzled By People' and `Trust Me' are my favourites so far. Also, if you get his `pre-album' Cyberspace and Reds, released for free online two weeks ago, there's another thirteen good songs with a plethora of fine guest verses from various grime artists, which this album could have done with. Either way, he's released almost thirty good songs in the last month, which is pretty impressive by anyone's standards, let alone from someone apparently bored with the music industry and past his prime as a relevant songwriter. It's hard to criticise, since Skinner seems such a likeable dude, and in fact `likeable' is probably the best way to describe this LP. Not a classic, but likeable at least, and sometimes that's all you need.
Quality wise it's been downhill since the first two releases, but as a final album this is a more than respectable effort. His flow isn't great these days, but as a beat-maker he's maturing with age like a fine wine, and will craft a fine career as a producer if he wants to stay on behind the scenes in the music business. Lyrically he's preoccupied with technology, with liberal references to Google, Facebook etc, and is essentially wondering about electronics and their relation to human emotions, with copious weed references, for old times' sake.
Nothing on here is going to match the finest songs he's written [Weak Become Heroes, Blinded By The Lights etc], but if you go in with lower expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find fourteen very enjoyable, nicely crafted tracks. `Blip on a Screen', `Puzzled By People' and `Trust Me' are my favourites so far. Also, if you get his `pre-album' Cyberspace and Reds, released for free online two weeks ago, there's another thirteen good songs with a plethora of fine guest verses from various grime artists, which this album could have done with. Either way, he's released almost thirty good songs in the last month, which is pretty impressive by anyone's standards, let alone from someone apparently bored with the music industry and past his prime as a relevant songwriter. It's hard to criticise, since Skinner seems such a likeable dude, and in fact `likeable' is probably the best way to describe this LP. Not a classic, but likeable at least, and sometimes that's all you need.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
If this is truly the last we are to hear of The Streets then
Mike Skinner has indeed managed to quit the stage on a high.
The mixture of droll humour and heart-on-sleeve emotionality
we have come to expect from this likeable urban hero is as
evident here as it has been since his 2002 debut, 'Original
Pirate Material'. 'Computers and Blues' delivers fourteen new
songs some of which finds Mr Skinner dabbling with synthesised
vocal treatments more than he has in the past but this should
not distract us from the canny deadpan rhyming to which we
have become accustomed. The lines are still as sharp as a new
Fred Perry polo shirt worn out on the town for a first time.
There's a lot of delicious detail to look out for. 'Going Through
Hell' struts its stuff like a backstreet hoedown! The arrogant
swagger is enchanced by some stridently soulful backing vocals
(listen out for the hilarious "Nee-Naw" ambulance siren!)
In 'The Roof Of Your Car' Mr Skinner does what Mr Skinner does best.
He mixes up charmingly funny imagery with a liberal dose of pathos
to fine effect. That he has chosen to sing it together with a
chipmunk is a lapse of judgement we should not hold against him!
Another small furry creature seems to have snuck into the studio
on 'Puzzled By People' but the collaboration is again a happy one!
Coming in at just under three minutes 'Those That Don't Know'
pulls up the rug and delivers a terrific dose of inner-city funk.
(Kind of James Brown-meets-Bob The Builder on a fire escape!)
'We Can Never Be Friends' is a really cracking composition, not
least of all due to the contribution of The Music's Robert Harvey.
A proper song with a proper chorus and a quirky guitar solo.
Final track 'Lock The Locks' is a beautifully constructed swansong.
Claire Maguire's vocal support adds warmth and depth to the mix.
'Computers and Blues' is a worthy "goodbye".
I wonder what Mr Skinner will get up to next.
Highly Recommended.
Mike Skinner has indeed managed to quit the stage on a high.
The mixture of droll humour and heart-on-sleeve emotionality
we have come to expect from this likeable urban hero is as
evident here as it has been since his 2002 debut, 'Original
Pirate Material'. 'Computers and Blues' delivers fourteen new
songs some of which finds Mr Skinner dabbling with synthesised
vocal treatments more than he has in the past but this should
not distract us from the canny deadpan rhyming to which we
have become accustomed. The lines are still as sharp as a new
Fred Perry polo shirt worn out on the town for a first time.
There's a lot of delicious detail to look out for. 'Going Through
Hell' struts its stuff like a backstreet hoedown! The arrogant
swagger is enchanced by some stridently soulful backing vocals
(listen out for the hilarious "Nee-Naw" ambulance siren!)
In 'The Roof Of Your Car' Mr Skinner does what Mr Skinner does best.
He mixes up charmingly funny imagery with a liberal dose of pathos
to fine effect. That he has chosen to sing it together with a
chipmunk is a lapse of judgement we should not hold against him!
Another small furry creature seems to have snuck into the studio
on 'Puzzled By People' but the collaboration is again a happy one!
Coming in at just under three minutes 'Those That Don't Know'
pulls up the rug and delivers a terrific dose of inner-city funk.
(Kind of James Brown-meets-Bob The Builder on a fire escape!)
'We Can Never Be Friends' is a really cracking composition, not
least of all due to the contribution of The Music's Robert Harvey.
A proper song with a proper chorus and a quirky guitar solo.
Final track 'Lock The Locks' is a beautifully constructed swansong.
Claire Maguire's vocal support adds warmth and depth to the mix.
'Computers and Blues' is a worthy "goodbye".
I wonder what Mr Skinner will get up to next.
Highly Recommended.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
As with all Streets albums I find they take a few listens before the words and the tunes sink in.
I found myself expectedly finding it quite fantastic! The lyrics are sometimes funny and wrapped up in feel-good tunes.
Overall the album has an up-beat and dance feel at times with some eletric and acoustic guitars thrown in for good measure.
If you like the Skinner style then i'm sure you will thoroughly enjoy this.
Just don't expect it to be a 'grand don't come for free'.
I found myself expectedly finding it quite fantastic! The lyrics are sometimes funny and wrapped up in feel-good tunes.
Overall the album has an up-beat and dance feel at times with some eletric and acoustic guitars thrown in for good measure.
If you like the Skinner style then i'm sure you will thoroughly enjoy this.
Just don't expect it to be a 'grand don't come for free'.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Streets 'OK' album
Love the Streets, but didn't find this CD as good as the earlier ones. Still worth getting if on special offer and you are a fan!
Published 4 months ago by tinkerbell
Great CD
I bought all of the Streets' albums. I would have rated 5-stars, but a number of the CD cases were broken when they arrived.
Published 10 months ago by Ed Byrne
End of an era
The Streets (mike skinners) final album..Its still 'the streets' but sounds new and fresh as his first album all those years ago.. Read more
Published 11 months ago by P. Wellstead
not my favourite album by the streets
bourht this from hmv, i found the tunes to be to much squealy singing not enough lyrical content, even then the lyrics were a bit slurred and half arsed, sounds all a bit too... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Doctor Anihilator
Good job
I like those guys. Really.
I think - if you are a foreigner (like me) - it is a must to study English with this audio course from Mr.Skinner.
5 star rhythm and lyrics.
I think - if you are a foreigner (like me) - it is a must to study English with this audio course from Mr.Skinner.
5 star rhythm and lyrics.
Published 13 months ago by Vincencio
Back to his best!!!
Each track has the original feel of The Streets. Catchy tunes and great lyrics. A fantastic bow out album from mike skinner. JUST HOPE ITS NOT THE LAST WE HEAR OF HIM. Read more
Published 14 months ago by eepsy.0148
This album absolutely fizzes along.
This album absolutely fizzes along.
Every track is strong,with some outstanding (Puzzled by People, OMG,Lock the Locks)
I have had it 4 weeks, and just cannot... Read more
Every track is strong,with some outstanding (Puzzled by People, OMG,Lock the Locks)
I have had it 4 weeks, and just cannot... Read more
Published 14 months ago by John L. Cave
It's grown on me
At first I was a bit unsure as to whether i liked the album. However, after about 5 listens i feel compelled to write this review and recommend this album to any streets fan. Read more
Published 14 months ago by T. Kemp
Incredible!!!
Brilliant album, he hasn't lost his old touch, just added to it :D Saw The Streets at Bristol yesterday.. absolutely fantastic. GET THIS ALBUM.
:D
:D
Published 15 months ago by Rose Skinner
A Good Album to go out With
I am a Streets fan, but didn't buy the obvious clangers that preceded this album. I have to say though that this is a very good album to go out with and has been on rotation on my... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Wadster
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
