I was first introduced to The Streets by a dear friend of mine in the early days of our college experience. We were hosting a campus radio show that featured our more “diverse” musical tastes. We were, are, both music nuts, but at the time, I was deep into my hippy phase and he was expanding from his Skin and hardcore roots. It’s still a mystery to me how we clicked so well at the time. Since then we have both grown a great deal, and have, in fact, laughed at our younger selves more than once. However, the beauty of our show, was that we were still able to find music we both agreed on, and often took it as a challenge to find such things in our playlist. Listeners be damned! We were going to make eachother bob our heads. One such find, on one such night, was The Streets, and his first release, Original Pirate Material.
From the first time he played it, I was taken by the strong beats, and remarkable rhymes flowing in such a slow, deliberate and yet somehow sensitive manner. I can still remember asking immediately who it was, writing it down and setting out to get my copy. We were both shy to admit that we might not know a band, so this was a major step, though I can now admit John is far more knowledgeable than I. That album was played over and over, until two new things came into my life. An ipod, and a new album.
It has been mentioned before that the introduction of my first ipod, the origional clickwheel, changed a lot of things about how I listen to music. No longer was I just sitting on the floor to tear through new tunes, I was finding which beats could match my steps and my scenery. Mike Skinner always did both very well. Once he released his second album, A Grand Don’t Come for Free, and I placed it on that new toy, I found love.
For years, that second album would be known as my all-time favorite, and it still ranks high. Smooth, sexy, sorrowful and full of verbal vulnerabilities, it’s was like nothing else I’d ever heard before. Not to mention, telling a singular story from start to finish, it was like listening to a well written movie everywhere I walked. There have been several hazy debates as to which of his albums is the finest, and there is merit all around, but this one still wins out for me.
Following that second album, our relationship really began to blossom. He was always in heavy rotation, and quick to come up in many musical converastions. Sadly, I never got the chance to se him live, but I did receive a late-night phone call from him once(really, I’ll explain later if you’d like), so I settled for that. Granted, since then, we have parted ways a bit. He has released a few, not bad, yet lack-luster albums and I have had other musical crushes to court. Yet, now Mikey Skinner, at least as The Streets, is on his way out the door, and I am happy with his exit.
A few years back Skinner talked of hanging it up. Doing one last entirely instrumental album(a huge shift for anyone who knew the leader of Grime), or entirely synth album, and then moving onto other things. No one knew how seriously to take it, but pictures floated around of him playing with a sitar or mandolin, so we all had to wonder. Apparently, about a year ago, his final Streets album was completed, and then shelved by his label until the “proper time.” According to them, that time is now, and I’m content with that.
Computers and Blues, just realased on the 7th, would seem to be that final album, and it offers an interesting take on everything from then to now. It is easily not his strongest release, that is still left up to his first two works, but there is something special about it all the same. It feels somewhat fun, and easy, while still touching on a few of his darker days. It’s easy to smile from start to finish as he still flexes his production muscles and drops a good Skinner quip or two, like rhyming his way through the entire alphabet, just for fun.
I am no music critic, so I can’t really sit here and break down all of the finer points of the album, I won’t even try. However, I can say that this final album is still one worth hearing for any who have enjoyed him before. The tone of the album somehow feels like it’s leading you through each track of his you’ve heard before. A fitting send-off to a persona that has always been hard to pin down.
Ryan
Computers and Blues by The Streets, released by Atlantic Records.
As a side note- I was trying out this new theme on for size and will be rapidly switching back. Was not a change for the better.
