A Grand Don’t Come for Free – The Streets
A quick judgement (and execution) from me because (a) I’m busy this weekend and (b) it was easy to judge.
This album represents most of my worst musical nightmares come true:-
- Streetwise phrasing of the “lyrics”
- Lack of proper instruments
- Profanity
The profanity absolutely destroys any chance I’d have of listening to this objectively. It’s over-the-top, every other line and it’s not great to listen to. Maybe a street
yoof would laugh at it, but it’s not even funny profanity. Here’s an example:-
Where's my phone, have I got it?
Oh, this is a crock of shit!
I lost the fucking thing!
Is this clever use of swearing? Is it funny? Does it advance the narrative? Is it necessary to the narrative? The answer to all of those questions is “no”.
The music that is unfolding – very much in the background – seems pleasant enough. Nothing ground-breaking or stuff I’d pay money to listen to, but otherwise I’m struggling to say anything positive about this album. There was an outbreak of proper music in “Dry Your Eyes” but it’s a pity that any musicality is hidden beneath that awful voice and “lyrics”.
The lyrics are uniformly terrible – just banal stuff, talking about taking a DVD back, his broken TV or stopping to get chips. It’s not the subject matter I’m looking for in my lyrics, maybe a street
yoof would appreciate it.
It’s not just the profanity and banal lyrics – it’s the awful delivery. I don’t mind gruff voices, high-pitched voices, voices with accents, as long as they are making an attempt to sing (although not the British indie mumblers, obviously). But here, there is no attempt at musicality, it’s like listening to some yoof you pass on the street. I get that that’s the point, but it just sounds awful in music. The ”singing” that starts “Get Out of My House” sounds childish, maybe a street
yoof would appreciate it.
I realise that these words are delivered in the style of “the street”, and hence the band name, but why even bother creating music in this style? I just don’t get it, but maybe a street
yoof would. It might serve its purpose for future generations as a historical document of how people spoke to each other on the street in the 21st century, and I’d hope that these people might be appalled.
You see the point here? I’m not the target audience so it’s not surprising that I don’t like it, especially when I’m such a harsh musical critic. I have no desire to attempt to understand why people talk this way (not proper, like wot I do).
Whatever story is wrapped up in this album seems like a story not worth telling, and even if it was, it’s purposefully buried by an awful voice and lyrics. Reading the plot summary on Wikipedia, it’s hardly
Lord of the Rings or
A Tale of Two Cities. If you have a story to tell, why present it in a way that could alienate most of your potential audience? Or is swearing and banality a pre-requisite to hook today’s audience?
Scoring: I gave The Chemical Brothers 3/10 – I enjoyed “Let Forever Be” and said that there were “other songs where I found myself thinking that was a clever change of pace”. None of this applies here and so I’m afraid that I’ve no option but to go with
1/10.
Apologies to
@threespires, who I respect for his thoughtful reviews as a poster on this and other threads. I will be genuinely interested to read your reasons for liking this album, as I will other posters views. We should get some fantastic debate this week, which if nothing else, will have been worth the nomination.
