Let's talk about the new Streets album A GRAND DON'T COME FOR FREE.

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I miss Tico. :(

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Monday, 14 June 2004 23:07 (nineteen years ago) link

He hovers over us all like a kind spirit.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 June 2004 23:20 (nineteen years ago) link

I can see the Disco Inferno link sorta - there's a sense of particular sounds/riffs being used for their emotional impact in a similar manner, and Mike Skinner can get very Ian Crause in his more serious/melancholic moments.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 01:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Hmm...hmm! I will have to ponder this a bit more. There's a distinct difference in my head to how the two separately use language -- not just a matter of singing styles or vocabulary, more like how the words work with/against the music in question.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 01:36 (nineteen years ago) link

three months pass...

I avoided this album for months because I was afraid it wouldn't measure up. I was wrong. Incredibly, completely, totally wrong. It's magnificent.

― J (Jay), Friday, 24 September 2004 22:49 (nineteen years ago) link

i keep listening to it. everytime i get chills at the point in empty cans when he finds the money.
totally incredible record.
I'd like to read interviews with him, anyone have reccomendations?

― Magic City (ano ano), Friday, 24 September 2004 23:14 (nineteen years ago) link

totally incredible record.

YES! IT IS!

My opinion of it has changed not a whit in the past four months. It really is one of the greatest albums I've ever heard in my entire life.

― Mr. Snrub, Friday, 24 September 2004 23:18 (nineteen years ago) link

A Review of "A Grand Don't Come for Free" in the Style of "A Grand Don't Come for Free":

I-was-check-ing-some-new-tracks-from-the-streets'-brand-new-al-BUM
you-might-say-that-I-did-not-re-ally-like-it-ve-ry-MUCH

― Hurting, Saturday, 25 September 2004 18:09 (nineteen years ago) link

This has not aged very well for me at all.
I was all on the bandwagon at first, I loved it.

Seriously diminishing returns.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Saturday, 25 September 2004 18:16 (nineteen years ago) link

I think that's a function of the album's style - it's not nearly as fun once you already know the story inside out, but I think replays 1 through 10 are pretty amazing.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 26 September 2004 04:16 (nineteen years ago) link

This is probably just a function of the way I listen to things but I find the story as such easy to tune out aside from the TV bit, though I've only heard the album in full twice or so. That said the Dizzee album is much better and in "Imagine" it has more emotional bite.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 26 September 2004 05:02 (nineteen years ago) link

Ned and Tim both OTM.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 26 September 2004 06:18 (nineteen years ago) link

two months pass...

Okay, I am FINALLY listening to this all the way through and I'm having to grit my teeth and concentrate to keep from turning it off. This album is incredibly grating to me, going beyond the ennui of the first album and into ARGH I HATE YOU territory.

So yeah, The Streets are not for me. (caveat: "Not Addicted" is actually great but mainly for the hook)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I hate this album even more than I did upthread. Really, really hate it. Hate hate hate.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:06 (nineteen years ago) link

(ok "What Is He Thinking" is decent too)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:17 (nineteen years ago) link

whatevs!

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm amused how much I DO like this album, as I am nobody's defition of an anglophile.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:47 (nineteen years ago) link

But your lord and master on this earth only listens to MBV, Joy Division and the Smiths now.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:49 (nineteen years ago) link

whatevs!

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:49 (nineteen years ago) link

I *really* liked it, but I've still only listened to this album once!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:50 (nineteen years ago) link

all those bands have been rendered null and void by Good Charlotte and Interpol. It's sort of the flipside of how the Beatles and Rolling Stones rendered all those old black guys valueless.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:51 (nineteen years ago) link

hahahaha I love the hairflip implicit in Anthony's penultimate post.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:52 (nineteen years ago) link

all those bands have been rendered null and void by Good Charlotte and Interpol.

Oh, you don't like Limp Bizkit anymore? Unusual!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Limp Bizkit didn't render any British bands null and void. They rendered all metal and rap null and void by putting them together and taking it to the next level.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Now if you don't mind I have to start a "Crack: Classic or CLASSIC?!?!?!?!" thread on ILE.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:54 (nineteen years ago) link

You're diggin' freak nasty without a shovel!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Wait, I'm confused, do you actively believe this anymore or is this the equivalent of 'honour the fire' or 'yay MBV!'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:54 (nineteen years ago) link

*flees*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:55 (nineteen years ago) link

PENIS

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Sing the penis song!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:57 (nineteen years ago) link

The only white bands on the planet worth a damn are Good Charlotte, Interpol, Limp Bizkit and John Mayer. The Streets doesn't count because he's a spoken word artist like Henry Rollins.

(god I wish I really felt this way)

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:59 (nineteen years ago) link

x-post (my post does not refer to Ned Raggett's penis song)

i got this and listened to nothng else for a week or more straight. I absolutely loved it.

― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:01 (nineteen years ago) link

it's high time i started listening to this again. (maybe this time around i'll be able to *love* it, as opposed to liking it a fair bit.)

― m. (mitchlnw), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:02 (nineteen years ago) link

my post does not refer to Ned Raggett's penis song

Saturday Night Live's, actually. With Matthew Broderick!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:03 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Haven't listened to this in ages. Really like it.

and now i hear shades of Garth Brooks in him.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 16 January 2005 01:00 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

listening to this fr the first time since the great hard-drive crash abt 6 mths ago, it still sounds amazing.

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:18 (nineteen years ago) link

Wait, why does he say squid and not quid? Is that just another slang term?

And yes it still sounds great.

― mitch dub (ano ano), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 00:59 (nineteen years ago) link

"Dry Your Eyes" is still the worst song ever and this thread revive has just reminded me of its existence :(

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:23 (nineteen years ago) link

Christ, what an album. Took me a while to "get it" -- drawn in by "Dry Your Eyes," turned off by "It Was Supposed to Be So Easy," floored when i listened to the whole thing and realized it's a fucking STORY, mate. I think it equals similar "slice of life" achievements by Raymond Carver, John Dos Passos, etc. Mike's "realization" bit in the last song ("It IS true / No one's really there fighting for you in the last garrison / No one except yourself that is / No one except you / YOU are the one who's got your back till the last deed's done / Scott can't have my back till the absolute end / Cuz he's got to look out for what's over his horizon / He's got to make sure he's not lonely, not broke / It's enough to worry about keeping his own head above"), "Empty Cans," approaches the emotional weight of anything Dylan's done.

No one is making music like this.

― PB, Tuesday, 29 March 2005 23:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Dry Your Eyes floored me totally when I heard it. That kind of honesty, man...I have a whole other kind of respect for them. I loved "You're Fit" but that [ie Dry Your Eyes] was unexpected. I haven't picked up the album though. I should, I guess...

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 23:57 (nineteen years ago) link

I hardly even noticed "Dry Your Eyes" upon first hearing Grand, but its gawky 'honesty' hit hard in a chance hearing in the midst of the JJJ [Aus 'youth' network] playlist! I'm not sure what this means.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 01:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Dry Your Eyes == Clocks 2004

― a banana (alanbanana), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 01:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Still the best album of the 21st century so far.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 01:41 (nineteen years ago) link

four months pass...

Reminder: this is still fucking incredible.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 10:42 (eighteen years ago) link

I shop at Harvey Nicks these days.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 10:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Wow, was it only a year ago this came out? I have to hear it again when I get home.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 10:51 (eighteen years ago) link

still great, yes. after live 8 i listened to the wall all the way through, and then a grand DCFF. no word of a lie.

― Britain's Jauntiest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 11:14 (eighteen years ago) link

in the £3 bin by the counter @ Fopp, Cambridge Circus!!!

― zebedee (zebedee), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 11:19 (eighteen years ago) link

five months pass...

From Slate's year-end round up:

Malcolm Gladwell, author, Blink:
"2005 was the year I discovered the Streets. Oh my. For the second time in 30 years, the British take an African-American musical form and wonderfully reinvent it."

http://www.slate.com/id/2133842/?nav=tap3

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 6 January 2006 17:12 (eighteen years ago) link

"oh my."

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 6 January 2006 17:17 (eighteen years ago) link

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