19 Dec 2009 by Chris     No Comments    Posted under: Entertainment

Albums of the Decade: No.2

A Grand Don’t Come For Free by The Streets

“I saw this thing on ITV the other week”
NME 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade: No.16
Pitchfork Top 200 Albums of the Decade: No.129
Uncut 150 Albums of the Decade: No.93

When you’ve opened your account with an album which defines an era, and it’s fairly obvious that your musical style isn’t yet ripe for a change, how do you follow it up? With an album containing the soundtrack to a summer – Fit But You Know It – and a story arc, no less, which might have been called a concept album in an earlier age. 2004′s A Grand Don’t Come For Free tells a tale of an ordinary bloke having a bad day, which gets worse, in totally mundane ways – and then tacks on a completely unexpected alternative ending. What sort of mundane day? Well, in the very first track, the protagonist takes a DVD back to the rental shop, only to find it’s not in the box, then goes to get some money from the cashpoint, only to find there’s insufficient funds. Tales From Topographic Oceans it ain’t.

The humour is as laddish as ever, but – even more than in Original Pirate Material – the sentimental stuff is even stronger. It’s a cinematic story, and I’m totally in agreement with the writers who described Mike Skinner as the “Mike Leigh of modern music”. It’s got as many great lyrics as a Half Man Half Biscuit album, and there’s no finer compliment than that. Did he ever do a film of this album? He should have. But like a good radio play, I defy anyone who listens to it not to picture the whole tale graphically in their head.

• Albums of the Decade: No.3
• Albums of the Decade: No.4
• Albums of the Decade: No.5
• Albums of the Decade: No.6
• Albums of the Decade: No.7
• Albums of the Decade: No.8
• Albums of the Decade: No.9
• Albums of the Decade: No.10
• Albums of the Decade: No.11
• Albums of the Decade: No.12
• Albums of the Decade: No.13
• Albums of the Decade: No.14
• Albums of the Decade: No.15
• Albums of the Decade: No.16
• Albums of the Decade: No.17
• Albums of the Decade: No.18
• Albums of the Decade: No.19
• Albums of the Decade: No.20

Got anything to say? Go ahead and leave a comment!