The Streets - 'Original Pirate Material' (679)
4/5
By: Toby L
'... Thanks to all the girls who dumped me and all the geezers who beat me up or taxed me - you drove me to be so focused (sic)!'
The above line is a quote from the accompanying booklet of The Streets' debut LP, 'Original Pirate Material'. Conveniently, these words are pretty much the theme of the whole album.
For the fact is that The Streets is just one Mike Skinner, a man armed with knowledge on how to operate simple studio-equipment, and a guy with enough vision and song-writing skills to put together an infectious and entirely British-sounding album. The reason this is quite odd, though, is because he's not doing the English equivalent of Beck, steering together folk/blues/rock into a fused genre, but instead embracing the gritty dance/garage/hip-hop culture and layering his distinctly rough, Midlands vocals over on top. You may already hold reservations - though this is only because you haven't heard the music in question.
Once you view the artwork and listen to the contents of what's on offer here, you'll realise that never before has a name for an artist been so apt. In every way, 'Original Pirate Material' successfully and effectively rubs off the sentiment of urban council-estates, run-down expectations and the general frustrations involved with copping off or forming relationships during a youthful age, doing this in the form of accessible and utterly infectious melodies and rhythms. If that means Skinner has to borrow certain other characters to sing over the top or implement the odd sample here and there, then so be it - either way, what results is bold, expectedly in-yer-face, and the most dynamic and potentially influential beats-record the UK has seen for years.
As soon as you're struck by the strings-enriched opening of 'Turn The Page', complete with Mike's slurring mission-statement on life (to be expanded on within the next 45 minutes), it's clear that you're hearing a very talented and modern poet, whose occasionally eloquent addressing of the mundanities of going out, getting sloshed and returning home afterwards almost allows it to come across as a perfect and refined art. Top-20 hit, 'Has It Come To This', is the first instance of his possible mass-appeal, much like the following number, upcoming single, 'Let's Push Things Forward', possessive of the most memorable trumpets and organ to hit music since anything The Specials had a chance to produce in the early-80s.
However, it's not all about dominating 'Top Of The Pops' - and thank goodness for that (indeed, note one of Mike's observations from 'Geezers Need Excitement': 'Geezers looking ordinary, and a few looking lairy/Chips flying around to the sound of the latest chart-entry'). It sounds comedic, and some of it is humorous, but it never appears ridiculous. Essentially, this is only where some of the parallels to Mike Skinner being the 'British Eminem' can come into fruition; after all, like his American counterpart, he's been blessed with a gift to put everyday, ordinary occurrences into song-format, not so much glamorising them as just stating the facts, leaving a discerning listener to decide what they feel about it all.
On a more simple level, however, 'Original Pirate Material' is just a great sounding full-length recording. It really is full of enough bite, energy and diversity to successfully whet the appetite of any music-fan that likes their music raw, yet tuneful. There's even some heart and soul involved: take 'It's Too Late' as a prime case of this, whose female vocals and affecting synth is a perfect pre-cursor to the remarkably drugs-orientated 'Too Much Brandy', owning the marvellous choral refrain of 'In its own little way, my body was trying to say, 'You better stop drinking brandy...'
In all, this is possibly the most exciting record for underground dance music the UK will see in 2002. Ironically, though, this is also possibly the most exciting record for mainstream dance music the UK will see in 2002. Whatever audience-category you fit into, it's unlikely you'll face disappointment with what's available from this debut offering; how's about that then - geezer?
Artists in this article: The Streets
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