The Streets - A Grand Don’t Come For Free

A song originally supposed to be sung by Chris Martin? A Chas ‘n’ Dave knees up as a first single? A concept album? You wouldn’t be the only one wondering if Mike’s gone and lost it.

Yet there’s one thing you can’t deny, the boy has talent. Skinner is probably the best lyricist this country has turned out since Ian Dury - nobody else comes close to encapsulating what it means to be a normal, average bloke living a normal, average life quite the way he does. It showed on ‘Original Pirate Material’, but with a proper narrative over eleven tracks it becomes almost epic.

Losing a grand, finding a girl, losing the girl then finding the money. A whirlwind of paranoia and melancholy, ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ really is something very, very special. And then you hit track ten.

‘Dry Your Eyes’ will change everything you ever thought about Mike Skinner. No longer just the modern poet the lads with their lager are allowed to love, suddenly he’s tugging on your heartstrings. Forget Pete Doherty and his canine chum - this is how you use a string section. Sounding like he’s close to breaking point, never has any song encapsulated every last emotion of a break up quite like this. There’s no way anyone could follow it.

Except he can. ‘Empty Cans’ is the proverbial tale of two halves. Turning from a brooding, claustrophobic bitchfest into an uplifting tale with a plot twist to die for, it takes the entire album and puts it in a league of its own.

Concept albums are supposed to be disjointed and difficult, but ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ actually means something palpable. Everyone knows what every word means, they’ve been there themselves, or can easily imagine it. However cheesy it sounds, Mike Skinner really is a man of the people. You shouldn’t write him off so easily.