Disc of the day
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
Features Disc of the day
The Streets
Original Pirate Material
(Locked On/679, 2002)
Birmingham hip hopper depicts "the life of a geezer."
Possibly because commentators were baffled by someone MC'ing in a hybrid midlands-London accent, The Streets' Mike Skinner was originally lumped in with the early-noughties' UK Garage scene. But while garage hits like Oxide & Neutrino's naughty Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty) or Deekline's goofy I Don't Smoke are more specialist interests today, concept album Original Pirate Material still rewards listening. Reputedly recorded in his bedroom, here are eloquent descriptions of young adulthood spent in pubs, clubs and takeaways, hopped up on too much fast food, Kronenberg and self-medication, plagued by feelings of melancholy and dissatisfaction, and constantly on guard against modern living's threats and pitfalls. But there's uplift and even heroism in songs like the elegiac ecstasy-honeymoon remembrance Weak Become Heroes and the tenacious Number 18 hit Has It Come To This? (where Skinner admits he walks "the tightrope of street cred"), and all combine into a listening experience that reaches beyond the mundane realities it's seemingly concerned with. Jokey tunes about him and his chums getting off their nuts in Amsterdam or the illogical nature of UK drug laws might sound unpromising in isolation, but here, the rough does come with the smooth amidst Skinner's good sense, random blather, insults and insights.
Ian Harrison
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 17/09/2009
Further Listening
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free (Locked On/ 679, 2004)
Various – An England Story (Soul Jazz, 2008)
Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (Domino, 2006)
Previous Disc of the day
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Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
6:00 AM GMT 20/11/2009
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-
Isley Brothers - The Brothers: Isley
The Cincinnati siblings bed into their heavy period.
6:00 AM GMT 18/11/2009
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Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land
The trumpeter's most soulful excursion entrances MOJO messageboarder.
6:00 AM GMT 16/11/2009
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