A Grand Don't Come for Free

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Poses to impress a girl in a take away restaurant during a heavy night drinking on holiday. (" Fit But You Know It")

Dimery, Robert (2009). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Octopus Publishing Group, London. p.920. ISBN 9781844036240 . Retrieved 23 September 2012. Simon Rogers (19 November 2009). "NME's top 50 albums of the noughties revealed". The Guardian. London.Adrien Begrand (14 May 2004). "The Streets: A Grand Don't come For Free Popmatters Music Review". Popmatters . Retrieved 10 March 2010. A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ emerged two years after their breakthrough debut album and The Streets had already become an international phenomenon. This time around, Mike Skinner constructed an album with an on-going narrative that was by turns hilarious, touching and energising. ‘Dry Your Eyes’ became The Streets’ first #1 single, while ‘Fit But You Know It’ and ‘Blinded By The Lights’ both hit the Top 10. Sinclair, Tom (21 May 2004). "A Grand Don't Come for Free". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016 . Retrieved 4 February 2014. British album certifications – Streets – A Grand Don't Come for Free". British Phonographic Industry.

Rough minimalism would be best to describe the music. clanging drums, atari-ish bleeps and samples snatched from records you've not heard of. a bit like what UNKLE was doing at that time, but mike does it more effectively... cleaner. In his book The Story of the Streets, Skinner explained his decision to create a story that ran through the album: Lynskey, Dorian (May 2004). "The Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free". Blender (26): 130. Archived from the original on 4 May 2006 . Retrieved 23 September 2016. Suspects his mate Scott of stealing his coat, money, and girlfriend but discovers that Simone is actually having an affair with Dan. ("What is He Thinking?") a b Blashill, Pat (27 May 2004). "Streetwise!". Rolling Stone. No.949. p.80. Archived from the original on 8 July 2009 . Retrieved 15 September 2015.Repeated listens reap rewards. Skinner’s vocals are so high up in the mix that it’s easy to forget there’s some music underneath. And he certainly hides his thingy under a whatsit. He plays with a broader musical palette than the just-thrown-together feel suggests: from the Hammer horror strings and brass stabs of ‘What Is He Thinking’ and the acoustic guitar on the beautiful heartbreak-balm of ‘Dry Your Eyes’ to the sweet soul vocals that punctuate the tale of sofa-bound inertia that is ‘I Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way’, where the lyric “The ashtray needs emptying and the Clipper needs a shake” is delivered with the kind of heartfelt conviction usually reserved for love songs.

Kuipers, Dean (23 May 2004). "A striking kind of storytelling". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 5 December 2015. Moves into Simone's house and finds himself comfortable smoking marijuana there, rather than drinking with his friends at the pub. ("Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way")On first listen, ‘Fit But You Know It’ is the obvious single. Nothing else is as immediate as ‘Don’t Mug Yourself’ or ‘Weak Become Heroes’ from his debut. A great first single, it takes a guitar chug and a boozy rant and combines them to joyous effect. Close your eyes, put four moptops in suits in the picture, and you could easily imagine it as an early Beatles song. It captures the naivety of tunes like ‘She Loves You’ or ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ but transplants it to an era when ‘innocent’ means not yet having your brown wings. Goods that are faulty or sent in error must be returned to Crash Records Limited, 35 The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 6PU within 7 working days of the item being received by the customer. Petridis, Alexis (7 May 2004). "A Grand Don't Come for Free, The Streets". The Guardian Friday Review. p.17 . Retrieved 4 February 2014. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. as much as i adore this album, time hasn't been fair, not because of lyrics referring to nokia's or the nonsense that was often offensively referred to as the 'chav lifestyle' but because it was released in 2004, a time when loudness was a desired thing in the latest records.