quoted from:
http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/brainv05i41.html
The Streets, "Original Pirate Material"
Vice Records
Let me just say this one thing to our entire British audience before I
get started with this review: Just because you guys import our urban
music by the barrel doesn't mean we Americans should have to put up with
any quantity of yours. Sure, we'll take the occasional Craig David track
and play the video on M2, but we have no interest in your "So Solid" UK
Garage (save for the R&B-like MJ Cole and Artful Dodger). That being
said, my heart is filled with nothing but the purest of pity for the
poor A&R over at Vice Records who's going to lose his or her job in the
crash and burn effort to attain some level of crossover success with The
Streets. Sole member Mike Skinner may speak directly to the British
youth in the same way that Eminem speaks to suburban white teenagers,
but he's speaking an entirely different language than what this market
speaks. The lyric sheet that came with this promo CD is essential for
any attempt to understand the heavy slang here, although some
translations would be even more useful (birds = bitches; geezers = UK
garage wiggers). While I could waste far too much of my time slagging
The Streets' total lack of lyrical flow, I'll just say that it really
takes away from the mediocre tracks underneath. The peppy single "Has It
Come To This?" sounds like a radio spot where the hyper-caffeinated disc
jockey babbles on, unable to oblige the listeners by shutting the fuck
up and go back to the music they actually tuned in for. Sadly, this song
stands among the few-and-far-between decent moments of the album. Tracks
like "Sharp Darts," "Don't Mug Yourself," and "Too Much Brandy" are so
ridiculously bad that I am stunned that a reputable music magazine like
NME praised 'Original Pirate Material' as a "landmark record." Still, a
handful of the songs would have worked as instrumentals, namely the
moody two-step lurch of "Geezers Need Excitement" and the string washes
of "It's Too Late." Though I'll take another twelve Damon Albarn
side-projects before I listen to anything like this again, 'Original
Pirate Material' does manage to come out sounding better than that last
Vincent Gallo compilation, destined to be the worst CD of the year no
matter how many more British MCs release albums in 2002. - Gary Suarez
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ouchies!
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