Three 65, Day 43
The Streets, A Grand Don't Come For Free

Mike Skinner is The Streets, a UK hip-hop/electronic artist (the press calls it "grime"; whatever). His first album, Original Pirate Material, is often considered to be his best, an untouchable pinnacle of early 21st century music. I beg to disagree: today's album, A Grand Don't Come For Free, is the real winner.

Why? Well, for one thing, Skinner has some focus here: He's not just ruminating on abstract topics. Cast as a kind of modern-day Ulysses, Grand is a concept album about a day (or two) in the life of a disaffected British street youth, circa 2004.

It starts with "It Was Supposed To Be So Easy," which spells out Skinner's basic MO in a few lines: "If I wanted to end up with more now / I should have just stayed in bed like I know how." Hilariously, Skinner sets out a couple of basic tasks - get money from the ATM, return a DVD, call his mum - and fails to accomplish any of them.

Then there's "Could Well Be In" (boy meets girl), "Not Addicted" (gambling woes), "Blinded By The Lights" (drug woes), and "Get Out Of My House" (boy loses girl). Eventually, he comes to a kind of acceptance of his life, simultaneously finding a thousand pounds he thought he'd lost in the back of a TV set.

The production on these tracks is sprightly and engaging, mostly variations on techno and hip-hop that suit the lyrical delivery well. As always, Skinner remains a brilliant frontman, self-effacing and boastful at the same time. Unfortunately, this would be the last good Streets album: Skinner released three more records before calling it quits, and they all suck in profoundly different ways.