Original Pirate Material - Streets

I first heard about The Streets, when I heard 'Has It Come To This?' (Track Number Two on the album), on a garage compilation that my friend had either bought or compiled himself using his CD-rewriter. I recognised the tune from my recent holiday to Magaluf, Majorca, and possibly from the holiday before that, when I went clubbing in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. It is a typical clubbing song, with a fast beat and catchy lyrics - ideal for dancing to and standing around bopping with a Barcardi Breezer. Original Pirate Material was released on the 25th of March 2002 (in the UK)?in the USA, it was brought out more recently (22nd October 2002). 22-year-old Mike Skinner ...  Read the complete review

Mike Skinner is a young Brummie lad now living in London. He talks about smoking weed, being on the dole, eating fast food and going to the pub. Underneath there?s some strong beats and occasionally a catchy melody kicks in. It doesn?t exactly sound the stuff of a revolutionary new garage artist, but The Street?s debut album, Original Pirate Material has been a huge success, even being nominated for the Mercury Music Prize (sadly beaten by Ms Dynamite). They certainly do have an original and distinctive sound, and their tunes are about things British youth can relate to, which makes a change to hearing US rappers going on about guns, hoes and bitches. ...  Read the complete review

For me this is one of the greatest albums of the garage genre, created by a youthful Mike Skinner at the age of 21, it is ground breaking for a number of reasons, firstly the lyrics were so far above anything else heard in this genre, the beats and tunes were excellent but the lyrics really pushed this out of an area where it could be pigeonholed and simply made it a great album, secondly, Skinner sounds so unlike a pop star that his cockney/brummy hybrid accent actually adds to the tunes. This is lo-fi, produced on a very small budget and sounds fantastic for it, it blends rap, reggae, two step, garage and rave, it is gritty, honest, humorous and at times ...  Read the complete review

"Original Pirate Material" was the debut album from The Streets. Birmingham act, Mike Skinner works alongside production duo The Beats (of which one is himself). It has him do very original things with a blend of the various UK sounds of the time with a bit of UK Hip Hop, Garage, and Trip Hop. 1. "Turn The Page" This particular track I felt was the perfect start to things as it really tells you where things are going as he comes with some production which has him take on the past-prime 2-Step Garage sound as well as taking on some original things for the Urban scene with some strings before he jumps on the beat with his ...  Read the complete review

What can I say about this album apart from the fact that I am really in love with it. It is best described as garage, but dont let this 'label' put you off it before you have heard Mike Skinner's delightful debut album. Mike Skinner and his friend Calvin are the Streets. Both provide the vocals throughout the album. It is one of the most original albums for years, I generally have not heard anything like it before in my limited years as an music fan. I would not describe it as garage, because I have never heard any garage like it. The vocals are not sung but spoke in a dreary and monotone fashion. This may sound unappealing but it just seems to work ...  Read the complete review