The Streets: A Grand Don't Come For Free

This past Christmas, as I was doing a favour for my friends in the Cnotent Dept., I was ripping and encoding some audio clips for the Boston Globe's year-in-review round up of music. One of the albums was this disc by The Streets called "A Grand Don't Come For Free."

I picked it up, ripped down the proper tracks, and then gave them a listen so i could find a good 30 second clip that didn't have offensive language. What I'd found was an amazing combination of British hip-hoppers, story telling, and some damn great production values.

This album is in the same vein as The Who's "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia," and to a lesser degree U2's "Achtung, Baby" and Styx's "The Grand Illusion," in that they are meant to tell some sort of story.

On this album, its a little less artsy or interpretive, but not any less enjoyable.

The gist of it is following the lead character through a week where his money goes missing, girl troubles, doing drugs, and life lessons.

This album opened my eyes a bit. It showed me exactly how great music can come from such random places. Inever expected this to be a good one, but I've listened to it 100+ times so far.

In the end: This is a great album for anyone who wants to take a small leap and listen to something new-ish. Its over a year old, but still a phenomenal album.