The Streets
Computers and Blues

"I think you are really fit, you're fit but my gosh don't you know it". These are the words that made Mike Skinner a star. No grand insights or all-encompassing truths, just an entertaining if somewhat gimmicky comment about a girl that's full of herself. Seriously, how did it become generally accepted that this man was some sort of modern urban poet? Sure, he has a way with a neat rhyme and is undoubtedly sharp in his observations but hardly the lyrical genius he is often billed as. If nothing else, his fifth and supposedly final Streets album proves just that.

The funky hook and solid beat of opener 'Outside Inside' complement Skinner's rolling words wonderfully, giving a false sense of optimism about the tracks that are yet to come. In fact, it is never surpassed throughout the forty minutes that follow. Featuring guest vocalists aplenty, the most notable contributions come from The Music's Robert Harvey, but only serve to create slight emo undercurrents on 'Going Through Hell' and self-pitying pop cheese on 'We Can Never Be Friends".

While 'OMG' could be interpreted as a clever comment on relationships in the age of social networking, Skinner's running behind the pack on that subject and without a new or original angle on it, it merely seems mundane. At this point, rather than mourning the loss of future Streets records, 'Computers and Blues' only succeeds in rousing a sigh of relief that this will be Skinner's last in this guise.

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