The Mike Skinner Conundrum

The two videos below summarise what I think is the Mike Skinner conundrum. The first vid is the new official vid for what'll be the first single off the next Streets album, Computers and Blues. The second vid is something Skinner apparently threw together on a whim with collaborator Robert Harvey (see if you can guess what band he used to be in). To my ears and eyes, the first song and vid are kind of not-very-good -- the music isn't too great and the vid is just a Pop Video, and a pretty low concept one at that (this is on first listen and view). The other song and vid, though, is, I think, much better -- some funny lyrics, a pleasant tune, and some nice wintery imagery. It probably cost a tenth of the official single's video but it's much nicer to look at. Granted I've heard the song more than once so that repeat listening effect might play a part, but I just find the track to be much more likable. Anyway, so the conundrum is that Skinner can make some great tracks when he does it very fast and they are seemingly throwaway, while the stuff that gets worked on for ages and then sits around waiting to be released doesn't seem as good. I think a new release model is needed here, but sadly most of the tracks he puts on his blog aren't downloadable. He does deride the way release schedules work himself and perhaps this is one of the reasons he's saying that the next Streets album will be the last? If you can put out new tunes every day quite easily it must be annoying to put 12 together for an album and then let them get stale for months before they're out.





PS Just listened to 'Going Through Hell' again and it's already growing on me, but still think it has a slightly over-produced sound