Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 22/08/05
Label: The Beats

There's a received wisdom that says if you give a burgeoning musical scene a 'name' then you've effectively killed it. New Wave Of New Wave, Romo, Fraggle...the genres were headed for extinction before the moniker made the dictionary.

It wasn't always thus. When Jerry Wexler coined the term R'n'B as a replacement for the suspect Race Music, little did he know that music under that banner would still be topping the charts over half a century later. Dave Godin's Northern Soul lost none of its allure for having an umbrella term and even - the movement that dare not speak its name - Goth came back from the dead to cloak a new generation. So why does Grime feel over so soon? And why is it going to take a miracle for The Mitchell Brothers album "A Breath Of Fresh Attire" to gain the recognition and sales it deserves?

This is a brilliant album; a fully realised work. It's witty, daring, honest to a fault and musically ahead of the pack (in a year that's already seen impressive debuts from Kano and Roll Deep). The parental advisory sticker should say 'the following album contains strong language from the start' as we get both the f and the c words within ten seconds of opener "F*ck Me, F*ck You", a relentless attack on each other's irritating habits. It deserves a prize just for the lyric "She's been here since "Popworld" started and I ain't even got to pop her bra yet." That's followed by "G.O.R.G.I.E." a shameless declaration of signing on whilst working that may come back to haunt them when the advance runs dry.

It's this ability to glorify the British underclass that should've seen the Mitchells clutched to the Burberry bosom of every precinct dwelling rude-kid in the country. Yet it isn't happening. The Brothers' singles "Routine Check" and "Harvey Nicks" (could you ask for a better pun?) made little impact on the charts and their intended audience still gorges itself on moronic thuds from 50 Cent, who says nothing to them about their life.

What may be a problem for The Mitchell Brothers is the ubiquitous presence of Mike Skinner on this album. It's more his than theirs. There are tracks, notably the minor key tales of woe "Alone With The TV" and "She's Got It All Wrong", that could easily be re-voiced outtakes from The Streets "A Grand Don't Come For Free". It's hardly a negative to receive more songs in such a classic vein but it'll be tough for Teddy and Tony to forge their own identities in Skinner's shadow. Unless they do and unless someone can come up with a new name, worthy of the most exciting and relevant musical movement since Two Tone, then "A Breath Of Fresh Attire" could be doomed to life as a lost classic.

F*ck that.

    by Tom Townsend