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Dec 19, 2011Based on the theme of technology and the power it holds over modern life, its 14 tracks showcase Skinner's trademark hip-hop witticisms.
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Feb 28, 2011A collection of lesser beats and hooks that somewhat returns to Original Pirate Material's sonics, Computers and Blues sadly trades that record's wonderful sense of place for a foggy vagueness that leaves Skinner's insights mostly impenetrable.
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UncutFeb 18, 2011The fifth and final Streets albums suffers as a result of his self-imposed exile from the hubbub he once chronicled with such verve. [Mar 2011, p.101]
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Feb 15, 2011It's not unreasonable to assume he's generally hit the mark with Computers and Blues, a heavy collection of songs with the inimitable Skinner sense of style and substance.
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MojoApr 4, 2011It's a fine bookend for a man who defined one parochial corner of the music world. [Mar 2011, p.96]
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Q MagazineMar 1, 2011His fifth and final Streets album turns into his best since "A Grand Don't Come For Free." [Feb 2011, p.123]
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Feb 15, 2011From its cover in, there's a knowing, bustling swagger to The Streets' finale, if only in its relishing of a quick dart for the exit.
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Feb 15, 2011Mike Skinner seems to have produced a funny, sad, emotional, honest album to rank up there with his very finest work, making us fall in love with him all over again, just as he leaves us.
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Feb 15, 2011Computers and Blues is inimitable, flawed, and perhaps a suitable way to bow out.
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Feb 15, 2011Computers and Blues, ultimately, just passes the test with a studious recount. It is neither atrociously bad nor staggeringly good: no stand-outs, no teeth-clenching clunkers. It is just okay.
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Feb 15, 2011Fortunately, Computers is more farewell party than funeral, and Skinner keeps things appropriately lively.
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Feb 18, 2011Overall, Skinner sounds bored and tired of himself-in short, ready to move on.
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Feb 23, 2011Even though it's not quite his best album, Computers and Blues catches the Streets at the best he's been in years.
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Feb 15, 2011Still confused but back on form, The Streets' final album (Skinner wants to make a film) sees a return to garage beats and square-eyed observations from a life staring at pixels on screens.
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Mar 29, 2011In the end, the album is a collection of songs, mostly good, some indifferent, and all a hundred times more honest than, say, Rihanna. But it's all really to no transcendent purpose.
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Feb 18, 2011The production on this unfocused album is, as usual, nothing mind-blowing. Still, Skinner has an insightful charm and a lyrical gift that makes this a respectable send-off.
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Feb 15, 2011For sheer instant appeal, the winner has to be Cyberspace and Reds, which is clearly one of the most bizarre, absurd, and exhilarating records dropped in 2011, while Computers and Blues requires a great deal of thought and introspection before it can be truly valued.
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Feb 16, 2011It's ultimately hard not to like an album that features not one but two epiphanies, one experienced lying on the "Roof of Your Car" staring at the stars, while in album closer "Lock the Locks" a dream prompts Skinner's sudden change of career--an event engagingly depicted as an office farewell party.
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Feb 15, 2011He may just have produced his best album.
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Feb 23, 2011This may be a confused record, but it finds its place through a universal truth it manages to hit: so Skinner can't quite find his way in this world: who among us can?
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Feb 15, 2011Computers & Blues doesn't match up to The Streets' visionary early promise, and there are a few songs which sound sketchy and half-hearted. But when it works, it's a reminder of what a tender, articulate and original voice Skinner has been in British pop, and how sorely he will be missed.
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Feb 15, 2011Thematically tight, thought-provoking and packed with tunes, it is, once again, far in advance of most pop in 2011. What a way to go.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 8 out of 11
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Mixed: 3 out of 11
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Negative: 0 out of 11
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Jan 26, 2012
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Mar 22, 2011
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Mar 11, 2011