Right, it's a quarter past ten, Friday the 6th of December, Eid has come and gone (and so have my fat relatives) and now finally I can get down to some serious work. And I'm not talking about course work, or going cruzin` down Southall Broadway in my 3 series. Five days ago, one of the most eagerly anticipated albums of the year was released.

"The Streets" is the follow up to the Panjabi Hit squad's smash hit album "Punjabi Hit Squad-THE ALBUM". Now for those of you who don't know who the Panjabi Hit squad are, well then you obviously don't know anything about Bhangra. Now, the PHS have been Dj'ing and promoting desi music for years and showed they knew what they were doing with their first album and since then have landed a spot on BBC radio 1, and recently have been promoting their new album as much as possible. I guess it's time to find out if it's worth all this talk!

Well first of all, I have to say the album cover for me is a total put off. Now you shouldn't always judge an album by its cover, but if these guys didn't have the rep they did, then it wouldn't even catch my eye, some very dull colours and design here. I can understand the guys wanting to be one the front cover of the debut album, but everybody knows who they are now, but here they again on the front just like every other wanna be super star, posing away; really they should let the designers get on with it. Any way, before you lot start calling me a player hater, lets get down to the nitty gritty.

First up is Jawani, sung by "Mr. Put Sardaran de", Ranjit Mani, who is supported by the Dynamic duo MC Metz and MC Trix. The intro is a typical Ranjit Mani intro which he has used many times before.Then straight away the MC's take it away. Now, everybody likes B21, and all that's been done to their version of this song is basically a few changes in the Punjabi lyrics, and a change of singer. Ranjit has done a reasonable job with the lyrics, but they sound rather lethargic, as this tune has been rinsed out so many times. Music wise all that has been added is a garage beat, and even though Metz and Trix are on top of their game, even they don't sound too good on this track. For a first track on any album, this is a bit of a let down, I guess the people who like desi type music will like this mix better.

Up next is a remix of one the songs, which made the debut album such a smash, "Dil Chura Liya" which is blessed by the golden voice of Kavita Sohanta, and just like in the original, Dee from the Hit Squad is the rapper.This is still a well produced R'n'B track to chill to with your partner, or mates, and the though desi lyrics have not been touched, the music has been tweaked slightly and we have new English lyrics, which make it seem like this is part two to the track. One bonus to come out of this track is Dee's rapping which is very good and hopefully we'll hear a bit more from him in the future. However, the first version in my view is a much better track as the English lyrics are more fluent and the music slightly better, a bit of a disappointment for me again, but it's an above average track, and definitely one of the better ones on the album.

On to track three which is Nakre Da, which has been sung by Kuldip Paras. This is one of those tracks that you can either love or hate. With me it's basically one, which I have to be in the mood for. The music is dominated by thumping dholis with tumbi, which when I feel like, sound really good and I just want to get up and dance, but other times I just think its sounds way too pindu-fied. The lyrics are quite good and Kuldip has done a good job. The PHS have not added any western influence to this track, and though it sounds ok, reminds me of a track form Jazzy B's album Folkal Attraction. This won't be a dance floor smash, but I bet you don't mind dancing to it at a mela or shaddi.

Track four is Sohnyieh, which has been sung by Amar Arshi and accompanied by the relatively unknown, but not for long, MC Catalyst. Finally a top tune on the album! This is a top UK garage track with just the right amount of tumbi fused in. Amar Arshi as usual gives this song a great sound, and what can I say about MC catalyst? Well, a very impressive debut appearance with original lyrics, which is very refreshing. My only criticism is he sounds slightly more like a rapper, but his style certainly isn't out of place on this track, hopefully he'll prove to very versatile like the best in the business, MC Metz. This track is definitely one you'll be hearing in the clubs very soon.

Number five is Hai Hai. Now, if you don't know, you should know, remix guru Bally Sagoo started up his own label called Ishq a few years back, and one of his top talents was DJ Kenz who released the smash album Bootlegged. The track, which carried the album, was, yes you guessed it, Hai Hai, sung by Satwinder Bitti. The track itself is quite catchy and Satwinder's crooning certainly suits the array of tumbis and dhols as well as the lyrics, this is a cool track. They have mentioned Ishq on the inlay of the CD so it's all good.

Next is Heere Heere, which is sung by up and coming star Sonia Panesar. This is another totally folk orientated song. Sonia has sung the song beautifully, which gives the song so much more meaning as her voice completely complements the music. For me this track is very much aimed at the older listeners out there, and for me it's really just a track to chill to once in a blue moon, I think I only listened to it fully once this week, and that was when I was feeling real mellow. Though there's nothing with really wrong the song, I guess it shows off their production skills in making all types of music and gives the album some variety.

Track seven is Kuriyeh sung by Narinder Manak-E. This is one of the best tracks on the album. PHS has given us a wicked hip-hop sound with the dholis and tumbis not sounding out of place for a minute. Kuldip's vocals suit this romantic number perfectly, this is definitely one of the reasons why the PHS got where they have in our industry, because when they get it right, they're right up there with the RDB's, Sagoo's and Zeus'. Top boliyan track.

Next up is Gundasa which has been sung by Surinder Shinda This is a cool boliyan track which has just the right amount of remix style which most "Bhangra-muffins" love. Shinda's vocals are outstanding as usual and the lyrics are real meaningful like most boliyan songs. There is a very a heavy R'n'B base line which makes this song sound really good. I can see this track doing really well and will be popular with everyone especially the youngsters.

Track eight is the garage version of Hai Hai. Satwinder is back with vocals for this two step garage mix and newcomer Ms Scandalous provides the MC'ing to by far the best track on the album. Here we are given an awesome two step beat fused in with the desi sounds and lyrics of Satwinder, and as for Ms Scandalous, well I think PHS have unearthed a massive talent here. Her lyrics are delightfully original, coherent and above all sound bad!! It would be great for the Asian music industry is she was Desi because I think the only other female Asian rapper/MC right now is Hard Kaur, and we haven't heard form her in ages since she decided to go mainstream with the likes of the Asian Dub Foundation. I could go on and on about how good this song is, trust me it's got class written all over it.

On to the final track of the album, which is Hasdi Hasdi (Hit Squad Mix). Manpreet Kaur sounds awesome, I could listen to this track all day. Music wise the PHS has produced a wicked R'n'B track, which all you romantics will just love to chill to. It's a good way to end the album. This track has been fully produced by PHS, and it also featured on the Nav Sarao album 'Fast N Furious.'

Well, to sum the album up, I'm a little bit disappointed to see four tracks which are remixes (Jawani, Dil Chura Liya and Hai Hai twice) on this ten track album, so really all we're getting, is a six track album. However, 6 tracks plus 4 remixes is more than we get on most albums these days, so I can't be too harsh on the Panjabi Hit Squad. Apart from the fact that they have remixed these tunes it can be said that they have not used one single sample in the whole album so all credit to them for this, let's just hope other bhangra producers can follow suit. Adding to that they have completely revamped these mixes so it's their music that is shining through. They are quality DJ's, as we all know, but as producers they can improve with time. However I do rate them for their versatility as they covered many genres of music like garage, R'n'B, Hip hop and desi boliyan. The two biggest pluses of this album have to be the discovery of Ms Scandalous who steals the show in my view, and MC catalyst. But, in the end this album is worth getting if you're a PHS fan especially as due to this variety, so I'm sure they will be something on the album that you like. I am sure that they are set for bigger things and this album could be part of music history and quite valuable one day. As far as rating the album, I would give it 7.5 out of 10 so give them their just rewards for the time and effort they have took in promoting this album by adding it to your CD collection. It's now one forty am, time for bed I think. Till next time, take care.