On his first album, Mike Skinner's tales of the streets were credible - it's where he was when he wrote them. For the second album, he went a bit more "concept", turning the same way of life into a fictional tragi-comic narrative. Now, inspiration would seem to be waning, and he's reduced to singing about getting off with famous birds: "Considering how much prang you'd done, you looked OK on CD:UK." It seems designed purely to attract tabloid intrigue - especially when you realise that he's singing about crack cocaine. But the song is a turkey, and even Skinner's falsetto singing partner, coupled with some calypso steel-drum effects from the Korg keyboard, can't breathe life into it.

The Fred Perry-clad constituency are loving the show, but not enough for Skinner, who has quit the booze and turned to frantic stand-up comedy instead. All night he will ask them if they are having a good time - "Liverpool, Manchester, or is it Dublin?" When the Londoners don't protest loudly enough at his geographical joke, he asks the sound man to turn up the audience. He balances a glass on his head, kicks a trainer into the audience, hands out a few glasses of brandy and toots a klaxon into his microphone. Halfway through the show, he and his band disappear - but then they come back again.

Even when Skinner joins in with a gorgeous harmony at the end of Dry Your Eyes, he doesn't quite come through. He's a good novel in need of a better editor - his flashes of brilliance only make the self-indulgent moments even more frustrating.