Everything Is Borrowed

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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0825646938612 Label: Sixsevenine Manufacturer: Sixsevenine Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Sixsevenine Release Date: 2008-09-15 Studio: Sixsevenine
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Editorial Reviews: So, what to do once you’ve pushed things forward, had a song and a little dance about it and sold the t-shirt? Push things back? Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, faced such a quandary following the comparatively aimless shambles that was third album The Hardest Way to Make An Easy Living which hobbled with neither a clear style or sense of self; a significant problem when he’d justified his existence on incisive social narrations, a unique voice and sharp musical intuitions. He was in need of either a hark back to the glory of his debut (2002’s Original Pirate Material) or a full reinvention. As chances of him having enjoyed a rubbery kebab from a plastic tray in a town-centre gutter at 4am of late are slim, a reinvention it is then. Everything Is Borrowed concentrates squarely on the feel-good vibe that has driven his celebrated live shows, staying optimistic even when low-key, an intention emphasised by his accrual of a live band to record with in the studio for the first time and fire the tone. And to go with big production ideals come bigger ideas and his transformation from commentator to pub philosopher, putting the world to rights. Ok, so that may only be a moderate success--his ponderings aren't especially progressed and his vocabulary disappointingly stumpy--but bright summer sing-along "Heaven for the Weather", speakeasy jazz 2-step "I Love You More" and chill-out rambling gospel anthem "The Escapist" more than justify the gamble. --James Berry
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: His best. Comment: I just can't understand why this album has got some bad reviews as it is Skinners best album by far. There are some excellent tracks especially "Everything Is Borrowed" "On The Edge Of A Cliff" "Escapist" and "Heaven For The Weather" (which is irresistibly bouncy and singalong). Skinners softer side appears on the lovely "Strongest Person I Know". Musically this is by far Skinners most accessible album with some really catchy tunes not just the hard beats we find so often on the other albums. Lyrically, there are some gems but there are also some clunkers. However there are a couple of tracks where the theme seems to be uncomfortably anti-christian and this leaves a bit of a bad taste. Its been on the car cd player for ages now, though I do keep flicking to the half dozen excellent tracks. Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent Comment: One of my purchases of the year and easily the best Streets album so far. This album Mike grows up a bit and after watching the Beat Stevie series on TV you can see that an enourmous amount of work has gone into the production elements of this album - some of the string arrangement on this album are beautiful and I the lyrics compliment them perfectly. Overall this is definately worth a buy, yes MS is never going to be the best singer in the word but even the off-key notes are endeering and engaging. Buy it Customer Rating: Summary: I love this album!!! Comment: This is an excellent album! It has such a typically streets british feel! It is slightly more experimental with the choirs and more instruments! A lot of people have slated the Dodo tune, its awesome, it is so ska its great! Alleged legends has a real funk feel to it and i love you more just makes you want to keep hitting the replay button with its positive upbeat skank! Great, great, great! I love the way Mikes albums so reflect where he is at in life. It would seem by this album that as he matures so what he sings about does also, there are less drug references in this one and more tunes with a positive story to tell! I tell you this, i brought the Verves new album, phew, what a dissapointmentment, this, i was well chuffed!! Customer Rating: Summary: Thought-provoking music Comment: Mike Skinner's fourth album is far better than its immediate predecessor while not reaching the heights of his first two. What I deduce from it is that Skinner has much mellowed and matured and is spending a good deal of his riches on books, particularly ones by Richard Dawkins and Bill Bryson's A Short History Of Nearly Everything. I say this because of the rational, secular, scientific outlook of songs such as Heaven For The Weather ('let's rely on our minds', rather than theology, he pleads), The Way Of The Dodo (which astutely points out that 'it's not earth that's in trouble, it's the people who live on it - earth will be here long after we've gone the way of the dodo', cocking a snoot at the absurd and over-publicised global warming brigade who ignore all the larger threats to humanity to promote something based on dodgy science), On The Edge Of The Cliff (which echoes Dawkins' inspirational words that 'for billions of years every single one of your ancestors survived... successfully looked after and passed on to you life') and Alleged Legends (which is pure Dawkins/Hitchens with lines like 'do you what you think's right and you will feel alright, cause when you're bad you will feel sad - that's the religion I live by' and many other thoughtful ones). Great stuff, very laudable. Skinner is a fascinating character, a person with a brain that you can almost see the cogs turning in. Watching him is like watching a previously callow youth discovering the meaning of life, or at least trying to. He's modern pop music's Larry Darrell. His innocent, stumbling delivery adds to his wide-eyed, little-boy appeal. He gives you faith in the youngish generation's attempts to see beyond the time-wasting drivel of reality TV, lager and texting 'lol' to your mates. Musically it's varied and experimental (check out I Love You More and the title track for salient evidence) while rarely packing a knockout punch (although Strongest Person I Know is very strong). Okay, so a few tracks are average but it's definitely worth listening to, as Skinner is a unique British talent we should cherish (and he hardly swears on this album! Only thrice I think). Customer Rating: Summary: Dreadful Comment: A deeply disappointing combination of insistently repetitive and lazily unimaginative "tunes" with unremarkable lyrics, this has little or none of the humour, inventiveness and poetry of Original Pirate Material... This sounds more like the end of the road for the Streets than any kind of 'return to form' that the industry puff might try to lead you to believe. More Reviews