The Streets - Everything is Borrowed
Vice Records October 15, 2008, 04:38 PM Views: 336
Comments: 1
 Anyone who noted some of the publicity (or lack of) surrounding new album Everything is Borrowed may have been led to believe that The Streets were in something of a freefall. Yet someone evidently has not told Mike Skinner, or at least it has not let it affect him. Skinner’s supposed penultimate album (Skinner recently announced that he would only release one more album as The Streets) is a decidedly chirpier effort than its two immediate predecessors, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living and A Grand Don’t Come For Free, two albums which were predominantly personal in their lyrical focus, as opposed to the social commentary of Original Pirate Material. Indeed, such personal lyrics or social commentary are rarely heard on Everything is Borrowed, something which is ostensibly a purposeful move by Skinner. Personal lyrics have always set a dark tone to The Streets’ music (‘Dry Your Eyes’, ‘Never Went to Church’, for example), and so a deliberate move to make a departure from this is seemingly made, to create an all together more optimistic tone to the music. Skinner allegedly also made it his intention not to include social commentary on any tracks on this album. Thus, when the previous two main focuses of Skinner’s music are taken away, what is left is mostly a nonsensical, and mixed, bag. That said, armed with the knowledge that the lyrical content probably will not give you any of life’s answers, the listener can focus on the melodies. The melodies do show a marked improvement on its predecessor. Many of the tracks, such as opener ‘Everything is Borrowed’ and ‘I Love You (More Than You like Me)’ are piano based, songs which represent a chilled out and upbeat tone which is dominant throughout the album. The more dance orientated fans will be disappointed; there is nothing that will really get the crowd to jump along like ‘Don’t Mug Yourself’ or ‘Fit but Don’t You Know It’, and Skinner for the moment at least seems to have left this aspect of his music behind him. And this new calmer direction for Skinner does not always work; his attempt at a sing-along on ‘The Way of The Dodo’ just comes across as clumsy and amateurish. But later tracks such as ‘The Strongest Person I Know’ reveal Skinner’s singing has come on along way from his ‘geezer’ days of Original Pirate Material. The Streets may never attract the Mercury award winning and mainstream recognition that was once bestowed upon them, and this album certainly does not jump out to the listener in the same way as the first two albums do. But this is largely his own doing; Skinner is a victim of his own success. His unique style of rap and banter, even at times if it does sound ridiculous, has helped create a little niche for himself in the British musical landscape. One would be challenged to find something of a similar nature in contemporary music, and this is something Skinner must be commended for – because he ain’t changing for nobody.
Last edited by rickoneill : October 15, 2008 at 05:30 PM.
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| | | | Overall Rating | | 7 | | Vocals / Lyrics | | 6 | | Musicianship | | 8 | | Production | | 7 | | Creativity | | 8 | | Lastability | | 6 | | Reviewers Tilt | | 7 |
70% | |
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