The Streets - Everything is Borrowed

'Everything is Borrowed' is The Streets fourth cd and could be one of his last as Mike Skinner has said that he will stop recording as The Streets fairly soon. His last release before this was not very good and he is a long way off the peak of his first cd 'Original Pirate Material' which was a fantastic piece of cut up home-made music. 'Everything is Borrowed' is the first song on the cd and feels like a return to earlier form. It wouldn't be out of place on his second cd. 'Heaven for the weather' has an upbeat backing track and appropriately gospel sounding back up vocals.
Mike Skinner's mix of speaking and sort of singing is the kind of thing that can cause annoyance in a lot of people. He isn't as exciting or innovative as he was initally but he still has a good turn of phrase and the music is catchy.
'I love you (more than you like me)' is witty and has a great set of lines about drawing a picture of a woman after he met her and the realisation that 'it was absolutely shit, i'm awful at drawing'. 'The way of the Dodo' is a rubbish song about environmental issues. To be fair I can't think of any good songs about the environment. 'On the flip of a coin' is Mike trying to tell a story about a dad trying to instill strength in his son. It doesn't quite work as it seems a bit forced. 'On the edge of a cliff' passes me by without making much impression.
'Never give in' has a funky background beat as does 'The sherry end'. Decent songs but not interesting enough. 'The strongest person I know' is a lovely little song. 'The Escapist' is in a similar vein as 'Dry your eyes' and although one of the better songs on the cd it isn't quite as good as it is.
Apparently this cd was going to be fully based around parables but he ditched a lot of them as he didn't think it would work. Much better than his last one but nothing to quite match some of his earlier heights.