Everything Is Borrowed

Mike Skinner decided to just tell us out of the blue that his new album was coming out on September 15th. We all had a sneak peak with the spectacular 'The Escapist', a brilliantly deep song of which we got to see very little of in his previous albums. It seemed to be a whole new direction. The last two albums were all about storytelling and humour, this was a pensive look of life and it was the perfect song to release to give us a view of what the album was going to be like.
It starts off with the title track, of which I think is definitely is in the top 5 singles of the year. It's a beautiful song in which Skinner makes us feel sorry for him and gives the listener a newly found respect when instead of talking about going out and getting pissed, he's very grateful for life, how amazing it is. The chorus is very hard hitting

'I came to this world with nothing,
And I'll leave with nothing but love,
Everything else is just borrowed'

Who would have thought the young chavvy genius we saw on 'Original Pirate Material' could come through with such openly cheesy, but ever so charming lyrics. It's definitely a recurring theme. It almost seems like Skinner has found his place and wants to tell the whole world about it.
The whole album puts a smile on my face or sends my feet into an involuntary tapping. The beats all work, and (hold your breath) Mike Skinner's singing has actually improved. It's not nearly as cringeworthy as on 'The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living' and although by no means good, it's set against another voice to soften it on most occasions.

Skinner deals with some big issues on this album, including the end of humanity on 'The Way Of The Dodo', but the most hard hitting track is ' On The Edge Of A Cliff' which deals with someone (Mike?) wanting to commit suicide and someone manages to convince him not to do it through this chorus -

'For billions of years, since the onset of time,
Every single one of your ancestors survived,
Every single person on your mum and dads side,
Successfully looked after and passed onto you life,
What are the chances of that like?
It comes to me once in a while,
And everywhere I tell folk,
It gets the best of smiles.'

I think that's just absolutely adorable Mike! It did make me smile, and this track was my personal standout. I'm going to put it out there. This is my favorite Streets album since 'Original Pirate Material'. I honestly think the heights of 'Everything Is Borrowed' and 'The Escapist' reach that on 'Blinded By The Lights' and 'Dry Your Eyes'. They were just shallow story telling. This album has depth, is interesting, and although it's a sort of shame that the bad Birmingham lad has gone because his lyrics were more entertaining back then but i'd rather have this album any day because there were just too many filler tracks about losing money behind the TV whereas here you have lyrics which bring smiles eg 'I'd go to heaven for the weather, and hell for the company' and ultimately I reckon better tunes throughout.

It's a top album and what I hear is The Streets penultimate one. So I'm thoroughly impressed that Mike Skinner has come back after the atrocious last album and made something to rebuild his credibility and change his image.

On The Edge Of A Cliff - The Streets

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