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His delightful sense of narrative is virtually missing, and a lot of the verses meander and build to banal choruses.
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There’s a brilliant EP lurking somewhere in this record, but Mike Skinner is either too ambitious or too fatigued to rescue it.
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Combined with the slick, predominantly live band set-up here it makes for some dreadfully clunky moments.
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MojoWhile the album has its awkward moments, there are enough slinkily wonderful tunes, gleeful beats and miments of genuine tenderness to make Skinner's transformation not just convincing but also really rather lovely. [Oct 2008, p.100]
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Despite Skinner’s undeniable verbal and production talents, and his online hand-wringing about embracing positivity without getting cheesy, there is something undeniably sappy about this record that won’t sit well with people expecting to hear more mockney slander about drunken gits.
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It's a more varied listen but also markedly lesser in impact.
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In the end, though, Everything Is Borrowed's musical high points aren't enough to save it from its lyric sheet, and that, going forward, constitutes a real problem for Skinner.
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The problem is that the lines may be good, but the danger is gone.
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The overall effect is a more diluted sound, in keeping with the watering down of Skinner's diatribes.
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Q MagazineEverything Is Borrowed is a huge disappointment, riding in on the crest of the huge disappointment that was Skinner's previous album. [Oct 2008, p.140
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Like the core message of Everything Is Borrowed, this album will, unfortunately, come and go soon enough, little trace left behind.
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Everything in the entire album is really just catching up to Skinner's words.
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Skinner's self-actualization prattle would be more admirable if it had any real insight, but the best he can offer are cheap aphorisms tailor-made for tote bags.
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The emotional density lurking in Mr. Skinner’s early work is mostly absent. Worse still, he’s tightened up his rapping, largely sticking to simple patterns that when paired with simple ideas, are numbing.
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UncutThe devil is in the detail--and Skinner's devilish side is his most appealing.[Oct 2008, p.108]
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Under The RadarSober living has brought back Skinner’s musical fire, and it has given him a new perspective that is sometimes fascinating but too often cliched. [Winter 2008]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 18
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Mixed: 2 out of 18
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Negative: 4 out of 18
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Apr 18, 2016
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LeahT.Oct 16, 2008A Much better album than what some critics are saying...a few moments of sheer brilliance are here.
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oldhollywoodOct 16, 2008