by
The Streets
- Record Label: Vice / 679
- Release Date: Apr 25, 2006
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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His comic timing and mixture of slangs--not to mention his musical conception... are all so much more fully developed that he's actually made a record that's fun to play in the background.
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Entertainment WeeklyEasy Living undercuts potential mo' money, mo' problems cliches with a cheeky self-awareness that transcends national borders. [28 Apr 2006, p.135]
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With his knack for extracting humor from the mundane, Skinner’s the perfect poet for this snooze of a topic.
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Under The RadarThroughout, Skinner's production is more precise, his hooks more pointed and polished, and his writing more clever and poignant. [#13, p.89]
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Most artists are well-aware of the pitfalls of the difficult third album, of course, and try to disguise their on tour / hotel room songs - but when has Mike Skinner ever been most artists?
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Filter[It] starts off pretty much where the previous one left off, with Skinner feeling sorry for himself. This time though, he does so with greatly improved production values. [#20, p.97]
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BlenderWhile it can tend toward the tuneless, the upside is language that differs plenty from a Jay-Z or Eminem but stands beside them in terms of power--a flow that, once you get used to it, becomes its own form. [May 2006, p.110]
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Against all the odds though - can the self-pity of a millionaire rock star ever be listenable? - it's still a compelling record.
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The beats and lyrics get better with each listen.
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The Hardest Way... is twice as good as any album about the price of celebrity has a right to be.
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'The Hardest Way To Make an Easy Living' is a far more skilfully crafted album than the 'A Grand...', despite what you might have heard.
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Alternative PressSkinner's delivery is as appealing as ever. [Jun 2006, p.192]
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UncutThe setting may have changed, the soundtrack is boosted and richer, grimier yet cleaner, but Skinner's predicaments remain the same. [May 2006, p.110]
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These tunes function like dispatches sent from the front lines back to chums stuck in Nowheresville; he's updated his characters and settings, but Skinner's working-class fascination with humanity's endearing fallibility is still his thematic calling card.
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MojoAlthough some of his lyrical tricks might sound a little familiar this time round, he remains one of Britain's great storytellers. [Jun 2006, p.104]
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Los Angeles TimesThose [Americans] who do get through the London accent and argot will appreciate pungent, witty confessions. [23 Apr 2006]
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Critics called it lazy, self-indulgent and amateurish--as if its predecessors somehow resembled Dark Side of the Moon. The truth is, this sounds exactly like Skinner's last two Brit Award-winning and Mercury Prize-nominated discs.
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Easy Living simply lacks the scope and gritty, lived-in detail that made Skinner’s first two efforts so appealing.
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"Hardest Way" is good, but perhaps not good enough to win him any new fans.
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The New York TimesLovable -- and occasionally infuriating. [24 Apr 2006]
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The freewheeling garage bangers of Original Pirate Material have receded into the distance and we’re left with stabbing high-range synths... resulting in an album that’s charming and witty, but not as exhilarating as it might have been.
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Not only are there scattered moments of lyrical brilliance on The Hardest Way, but from a producerly standpoint, it's probably Skinner's most accomplished and interesting record yet.
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The Streets seem to be maturing musically: Skinner sings more often here and flows more nimbly but every bit as distinctively, and the production is even getting slightly more complex. What the album lacks, then, is any real emotional punch on the level of Skinner’s previous work.
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VibeA thoroughly entertaining listen. [May 2006, p.138]
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The album lacks the cleverness and affability of Original Pirate Material and the novelistic 2004 hallmark A Grand Don't Come For Free, and it's the first that calls for more explanation than exclamation.
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It’s a shame to see the character of Mike Skinner become so stale and hackneyed, especially when the beats are stronger than they’ve ever been before.
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A Behind the Music episode converted into a diffuse, rave-schooled song cycle.
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Most listeners won't care to follow this particular rabbit down the hole because of the bracing cynicism, paranoia, misanthropy, and betrayal they'll hear at every turn on this record.
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It's clear that Skinner has worked on his flow a lot. He sounds less loosely conversational and more bound to the rhythm.
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Skinner goes with the flow but the flow isn't pretty, and though dissonance is his strong suit, the conflict in these songs isn't so much located within them as it is in the space that separates them.
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UrbWhen The Streets gets lazy, he becomes less of an artist and more like a novelty. [May 2006, p.80]
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With about half the tracks on this record falling short, Skinner would seem to be teetering on the edge of irrelevance. But even the failed tracks here sound interesting, and if he's lost his way somewhat thematically, it's all in the name of searching for his new voice.
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It stands as a dire warning that even the most gifted writer can't inject anything new into the worn-out topics of on-the-road excess and celebrity ennui.
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Q MagazineThe 37-minute length is not the only thing about this album that's slight. [May 2006, p.116]
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Is Mike Skinner having a midcareer crisis? The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living sure makes it sound that way.
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The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living is an exercise in empty nothingness. But it’s not Bacchanalian coked-out excess nothingness, it's the joyless hollow-eyed actions of a man who is waiting for the next fix and doesn't care what bullshit has to come out of his lips in order to get paid.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 22 out of 31
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Mixed: 5 out of 31
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Negative: 4 out of 31
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Apr 14, 2015
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AViewAMOct 30, 2006
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DuncanAug 3, 2006Brilliant. His best album yet.