Dunno if it's online, I just got a promo. I couldn't say it' like Original Pirate Material or A Grand... It's really clangy and obviously cocaine-induced. Almost too upbeat. A lot of it seems rushed, paranoid and there's not one song that really stands out, or contains the intensity of say 'Weak Become Heroes' or 'Blinded By The Lights'. It's not big, or clever really. All over the place I suppose would be the best way to sum it up. Nothing seems worked out on it, it's all kind of thrown together, with humour and wrecklessness substituting coherant beats.

the single is pretty sh(asterisk)t.

yeah, it's definately the worst of the three records by a long shot

What was the story with him spilling drink on his laptop and then melting the comuter with a hairdryer? Obviously he sorted that out then.....

Costs about €700 to recover data off of a f**ked harddrive. Probably means that the record cost 6 grand to make as opposed to 5.

this guy is s**te, i'm sorry, i'm seen him in "concert" (if ye could call it that) and listened to the first two records....quite frankly if he spoke in a dublin accent than i believe people in this country who go nuts for him would laugh him off the stage...similar to the way that other inarticlulated gobs**te "collie" gets laughed at as a joke..... mike skinner is the english "rats" of paths to freedom fame......absolute s**te...at least rats funny.... rant over...

i think he's a legend and the first 2 albums are top class. especially the 1st one. haven't had a chance to hear this one yet. wouldn't be reading too much in to the single, a la "fit but you know it".

A Grand, is better than Original Pirate Material, and probably one of the best English albums of all time. However, you can thank cocaine for this mess that he's made. There are a few saving graces, but only a few. Melvin: comparing Collie to Mike Skinner?... ha

I think OPM is a great album, but for me: lyrically and the concentration, imagination and development that A Grand must have required to construct pushes it ahead of OPM.I guess you could say that OPM is more influential, or made a louder noise in a genre that was rather tired, but in my opinion, A Grand is very VERY nearly a perfect album. I think it's really admirable that Skinner managed to create a completely different entity compared to his debut. Everytime I listen to Empty Cans or Blinded By The Lights, or Could Well Be In - those tracks just blow me away. Similarly on OPM - Turn The Page, It's Too Late and Weak Become Heroes are in my opinion total stand out tracks, but I think other grating elements on OPM let it down as a work of art. Unfortunately, my thoughts on The Hardest Way are that Skinner has taken the most undesirable elements of the last two albums and turned them into a pretty addled album.

I love that one on Grand where he's just sitting on the couch at his girlfriends place fumbling with a joint and in two minds about whether or not to go out and get trashed.

I know, it's genius. That's the thing about Grand, there's just so much atmosphere and real emotion on it. It practically f**king breathes.

grand is one of those albums that you listen from start to finish. f**king quality stuff, really captures the sense of what a album should be like, as opposed to a collection of songs. I think his new tune out is s**t though

He is witty and sometimes he's spot on lyrically but he's got an atrocious singing voice and very little musical ability. Ever since he dumped his backing singer and started to tackle the hooks himself his output has gone into decline. I can't listen to his new single or his Bloc Party remix because he's so hopelessly out of tune on the chorus. Also while the production on his first album was rough and ready it still had a lot of charm. The more recent stuff just sound's really cheap and week. The backing from Blinded by the Lights sounds like Olive's "You're Not Alone" for f*ck's sake. Also for someone who's lauded for his lyrical ability he can be very hackneyed. I mean has there ever been a more cliched chorus than "Dry Your Eyes Mate, there's plenty more fish in the sea". Worst of all I just don't find him interesting any more. I think there's a remarkable similarity between the career path of Eminem and Mike Skinner. When they arrived on the scene their lyrical candour was a breath of fresh air, however as they bacame more successful both commercially and critically the quality of their music declined. Their lyrics became almost exclusively concerned with their tedious personal lives and the trials and trappings of celebrity and their self produced beats became increasingly poor. Tom Silverman (of Tommy Boy records) once said that all the best hip hop albums are debuts. He claimed that once you left the streets you couldn't really write about them any more. While I think this statement is a generalisation that applys to many but not all hip-hop artists is certainly sums up Mike Skinner fairly well.

well put stroller