Mike Skinner (aka The Streets) is about to release his fourth album, "Everything Is Borrowed". Seven out of the eleven tracks are up on his MySpace.

I was a huge fan of Original Pirate Material and A Grand Don't Come For Free. I wasn't huge on The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, and honestly, I think this is his weakest effort. I love his early music, but the direction he took this album is more pop than it is garage/hip-hop.

Anyone else a Streets fan?

I feel essentially the same way about the prior three albums, with Grand being the best of the bunch. Borrowed is better than Easy Living, but not by much... There's a pretty strong chunk of tracks in the middle, but as a whole, it's lacking the emotion and playful nature he's lyrics used to have, like Skinner's lost his conviction.

I loved his first two albums and somehow missed that a third had come out. And now I'm hearing I may not have missed much at all. I'll still probably hunt down the third and fourth just to hear them.

I really liked his first album and absolutely loved the second one. I tried to listen to the third one about five times before realizing that I was wasting my time. Not sure I'm looking forward to the new one.

I liked "When You Wasn't Famous" from the third album.