The Corrs Finally Find a ‘Home’
By Sheila Burt
Irish American Post Chicago Bureau

Home
The Corrs
Rhino/Atlantic 73217
$18.95

The Corrs have always intrigued me as a band. A full-fledged family affair, the band consists of three sisters and one brother writing and performing Celtic pop songs. Their songs are melodic enough for the radio but also feature a light Celtic flare so you can tell the band is Irish.

I first heard the single "I Never Loved You Anyway," from their second album, Talk on Corners, on the radio when I was in junior high school. Driving to the grocery store with my mom one day, I remember leaning forward in my seat and turning up the song so she could hear it. I told her the band was from Ireland. We both laughed at the tongue-and-cheek lyrics.

"You bored me with your stories, I can’t believe that I endured you for as long as I did," Andrea Corr sang in the opening lines. The tune had the typical substance of almost any other pop-rock song on the radio: there was a generic electric guitar interlude, the fast-thumping of the drums, a catchy chorus. Yet when you listened more closely, you could hear the tin whistle and Sharon Corr on the fiddle, giving the song a much more distinct ethnic feel not often heard on American radio.

I bought a copy of Talk on Corners one day to listen to the band more. From an artistic point of view, a lot of the album is basically cheese packaged in the form of a CD: lyrically most of the songs sound like corny romance novels (Compared to the brilliant snarl in "I Never Loved you Anyway," Andrea Corr actually sings, "What can I do to make you love me?" in "What Can I Do?").

Yet, despite some of the vapid lyrics and generic music accompaniment, the strongest songs on the album showed me the sheer force of the band. Their song, "Runaway," (released both on the special edition of Talk on Corners and their first album, Forgiven not Forgotten) is a poignant tale of romance, while "Queen of Hollywood" depicts Irish storytelling at its finest. Whenever my mom plays the lovely instrumental "Paddy McCarthy," she thinks of my late grandfather.

Talk on Corners wasn’t a mega-hit on American charts, but the Corrs’ following album, In Blue, featured the hit single, "Breathless." Remember, it’s the song that incessantly told the listener, "Go on, go on, come on, leave me breathless." I knew The Corrs were beginning to reach a wider audience when the girl sitting next to me in my Algebra II class began to sing along.

By the time I hit college, The Corrs were a fading memory. I became more intrigued by the indie-rock scene and left many of my older CDs at home while a new collection of music amassed on my computer’s iTunes. Clicking through the iTunes store one afternoon my sophomore year, I randomly came across a new single from The Corrs, "Summer Sunshine." I clicked on a free, 30-second preview of the song and heard the light electric guitar and beat, while Andrea Corr sang, "In the heat of summer sunshine, I miss you like nobody else!" I laughed at the corny production but also found the song stuck in my head for the next few weeks. The song was in anticipation of their album Borrowed Heaven, a title that suggests a more reflective Corrs.

Indeed, much of the album mourns the death of the band’s mother (a subject In Blue also hinted at). The songs still had the synthesized pop shine to ensure heavy radio rotation, but some of them were also moving portraits of sorrow and life. When the band sings "I'll be proud to be like you," followed closely by a fiddle interlude in "Angel," you hear what makes The Corrs so special — they’re masters at writing deceptively simple songs that will have you humming for days.

The band seemed set on the pop-rock formula that made them mega-stars in Ireland and Europe. For the last track on each album, they included one Celtic instrumental, but those shining moments of tradition were only found after nine or 10 overproduced songs. So when the band announced that they were going back to their Celtic roots with its next album, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Released earlier this year, Home is the fittingly titled fifth studio album from the band. Even from the album’s artwork, you can tell this is a different kind of Corrs album. The good-looking, youthful band usually poses for front album covers, but lightly sketched charcoal drawings make Home’s cover. Many of the songs are still lighthearted numbers that gently nudge you to keep listening, but they’re also standards that the band sets to new arrangements. According to The Corrs’ Web site, they recorded the album for more than six months. At the suggestion of drummer Caroline Corr, family wanted to return to its roots, so they chose songs close to their late mother.

By interpreting old songs and putting its feathery touch to the production, the band has recorded its strongest effort — the magnificent blend of pop and traditional Celtic music has never been so pronounced. The album sounds like it was recorded live. There aren’t many overdubs and all the instruments sound organic.

There honestly isn’t a weak song on the album, but standouts include "Peggy Gordon," "Black is the Colour" "Heart Like a Wheel" and the obvious choice for a single, the delightfully rousing "Old Town." "Peggy Gordon," "Black is the Colour" and "Heart Like a Wheel" are mid-tempo love songs with sharp storytelling lyrics. With gentle pianos, the fiddle and violin strumming in the background, you hear the heart of the narrator break. Andrea Corr has always had a passionate voice, but her deeper, more cracking, vocals on these tracks allow the songs to breathe.

In contrast, "Old Town" is the poppiest song on the record, but it’s also one of the most enjoyable. The song has a driving fast-tempo and clever lyrics about romance breaking down. But compared to "Breathless" or any other radio-friendly single, "Old Town" has bold heart and energy. It’s a song only The Corrs could record and make it a hit. Home may not make a commercial splash on U.S. charts (and I think the band knows this, which is also why I admire the album so much), but it shows a premiere Irish band at its finest. A warm welcoming home, indeed.
 
 

Reviewer Sheila Burt can be reached at s-burt@northwestern.edu

Midwestern Tracks

Return of the Day 
Rira
Rira Music #1
Live at the It’s a Beautiful Day Café
15 Tracks; running time 53.55 

Milwaukee Irish music veterans Rira, Ed Paloucek on fiddle, Cathleen Congleton on keyboards, and Jack Congleton on percussion, are joined by tenor Stuart Mitchell on this live, and debut, album. The playing is almost flawless. 

Paloucek’s fiddling crosses from the extremely dynamic to the poignantly nuanced, the latter best shown on "Askeaton Abbey." Congleton’s skillfully backs and enhances Ed’s fiddle with her playing, or on the reprise of "Cathleen’s Waltz," her taking the lead with élan. Stuart Mitchell’s singing adds a new edge to the band, and he performs well on "Carrickfergus." Jack Congleton keeps the beat well-syncopated. A very small but appreciative crowd provided background. This, however, was more a distraction than anything else, as it made one wish for a larger gathering, or for just leaving the applause off the disk. Barring that, it was a well produced work.
 

Freeborn Man
Terry Murphy
Rambling Robin Records #003
13 tracks; running time 54 minutes

Terry Murphy is one of Detroit’s hardest working musicians. On any given night, he can be found playing from Canada to Indiana. On "Freeborn Man," Murphy’s tenor gives voice to a number of what might be considered "Irish Classic Folk," with a smattering of American songs. Murphy’s love of the writing of Ewan MacColl is shown in his renditions of four of MacColl’s songs, including the album title song. 

The best of them is "The Moving On Song." Woody Guthrie’s "Sacco and Vanzetti" get a good showing. Murphy is joined by his producer, Leo Papa, on a number of songs, with Papa adding his backing bass or guitar. Overall, it is a nice excursion into song.
 

Coming Home
Larry Theiss and Bill and Lin O’Connor
O’Connor Music #006
17 Tracks; running time 61.04 

Theiss and O’Connor have played the folk and Irish music scene in southeastern Wisconsin for going on four decades. Originally an album of fan requests, Coming Home turned into an Irish-American journey. Bill’s opening song, "Sail Away," is a poignant Irish immigrant’s goodbye to his home. The album continues the journey, with a variety of songwriters, mapping a trail across America and Europe. One of the more enjoyable is Milwaukee write John Woodford, whose "Nobody Sings at Work Anymore," a calypso beat that will cause involuntary swaying. 

"Stubby Finger Blues" is a funny, smart song about the disadvantage people of short fingers have to deal with on a daily basis. The harmonies that mark a Theiss and O’Connor show are well showcased on this album. This a good mix of original songs by Bill and a number of traditional, and non-traditional, ballads.
 

In Play
Liz Carroll And John Doyle
Compass Records 4418
13 Tracks; running time 50.15

When John Doyle and Liz Carroll play together in concert, there is magic onstage. On "In Play," their first collaboration as a duo, that sense is recreated in a studio setting. From the opening cuts, "The Ronan Boys/Ralph’s 2-3-5," to the last, "Ceisel’s Sword/Monasterydan Fancy," the playing is exemplary, tight and a thing of beauty to hear. 
 
 

Reviewer Brian Witt can be reached at Briangwitt@aol.com

Open Hearth
Mary Mac Namara and Andrew Mac Namara

Mary Mac Namara and her brother, Andrew, are Co. Clare musicians, from a county known for its relatively spare and highly melodic arrangements. The music on this warm, welcoming CD captures the easygoing charm of Co. Clare music, and indeed the warmth of an open hearth as well.

Mary plays the concertina and Andrew plays the accordion. Although Andrew is known for faster and more ornamented playing with the Lahawns dance band, here he matches the style of Clare concertina music, which is slower and uses little ornamentation.

Together, they turn out magic, with 13 sweet tune sets that evoke a group of friends sitting around a fire, simply playing music for the simple joy of it. It’s the kind of music that you could hear and be inspired to learn, because it is so approachable. It’s living room music, music meant for enjoyment, not music meant to impress the listener with dazzling ornaments or blazing speed.

The other great virtue of this music is that it does not lean on "accompaniment" from guitars or other foreign rhythm devices so common now. When you have perfection, you put nothing else on it.

In an age when so much Irish "traditional" music is loaded down and smothered in guitars and bouzoukis, and almost every commercial on television blasts a wall of gray, joyless sound, this kind of music brings one back to real music, and simple pleasures.

Available at http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_MacNamara_Mary_Andrew.html
 

The Town of Cushendall
Traditional Singing from the Glens of Antrim
Charlie McDonnell
http://www.glensmusic.com

Thanks to Glens Music, this is another wonderful recording of singing from the Glens of Antrim. Glens Music was set up by musician Seán Quinn, who wanted to preserve and share music and dance from the north of Ireland, especially the Glens of Antrim.

Charlie McDonnell is a farmer from near Cushendall with a fine, rich voice. This recording, all in English, is a collection of songs recorded mainly in McCollam’s Bar in Cushendall. All the songs are without accompaniment, so you can really hear and enjoy the voice of the singer. 

The songs include the lovely "The Hills above Drumquinn," and the comical "Pat Molloy" about a young Irish man who goes to London and turns the tables on some scammers there who take him for easy prey.

Of special interest is the beautiful "In Mantle So Green," a song with the melody of "The Bard of Armagh," which is also the source of the melody behind "The Streets of Laredo."

(Paul Carr’s reviews are available at: http://home.comcast.net/~eile. He can be reached at uaine81@comcast.net.)