Sibling rivalry is never likely to lead to the self-destruction of the Corrs in the way it did Oasis or the Osmonds. More's the pity. Because the blandness of their latest album, In Blue, suggests they never intend to rise above the mediocre. Then again, why bother when millions will buy this album in the same way they lapped up their droning last offering Talk On Corners. They've been going for 10 years, four basking in the glow of success, and show no signs of abating.
Perhaps I'm being a little harsh. Andrea (vocals), Caroline (drums), Sharon (violin) and Jim (guitar/keyboards) Corr can craft and croon some passable tunes. But nothing here stirs the heart.
As the title suggests, In Blue is more mournful than their usual mellow brand of pop, but it doesn't come even close to the more evocative sound produced by such Celtic pop rivals The Cranberries.
What really grates, however, about every such band is there's always a fiddle. The Corrs are normally classified as Celtic fusion, which basically means a keyboard or any type of modern instrument combined with traditional whining vocals and the mandatory violin. Solos get thrown in everywhere, but the last thing you feel like is a jig.
Give It All Up is a dreary story of life on tour, while Say has the girls moping around like a group of fisherman's wives when the village trawler is lost at sea. There's folk on Rebel Heart and yodelling on At Your Side. Shania Twain's husband Matt Lunge works on three of the tracks, which tells you everything you need to know. For all the Corrs' faults, however, you can see it's mass appeal in an increasingly homogenised world, they're wholesome and sexy at the same time.
The best thing you can say for the Corrs is, unlike other chief Irish exports, Boyzone and B*witched, they weren't boy or girl teen bands manufactured by money-grabbing, cynical pop marketeers. Nature can play it's own cruel tricks.
