Atlantic
Classical, 2005

Following the death of their mother, the sibling quartet of The Corrs decide to rework the traditional Irish tunes in their mother’s songbook with the help of the BBC Radio 2 Concert Orchestra to present Home. That’s a nice story and of course far more preferable to the more cynical suggestions that the quartet, after having not too much success with more pop sounds, are resorting to making music to pander to their old fans that hopefully have not abandoned them for good, heh.

Now, The Corrs can hit home run or miss by a mile when it comes to their saccharine and admittedly banal easy-listening muzak treatment of their songs. They play pleasant music, with the drums and electric guitars never becoming too intrusive over the pandering tin whistles and other instruments that muzak lovers love to call “intellectual music” when the rest of the world call it “elevator music”.

In the case of Home, songs like My Lagan Love and Moorlough Shore, which have undergone a zillion reinterpretations by artists hoping to cash-in on the Celtic craze among new age fans a few years back, are so inoffensive and mild that they drift in one ear and out the other. Andrea Corr’s singing is uninspired and she slurs her way through the song more then a few times and the arrangement of the songs lack energy, as if The Corrs fear that any hint of excitement can cause the folks at the nursing home that this CD seems to be targeted to to die of a heart attack. Come to think of it, the entire CD reminds me of the set of a very exhausted and tired pub band who just want to get the whole thing over with so that they can get their paycheck and pay last month’s rent.

Welcome Home… I think.