Review Summary: Ironically, The Corrs released an album that became their most successful in terms of recognisability, but have a song entitled “Radio” that is as radio friendly as the rest of the album is.
…don’t take the summary to heart. There’s nothing wrong with radio friendliness. But at what expense did it have for The Corrs? In Blue is the polarising album for Corrs fans. Some either cherish its simplicity and sweet pop like edge, while others discount it as the family’s final swipe at the sell out stage. Previously, the group had minor success in their homeland as well as the UK and Australia, but to utter “The Corrs” during the 90s would have mostly fallen on deaf ears.
Back in 1997, producer
Robert John Lange and his wife
Shania Twain released the most successful albums recorded by a female artist,
Come On Over. Cutting a long story short, Lange himself is suitably well adapted to making small things seem massive, inturn making them massive. As he co-wrote most of the songs for his wife on Come On Over, he similarly had a firm grasp in the song writing department of In Blue’s poppy hit singles
“Breathless” and
“Irresistible”. One of his natural abilities seems that his adventurous (sometimes obvious) song writing is cohesive enough to adapt to the subtle pressures of the genre in question. The Corrs themselves can easily be defined as a Celtic rock group, one that’s a bit more stylised and thinner sounding then
The Cranberries. Lange has managed to capture this style, but often supplants it for his extremely slick and well rounded production methods, witnessed throughout. It unfortunately gives the record a dated feeling, that even a few years after its release is having unwanted effects of nostalgia.
It is without saying that the production on this that both makes and breaks its jewel casing. For every fan that disliked the dumping of the tin whistle for a synthesized vocal effect for Andrea, there was a younger generation willing to mother the new sound. But really In Blue is no less different musically then their first albums, the problem often resides in lack of Irish atmosphere, generated in previous hits like
“So Young”. It seems for Lange the ideals of country pop, whether it is punching tunes or slow-meaningful ballads, were still resonant enough to taint the necessary watery like flow. It occasionally takes a breath of fresh air (see
“One Night” and
“No More Cry”), but only a few times though the 60 minutes of duration. Though there’s still enough here to be enjoyed at an occasional level, mainly due to the hits, The Corrs predominantly appear to be in a colour closer to what the album cover depicts.
