The Corrs - Forgiven, Not Forgotten
Tracks :- Erin Shore (instrumental) Forgiven, Not Forgotten Heaven Knows Along With The Girls (instrumental) Someday Runaway The Right Time The Minstrel Boy (instrumental) Toss The Feathers (instrumental) Love To Love You Secret Life Carraroe Jog (instrumental) Closer Leave Me Alone Erin Shore (instrumental) Total Time : 48.43 m:s Producer : David Foster Label : 143 Records/Lava Records Year : 1995
I deliberated a while before I finally decided that this album had a place on the Mood Swings pages. But as someone quite rightly pointed out I reviewed Metallica's Load, which isn't exactly melodic rock, so why not include a review of this one. I thought about it further and I realised that I had lost sight of the reason I called by web site Mood Swings in the first place. It was so that I could feature a variety of music.
When I was over visiting my sister last summer, she was raving about this band she had discovered called 'The Corrs'. I didn't get a chance to listen to the album at the time. I finally got to hear it when my mate John lent me the CD over Xmas.
When I first listened to it I was surprised to learn that I was already familiar with many of the tracks. Quite a few of them have been released as singles and received heavy airplay on the local radio station here in Belfast, Cool FM. In amongst the usual chart fodder, Cool like to play soft rock from the likes of Heart, Richard Marx, Tina Turner, Foreigner etc. So with The Corrs they get to play AOR with a traditional Irish twist.
In fact that last sentence just about sums up the album, maybe I should describe it as Celtic AOR. Of course, combining traditional music with rock and pop isn't a new idea. Horslips pioneered the genre with their Celtic Rock. Acts like Clannad have been achieving success outside the bounds of the traditional folk market. Scottish acts such as Big Country and Runrig have been the most successful at penetrating the mainstream pop market.
The album is a mixture of songs and instrumentals. The instrumentals are spread throughout the album and act kind of like links between the songs. I have to say that I normally avoid traditional Irish music like the plague, but in this context the 'electric reels' work quite well.
However, it's the tunes with vocals with hold my attention. Again their folk music upbringing shows through in the vocal tracks, with violins and tin whistles making appearances. It's more a case of violin breaks than guitar breaks.
The title track sets the scene for the rest of the album. A mixture of pop, AOR and folk. Every time I hear 'Heaven Knows' Andrea Corr's vocals remind me of the work of Maggie Reilly, who some of you might remember as the vocalist on Mike Oldfield's Moonlight Shadow from a few years ago.
'Someday' kicks off with a slightly raunchier guitar sound. It's the most riff driven song on the album. Runaway slows the pace down slightly . This is perhaps my favourite song on the album. It's an excellent piece of pop, with a killer chorus.
'The Right Time' starts off with a display of vocal prowess. This time they have decided to blend in a bit of reggae. The song is driven along by a dominant bass line. Of course, the fiddle still makes an appearance. It's a strange combination, but surprisingly it works. It's funny because I can't help thinking about Journeys recent attempt to diversify with a reggae song. The Corrs have managed to managed to give this a reggae backbeat but it's still recognisable as a Corrs song.
'Love To Love You' is a straight pop song. This might not sound out of place on a Beautiful South album. The guitars are out for 'Secret Life' and 'Leave Me Alone', which aren't a million miles away from the sort of stuff played by Roxette.
This isn't going to appeal the majority of Mood Swing readers. I was surprised by how much I liked this one. If you enjoy a dose of pop every now and then this is worth checking out.
Rating : 7
