A brief article on the HOME CD

[DazedOblivion]

The following article appeared in the Sunday Life of 21 August 2005:

www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=657948

In case the link expires here is the article:

FLOWING TRIBUTE

Corrs cover My Lagan Love for their late mum

By John McGurk

21 August 2005
'THIS one is for you, mum' - that's the touching musical message of love, with a classic Ulster flavour, from stunning Irish pop superstar, Andrea Corr.

For the Celtic pop princess has exclusively revealed to Sunday Life how the traditional song, "My Lagan Love" - forms a poignant part of The Corrs' new album, Home.

The formidable family foursome have scored a series of major hits, such as "Breathless," "So Young," "What Can I Do?" and "Summer Sunshine."

But their new album sees them forego their self-written songs, to take leaves out of a very precious book which belonged to their beloved mum, Jean.

Raven haired Jean tragically passed away - at the age of 57 - while waiting on an urgent lung transplant operation in an English hospital in November 1999.

In a 2001 interview with Sunday Life, Sharon Corr - married to Belfast barrister, Gavin Bonner - revealed that their mum's emotional final message to her children was for them to "keep up the music".

Next month, the singing siblings will continue to honour their mum's heart tugging words, performing her favourite songs on Home.

Andrea told Sunday Life that all of the songs were taken from a precious family treasure - Jean's handwritten book of songs which she performed with her husband, Gerry in their own duo, Sound Affair.

Said Andrea: "She used to play every weekend in pubs with daddy and she had written all these Irish songs out in a book.

"They are songs we have loved over the years and because our parents played them in their band, they are very special to us."

The lyrics of the legendary Ulster traditional song, "My Lagan Love" were penned by the Belfast born poet, Joseph Campbell. And the song - a favourite of Jean's is also close to Andrea's heart.

She enthused: "'My Lagan Love' is raw, earthy and yet exotic. It is truly evocative of an Ireland that is definitely in the past, where a person's desires are not easily fulfilled. So the hunger is even stronger."

The album - dedicated to Jean Corr - features traditional songs, including "Spancill Hill" and "Peggy Gordon" - alongside The Corrs' versions of folk rock favourites, such as Phil Lynott's "Old Town" and Kate and Anna McGarrigle's "Heart Like A Wheel."

[DazedOblivion]

Ireland's Independent Sun for the 4th Sept 2005 is said to have the following article:

IRISH HEARTBEATS

'We called it Home because it's just the truth, isn't it?' asks Andrea Corr rhetorically. 'That's the place it all comes from.'

With echoes of the glorious Celtic Heartbeat Van Morrison did with the Chieftains in 1988, the new Corrs record is an array of old and modern songs that they say underlines their 'Irish musical roots and Celtic influences'.

"My Lagan Love" (which was covered on the aforementioned Celtic Heartbeat), "Black is the Colour," "Moorlough Shore" and "Spancil Hill" reflect the love - and natural fascination with - traditional music that their parents Jean and Gerry imbued their kids, with growing up at home in Dundalk. So Andrea is right on the money when she says 'home' is where it all comes from.

The world-straddling triumph of Forgiven Not Forgotten in 1997 - The Corrs debut - was not by a long way the start of the journey. (They had been struggling amid general record company indifference and obscurity for years.)

The much anticipated release of Home in two weeks does, however, mark a return to their roots for the fab four. Songs like "Buachail On Eirne" and "Brid Og Ni Mhaille," which are delivered in Gaelic on the record, have strong resonances for the siblings, particularly Andrea. 'I used to sing them in the school choir,' she says, 'so we've always known them. And it's such a beautiful, poetic language to sing in.'

Home which comes on the foot of the Corrs last L.P, Borrowed Heaven also has a suitably emotive re-reading of Phil Lynott's "Old Town."

'If Mammy had her way, we'd have long hair and thick eyebrows and never shave our legs', Andrea told the Daily Telegraph in 1998. Their late mammy could have put up with the Immaced pins and plucked brows had she realised that, one day, (tragically, six years after her death) her children would be realeasing a record so inspired by her.

'She used to play every weekend in pubs with Daddy and she'd written all these Irish songs in a book', Andrea remembers. 'They're songs we've loved over the years, and because our parents played them in their band, they're very special to us.'

Irish heartbeats indeed.

Barry Egan