The Corrs: Borrowed Heaven

Reviewed by RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * *)


Irish family firm struggles to retain international pop-market share


Of course there's nothing wrong with being nice or, for that matter, even more good-looking than your sister who's not half bad herself.

But even the jukeboxes of Irish theme pubs might find themselves skipping tracks in a desperate bid to find a decent tune among this seemingly overdue fourth set of songs from the least dangerous band to emerge from the Emerald Isle.

Okay, the Bono-penned ballad Time Enough for Tears doesn't insult the elegant benediction, the headline-risking Humdrum somehow mixes hip-hop and jig-pop and the title track gets Ladysmith Black Mambazo to help to mispronounce "borrowed", albeit in husky 10-part harmony.

But the abundance of yet more plastic fiddly-dee bits over conveyor-belt songwriting makes this an album designed only to outdo its hit-heavy predecessors for sheer insipidness.

Bog-standard fare throughout.

Label: Atlantic