The Corrs

It's the middle of the road, Jim, but not as we know it

It's the middle of the road, Jim, but not as we know it. The impossibly talented and unbearably good-looking Corrs have come straight outta Dundalk to smash our preconceptions about adult-oriented format radio pop, and to prove that their brand of `nice' music can kick ass just as firmly as those noisy alternative types.

Last night at the Olympia, Andrea, Caroline, Sharon and Jim Corr came onstage to raucous cheers and wolf-whistles, and Andrea immediately lassoo'ed the crowd with her slinky feather boa; When He's Not Around had all the males jostling to get closer, but No Good For Me kept them at a safe, psychological distance.

This is the right time for The Corrs: their second album, Talk On Corners, is proving just as popular as their debut, Forgiven Not Forgotten. This week they're making no less than four appearances on UK television, determined to charm the pants off the British public.

The home crowd didn't need convincing, and the fans went mad for Sharon's fiddle-playing, Caroline's drumming, and Jim's guitar strumming. The sound was fleshed out Conor Brady on lead guitar and Keith Duffy on bass. It was the small but perfectly-formed Andrea, however, who held the crowd in thrall, keeping the fans at the edge of adulation with songs like Love To Love You, Run- away and Only When I Sleep, flirting and flouncing with impressive vocal style. I had a problem with Intimacy, one of the band's wettest tunes, and Hopelessly Addicted brought unpleasant flashbacks to Olivia Newton-John, but un, I couldn't help being drawn in by the sheer enthusiasm of it all. I guess I never really hated them anyway.

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney is an Irish Times journalist