You knew
the Corrs had made it when they played the final JFK Awards ceremony of the
Clinton administration. Playing it would have been achievement enough, but their status as a happening thing was cemented at the end of the ceremony, during the encores, when everybody was taking their final bows.
Bill moseyed up over to
Andrea, put his arm around her, and when she was looking away, sized her up -- at precisely the same moment
Chuck Berry was checking her out. If that doesn't mean that you've broken America, entering its pop culture, I don't know what does, expect for maybe a VH1-endorsed piece of product like
Live in Dublin. Lo and behold, that's exactly what
the Corrs received in the spring of 2002, a year and a half after "In Blue" and its accompanying single "Breathless" broke down the doors in America for the U.S. Only two songs on this set list are shared with
In Blue, but that doesn't mean that the group returns to their slightly more traditional Celtic roots on the remainder of the songs. Sure, there are hints of that, but there are also four pop covers, two of them ("Little Wing" and "Ruby Tuesday") featuring
Ron Wood, with another song, the
Lee Hazelwood/
Nancy Sinatra duet "Summer Wine," featuring
Bono. Some of this is not unfamiliar to
the Corrs' repertoire, since they did cover "Little Wing" before, on
Talk on Corners (plus an
MTV Unplugged release), but the end result is the same -- it's a crossover collection, not an album that emphasizes their Celtic roots. This wouldn't be a problem if the seams weren't so transparent -- if each selection didn't seem like it was a way to expand the group's audience, if it didn't seem like the soundtrack to post-yuppie dinner parties. On that level, it succeeds pretty well, and it is pleasant, but if a family of four very good-looking siblings didn't perform this music, it's hard to see this attracting much attention. After all, in this context,
Bono and
Ronnie Wood don't seem all that far removed from the leering
Bill Clinton and
Chuck Berry. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine