Search - The Corrs: Live in Geneva on DVD

The Corrs Are Forever!

C. Hsieh | San Diego, CA USA | 02/14/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Music:

The music of the Corrs have several characteristics. In addition to its Irish Celtic roots, their songs are written in clever and sophisticated musical structures, often accompanied by background vocal harmony in canon or polyphonic form.

"Dreams", their first hit in the UK and a re-arrangement of a Fleetwood Mac original song, is a fine example of all these characteristics. In addition to the clever arrangement of Fleetwood Mac's original, Sharon's violin breaks in the middle of the song with a typical Celtic melody, a brief three-part vocal polyphonic as sung by Andrea, Sharon and Carolina was introduced later. Numerous revisions to a song is another Corrs' distinct characteristics. Through the years "Dreams" has had many revisions. The earliest version of "Dreams," as sung in Amsterdam Melkweg in November 1977, made little change to the Fleetwood Mac original song. The latest version is included in their "Borrowed Heaven Tour" (2004), and features an extensive guitar prelude to the song (as you see in the "Live in Geneva" here).

"Breathless" is the hit that has won the Corrs great fame worldwide. It is worth mentioning that the background vocal sometimes takes the leading role and a sophisticated polyphonic background chorus is introduced at the tail end of the song.

An Irish composer, Bill Whelan, said the Corrs have "musical depth". This musical depth comes from their basic training in music. When the Corrs were working on their first album at a studio in Malibu, California, it was not unusual to see one of the Corrs sitting in front of a piano and playing Chopin's Nocturnes during a recording session break.

A background vocal chorus is one of the important characteristics of the Corrs' songs. This presents a major issue when it comes to the audio mixing. It becomes controversial if the background vocals are not given proper emphasis in the final product. Some of the Corrs' earlier songs were re-mixed and re-issued because of the controversy.

The DVD "Best of the Corrs, the Videos" gives a rare opportunity to compare the drastically different audio mixings of the same song, "All the love in the world". One is the earlier version that didn't place any emphasis on the vocal background. Another does not just emphasize the vocals, but it features the absolutely beautiful vocal harmonies in acappella form at the very beginning of the song.

Video editing should also show proper screen clips of the background vocalists when they sing. Sharon is not just the violin player in the group, but she is also the key singer of the background vocals.

One thing peculiar happened to Corrs' music is the magnitude of success that the Corrs has achieved in the United States is much less than what they achieved in Europe and other countries. For example, the Corrs' hottest hit "Breathless" was only the top 30 hit on Billboard as compared to the #1 hit on the chart in 18 other countries. It will be an interesting case study topic in the pop music industry to find out why this happened.

The Gig:

It seems everything went wrong in "Live in Geneva". The whole gig seems to be muddy and rushed through from beginning to end. The muddy and rushed feeling probably was bought on by the intensity of the new drummer, Jason Duffy, who replaces Caroline on the tour. As a specific and drastic comparison, Caroline had a much better and delicate handling of the drums as compared to what Jason did at the tail end of "Forgiven, Not Forgotten". Another extra new guy, Kieran Kiely, may have also contributed to the muddy effect of the sound by playing some instruments (accordion) that are supposed to augment the overall sound on the stage. On the other hand, the stage lighting is dark and spotty. In addition, the new songs in the Borrowed Heaven album lack the spark and sophistication of that the older songs and this is also reflected on the chart positions.

The appearance of the group also has become a critical point. Sharon changes herself from a brunette to a blonde; obviously she didn't know of a recent survey conducted by Beautiko (a British beauty products manufacturer) of 3000 men and women concluding that "brunettes are more beautiful than blondes". There is also criticism of the short skirt, long boots and wide belt of the "Ireland's most beautiful woman", Andrea Corr. (Andrea wore a similar outfit even in the sub-zero temperatures of an open-air concert in the Austrian ski resort town Ischgl, the last gig in the "Borrowed Heaven Tour").

Worst of all is that in this DVD release, the audio mixing does not meet the expectations, even when the video editing is generally ok. The Corrs has been, unfortunately, in decline for a while now. The "Borrowed Heaven Tour" was not as extensive as the "In Blue Tour" in 2000. It is known that some of the larger venues in the "Borrow Heaven Tour" were not sold out and a number of shows in North America were cancelled. The chart position of the "Borrowed Heaven" album only seems to confirm this, and the release of the "Live in Geneva" DVD does not help the situation either.

If you are new to the Corrs, "Live in Geneva" is definitely not the choice for a good introduction. The top choice is "The Corrs - Unplugged" (producer Mitchell Froom) for its superior audio mixing and video editing. If you insist on having a big concert atmosphere, then "Live in London" is the only choice. Of course nothing can beat the "The Best of Corrs: The Video" for its studio audio recording and mixing, plus the meticulously planned video shooting sequence and editing. Both "Live at Royal Albert Hall" and "Live at Lansdowne Road", along with the "Live in Geneva" DVD reviewed here, are historical values reserved for the true hard-"Corr" fans.

The Future:

In the "All the Way Home" documentary, the Corrs' Manager John Huges says: "nothing scares managers as much as boyfriends - except HUSBANDS!" and "If there's one thing a manager gets scared about, it's husbands. But if he really gets paranoid, it's CHILDREN!". Well, Caroline got married in 2002 and delivered her second baby before the Borrowed Heaven Tour ended in 2004. Sharon got married in 2001 and is expecting her first baby in the spring this year (2006). Jim has just announced his engagement and his fiancee is expecting a baby this year too. Andrea is the only person of the group who is still free and single, but she has started a movie career on the side, and she has already starred in two big screen movies, "The Boys and Girls from County Clare" in 2004 and "The Bridge" in 2005. The third movie "Knife Edge" is in working. Andrea is also planning a solo album under Warner label in Ireland.

In Europe, the Corrs as a group still appeared on TV show here and there last year (2005). They also came out with a new album "Home" last year that was dedicated to traditional Irish songs. But the future of the Corrs is still in question, as Andrea said in the documentary that "Is this (Borrowed Heaven Tour) the farewell tour? Maybe our last, I don't know." Jim said "All the good things have to come to an end, and it could possibly be the right time to get out." As a matter of fact, back in 1998 when Sharon was 28 year old, she said "You know, this is not something that lasts forever. So I think it's relationships and children, and I really think that's what it comes down to for everyone, and it's no different for us, we are just doing something else in the meantime."

At the peak of the Corrs' career in 2000, Paul McGuinness, the Manager of U2, said "that kind of pop music and song writing can bring the Corrs a very long career." Long career or not, the Corrs' "Breathless", "Dreams", "Only When I Sleep", ... will always be long alive in the hearts of a million hard-"Corr" fans. To them, the Corrs are FOREVER!
"

Oh, it was just "humdrum"

KB | America! | 03/28/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"My copy of "Live in Geneva" came with the the DVD documentary "All the Way Home," which I strongly recommend to any fan of The Corrs.

I was disappointed with the concert. It starts off with the melody of "Baby Be Brave" (one of my favorites from the "Borrowed Heaven" CD) playing and then suddenly cuts to "Humdrum"...well, I would MUCH rather see "Baby Be Brave" performed than "Humdrum"! Especially since the music was playing and I expected it to see it performed! It was just bad editing on the DVD.

The concert, lacked audience participation, at least at the beginning. The concert gets better, probably around their presentation of "Runaway" halfway through. The concert picks up then.

The one thing that absolutely killed me about the concert is the accordion playing during "No Frontiers." It just ruined the song and it ruined it so bad I had to grab the remote and skip to the next song on the DVD! I don't know whose idea it was to bring a "squeeze box" into the group, but it was a bad idea.

I guess I expected more from this concert having previously bought and thoroughly enjoyed their other concert DVDs (but at least this one didn't have nearly as many as those stupid black & white shots someone insists upon inserting into the concerts).


Overall, Live in Geneva just lacked the "party" atmosphere of their previous concerts. If you just want a complete collection of their DVDs, then, yes, you want a copy of Live in Geneva, but if you aren't that big of a fan yet still enjoy their music, then I recommend getting the DVD of "Live at Lansdowne Road" which totally rocks! "Live in London" is also great, just not as great as Lansdowne Road. If you don't care about the live stadium concerts and you just want to see them do a smaller performance where you can be bowled over by the ethereal sounds of Andrea's voice and her siblings' music/vocals combined with a background orchestra, then spend your money on their "MTV Unplugged" DVD, it is simply outstanding.

What did I like about the concert? Well, Andrea's skirt and boots were HOT, but pretty much anything she wears looks good to me! Other than my male-centric opinion of Andrea Corr, this concert includes both "Angel" and "Goodbye" from the "Borrowed Heaven" CD. These songs relate to the passing away of Jean Corr, their mother. Having had a family member pass away recently (a child), I, personally, can relate to those songs, especially "Goodbye" and I do appreciate their inclusion in the concert."

No Complaints Here...

Andy T. | New York, NY | 03/27/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As another proud owner of every Corrs concert DVD, I'd rank "Live in Geneva" second overall, behind "Unplugged" and just above "Lansdowne Road". The 2.0 sound mix seemed fine through my headphones, although Caroline's percussion work was sadly near-undetectable (she's primarily back-up here). Visually, the annoying b+w and slo-mo bits that plagued "London" and "Royal Albert Hall" are thankfully kept to a minimum, as are the goofy crowd reaction shots. (Although there is an unforgivable cut away from Andrea as she does her reclining "lying in my bed" line from "Only When I Sleep".)

While "Live in Geneva" is in total a very fine effort, and would make an excellent starter disk for a newbie, it is missing some of the highs of the other concerts. Nothing here matches "Queen of Hollywood" and "Closer" from "Lansdowne Road" or "Only When I Sleep" and "What Can I Do" from "Royal Albert Hall". There's no behind-the-scenes footage included on the US release as there is on "Lansdowne" or "London". And, no multi-angle option as found on the latter (love watching Sharon on "Radio"!). On the other hand, there's nothing like the scary lighting on "Royal Albert" and Andrea does tone down her awkward sexpot act from "London". Now if I could just get my hands on a region 1 version of that "All the Way Home" documentary..."

Great and a must have, all but a five star DVD

D. Nattrass | Sydney, Australia | 03/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps the most exciting factor of The Corrs "Live in Geneva", is that this is the first time I have noticed a 'large' change from one DVD to the next. Though there were differences in the first few concert Dvds, alot of the tracks seemed to be the same thing over again more or less (Don't get me wrong, the same thing they were doing was fantastic). Right from the word go the firts song which for so long has been "Only when I sleep" has been changed... in my opinion a change which shouldn't have taken place but a change none the less. Also for the first time the Corrs have enough albums released that there has to be quite a few fan favorite songs left out in order to keep the concert under 3 or 4 hours.

A big plus which I have been waiting for, for a long time, is the addition of a couple of guitar solos, and extended instrumentals and songs such as: What Can I do. A positive move by the Corrs.

I love the Corrs and Andrea (lead singer) to bits however I wish Andrea would stop yelling non - stop throughout 90% of the instrument breaks, and just tone it down a little, its only when she has the tuin whistle in her mouth you get a great extended and uninterupted intrumental break.

Sound: The DTS sound is great, however definantly not perfect when you compare it to other dvd's, and I don't really see any excuse for it, in this day and age a modern concert should be almost perfect. The clarity and mixing is mostly great except the dynamics and energy seems to be lost in parts of some songs with poor mixing. 'Toss the feathers' is as unexciting as I have heard it. Overall definantly good enough sound to get the feel though.

Video: The video quality is fine, gives you alot of shots of all the musicians, the only thing a little bit lacking is shots of the crowd, however this didn't worry me at all.

Set List:Again with the new albums they don't have enough time to fit in all their great songs, I am glad they still have plenty of the great old stuff whilst including the 'better' of the 'borrowed heaven' album. 'Summer Sunshine' and 'Long night' fit in really well to their sets, a couple less well.

Performance: I really enjoyed their performance, as I mentioned it was a change to their previous performances, the extended solos, I thought 'radio' was the best I have ever heard it and they still seem to be having fun after all this time, I guess it is really hard when you are comparing ever performance to 'Lansdowne Road' which I think just cannot be topped. For what it was I thought it was great. I think minus the Accordian in no frontiers would have worked for me.

Overall: To some it up when it comes down to it if you are a fan of the Corrs you will love it, if you are new to the COrrs you will love it. It is easy to pick on a few minor flaws but its still great."