Released: 2004
Purchase: Got the Australian version in 2009 or 2010 at a used music shop in Ann Arbor. It was $8 as I recall - not too cheap at the price, but since Miracle was otherwise only available by buying the entire Dreams album on iTunes, and I already had that on CD (and hadn't discovered illegal downloading yet), I went for it.
Playthrough:
Summer Sunshine... what can I even say about Summer Sunshine? Most pop acts can only dream of having a song as outstanding as Runaway or Breathless, so it's really impressive that they actually managed to top both of those. To me, this is unquestionably the best song of their entire career, and one of the best songs (if not the best song) of the 21st century. It still hits me as hard as the first time I heard it. That moment after the middle-8 where Sharon sings "the HEEEEAAAAATTTT" and then the guitars come crashing back in does things to me. (The Fernando Garibay mix is amazing as well, by the way.)
I always associate Angel with the time it came on in the grocery store, and you best believe I was shaking my ass up and down that first aid aisle at 11:30pm. The lyrics puzzled me for a long time, not helped by the video where they perform it at a wedding. I thought for a while that it was about a friend moving away, but now I think I've finally figured out that it's about their mother's death.
Hideaway is where the album starts to step away from the polished Europop of Talk on Corners and In Blue. It's much more American folk-rock, but it really works.
Long Night is even more countryish. Lyrically, it's basically a more downbeat Super Trouper, and it has Andrea's best vocals on the album. Absolutely absurd single choice, but a great album track.
Goodbye was vastly improved by its later remix for the Dreams compilation, but this version is good too. It's just a bit odd to have the hand-clappy campfire sound with the sad lyrics. Sharon's demo is the best version of all, though.
Time Enough for Tears is sort of boring after those five great tracks - the chorus is very nice, but I could not sing a note of the verses, despite the dozens of times I've played this album.
Humdrum, lyrically, sounds like the kind of thing Tracey Ullman would've sung, not very Corrs-like at all, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. And the lyrics are strangely relatable.
Even If is another countryish one - sounds very Faith Hill. It's still a big pop stormer, though. Would've been a very good single in the place of Long Night.
Borrowed Heaven has maybe my favorite lyrics of any Corrs song. "All beauty, all fade away... borrowed." It's really effective in context. Could've done with a real final chorus rather than the Ladysmith Black Mambazo bit, but it's still a favorite.
Confidence for Quiet just sounds like a lesser version of Even If, but Even If is good enough that that's okay.
Baby Be Brave is nice and catchy, but again, I barely remember those verses.
Silver Strand is an instrumental but nonetheless sticks with me, and is enjoyable enough for me to play all the way through. Can't say that about most instrumentals.
Miracle is as sappy as you'd expect it to be (it's about a new child) but nice nevertheless.
Verdict: I hesitate to say it's The Corrs' best album, because it really doesn't have a lot in common with In Blue, let alone Talk on Corners or Forgiven Not Forgotten, but honestly? It is. My complaints above are relatively small, and I'm only making them because they're noticeable up against songs as flawless (WE ***FLAWLESS) as Summer Sunshine, Angel, the title track, and Long Night. Even Time Enough for Tears, the only filler on the album, would be among the better songs on a good many other albums. Literally a 10/10 album.
Standout: WHAT DO YOU THINK
