Talk on Corners

Talk on Corners is the second studio album by Irish family pop rock band the Corrs. It was released on 17 October 1997 by 143, Lava and Atlantic Records. Preceded by lead single "Only When I Sleep", which became a top ten hit internationally, the album was an immediate commercial success in several territories, including Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Its commercial performance elsewhere was initially modest, however.

The Corrs' entire concert from the Royal Albert Hall was broadcast live the following year on BBC One on Saint Patrick's Day, where they were joined during their performance of "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood. This event did much to raise the band's international profile. A remixed version of "Dreams" went on to become their first top ten hit on the UK Singles Chart. The record was reissued the following month to include the song as a bonus track. This would be the first of several different editions of Talk on Corners to be released over the album's two-year-long promotional cycle.

Over this period, the band released a string of increasingly successful hit singles, culminating with a Tin Tin Out remix of "Runaway" peaking at number two in the UK. The Corrs also toured extensively to promote the record: the Talk on Corners World Tour saw them perform almost 160 concerts across twelve separate legs. The album spent ten weeks at number one in the UK. It ended its run as the highest-selling album of the year, and remains one of the best-selling albums of all time there, as well as the highest-selling album ever by an Irish act.

Background and recording

The Corrs began work on new material in California in July 1996, initially under the supervision of producer David Foster. Lead vocalist Andrea Corr has described the making of Talk on Corners as being "a struggle", with the band put under pressure by Atlantic Records to deliver a successful follow-up to their 1995 debut album Forgiven, Not Forgotten. Their manager John Hughes cited second album syndrome as a common source of pressure for all recording artists, but said further demands came from the label, who were concerned that none of the songs they were being presented with seemed like potential hit singles. The label disliked "What Can I Do" and "So Young", particularly the latter, and the band had to fight hard for their inclusion on the album.

Additional co-writers and producers were brought in to help improve the album's hit potential, including Carole Bayer Sager, Glen Ballard, Oliver Leiber, Rick Nowels and Billy Steinberg. The use of different producers on different tracks introduced further difficulties: the band found it hard to achieve consistency throughout the entire album, although this would be remedied by the Corrs using over forty hours of studio time to record overdubs. In May 1997, the finalised album was delivered to Atlantic, who were unimpressed by the material and ordered the band to continue recording new tracks. When they refused, the label threatened to sue the band for breach of contract. This dispute was only resolved when John Hughes signed a contract guaranteeing future album sales, with the manager being held personally liable if Talk on Corners failed to yield a profit for Atlantic.

Critical reception

The record received generally positive reviews from music critics. AllMusic writer Becky Byrkit rated it four stars out of five and praised the band for their vocal harmonies, as well as the album's consistency, writing that "each and every cut sounds wired for radio play". She highlighted their cover of "Little Wing" as being the album's "best and most spirited Celtic cut".

British rock magazine NME have retrospectively been highly critical of the album, placing it at number three in their 2014 list of "25 unfathomably popular albums of the 90's". The album also appeared in a 2016 article titled "8 of the all-time best-selling albums in the UK [which] have no redeeming features whatsoever". In contrast, The Independent included it in their 2024 list of 20 most underrated albums ever at number 10, comparing it favourably to Come On Over (1997) by Shania Twain.

Release and commercial performance

The original edition of the album was released internationally on 17 October 1997, and was an immediate commercial success in several territories. Within five months of release, Talk on Corners had sold over a million copies worldwide, and was certified sextuple platinum in their home country, as well as double platinum in Australia and Spain, platinum in Denmark and New Zealand, and gold in both Japan and Sweden. Its commercial success elsewhere was initially modest, however, with the album debuting at number 23 in France and at number 56 in Germany. while both songs peaked within the top forty of the Australian Singles Chart. This edition of the album was the first to be released in the United States. It was released on 5 May, "Dreams" and "So Young" have been certified silver by the BPI for sales in excess of 200,000 copies each, while "What Can I Do" and "Runaway" were certified gold for sales of over 400,000 copies each.

Following the success of the album in Europe and Australasia, an abridged version of the special edition was released in the US on 16 February 1999, and peaked at number 72 on the Billboard 200. as well as their own national concert tour and appearances on numerous talk shows: including Saturday Night Live, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Late Show with David Letterman. The Corrs: Live at the Royal Albert Hall was repeatedly aired on PBS. It ended 1998 as the UK's highest-selling album, and was also the eighth highest-selling album of 1999. as well as one of the best-selling albums of all time in the country.

Similarly, it was certified 20× platinum in Ireland,

Recorded at Peak Studios, Westland Studios and Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Ireland; Ollywood Studios in Hollywood; Chartmaker, Inc. Studio in Malibu; A&M Studios, Aerowave Studio, Mulhulland Studio, Rafelson Recording Studio and the Record Plant in Los Angeles between July 1996 and May 1997.
All songs mixed by Bob Clearmountain, except: "Dreams" mixed by Rob Chiarelli and "Don't Say You Love Me" mixed by Mick Guzauski.
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios.

The Corrs

Andrea Corr – lead vocals, tin whistle, arrangements
Sharon Corr – violin, backing vocals, arrangements
Caroline Corr – drums, bodhrán, backing vocals, arrangements
Jim Corr – guitars, keyboards, accordion, piano, backing vocals, arrangements, programming, production

Musicians

Matt Chamberlain – drums (track 12)
Luis Conte – percussion (track 11)
Dane Deviller – guitars, programming, engineering, co-production (track 12)
Anthony Drennan – guitars (tracks 4, 6, 14)
Keith Duffy – bass guitar (track 14)
David Foster – synthesizer bass (track 11); keyboards, arrangements, production
John Gilutin – keyboards (track 8)
Sean Hosein – synthesizer, programming, engineering, co-production (track 12)
Jeff Hull – keyboards, string arrangement and conduction (track 11)
Suzy Katayama – cello (track 11)
Matt Laug – drums (tracks 1, 8, 9)
Oliver Leiber – guitars, programming, engineering, production
Lance Morrison – bass guitar (track 8, 12)
Rick Nowels – guitars, production (track 11)
Dean Parks – guitars (tracks 8, 12)
Paul Peterson – bass guitar and keyboards (tracks 1, 9)
Tim Pierce – guitars (track 5, 13); mandolin (track 13)
John Robinson – drums (tracks 5, 7, 13)
John Shanks – guitars (tracks 1, 8, 9); electric mandolin (track 9)
Michael Thompson – guitars (tracks 2, 7); organ (track 12)
Lisa Wagner – cello (track 11)
Gota Yashiki – drums (track 6)

The Chieftains (on track 14):

Derek Bell – harp
Kevin Conneff – bodhrán
Martin Fay – fiddle
Seán Keane – fiddle
Matt Molloy – flute
Paddy Moloney – Celtic arrangement, uilleann pipes and tin whistle

Technical

Glen Ballard – production (track 12)
Philip Begley – engineering (track 3)
George Black – programming (track 11)
Blinkk – photography
Bryan Carrigan – engineering (track 12)
Felipe Elgueta – engineering, synth programming (tracks 2, 5, 7, 13)
Chris Fogel – engineering (track 12)
Stuart Grusin – Pro Tools (track 3)
John Hughes – production (track 14)
Yazuru Koyanazi – recording assistant (track 11)
Al Lay – recording assistant (track 11)
Tim Martin – engineering (track 14)
Brian Masterson – engineering (track 14)
Leo Pearson – co-production, engineering (track 10); programming (tracks 2, 4–6, 10)
Peter Rafelson – co-production, programming (track 3)
David Reitzaz – engineering (tracks 5, 7, 13)
Colleen Reynolds – production coordinator (track 11)
Larry Robinson – additional production (track 10)
Brenda Rotheiser – art direction and design
Barry Rudolph – engineering (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8, 9)
Matt Silva – mix engineering (track 3)
Billy Steinberg – production (track 11)
Randall Wine – engineering (track 11)

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Weekly chart performance for Talk on Corners

!scope="col"|Chart (1997–1999)

!scope="col"|Peak position

! scope="row"|European Albums (Billboard)

| 3

!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IRMA)

| 1

! scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| 28

! scope="row"|Malaysian Albums (RIM)

| align="center"|1

!scope="row"|Singaporean Albums (Music Weekly)

| 5

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+1997 year-end chart performance for Talk on Corners

! scope="col"|Chart (1997)

! scope="col"|Position

!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)

| style="text-align:center;"|34

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+1998 year-end chart performance for Talk on Corners

! scope="col"|Chart (1998)

! scope="col"|Position

!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)

| style="text-align:center;"|34

!scope="row"|French Albums (SNEP)

| style="text-align:center;"|44

!scope="row"|German Albums (GfK)

| style="text-align:center;"|56

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

| style="text-align:center;"|1

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+1999 year-end chart performance for Talk on Corners

! scope="col"|Chart (1999)

! scope="col"|Position

!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)

| style="text-align:center;"|25

!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

| style="text-align:center;"|40

!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)

| style="text-align:center;"|39

!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)

| style="text-align:center;"|55

!scope="row"|French Albums (SNEP)

| style="text-align:center;"|37

!scope="row"|New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)

| style="text-align:center;"|4

!scope="row"|Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)

| style="text-align:center;"|4

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

| style="text-align:center;"|8

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+2000 year-end chart performance for Talk on Corners

! scope="col"|Chart (2000)

! scope="col"|Position

!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

| style="text-align:center;"|92

!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)

| style="text-align:center;"|66

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

| style="text-align:center;"|62

Decade-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+Decade-end chart performance for Talk on Corners

! scope="col"| Chart (1990–1999)

! scope="col"| Position

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

| style="text-align:center;"|4

All-time charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+All-time chart performance for Talk on Corners

! scope="col"| Chart

! scope="col"| Position

!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IRMA)

| style="text-align:center;"|12

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

Release history

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+Release history and formats for Talk on Corners

! scope="col"| Region

! scope="col"| Date

! scope="col"| Version

! scope="col"| Format

! scope="col"| Label

! scope="col"| Catalog #

! scope="row"|Ireland

| 17 October 1997

| rowspan="4"| Original edition

| rowspan="10"|

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|7567 83051–2

! scope="row"|Germany

| 20 October 1997

! scope="row"|Japan

| 29 October 1997

| style="text-align:center;"|AMCY-2319

! scope="row"|Australia

| 2 November 1997

| style="text-align:center;"|83051-2

! scope="row" rowspan="3"|Worldwide

| April 1998

| 1998 reissue (with "Dreams")

| style="text-align:center;"|83106-2

| August 1998

| Tour Edition

| style="text-align:center;"|80885-2

|Special Edition

| November 1998

| style="text-align:center;"|80917-2

! scope="row" rowspan="2"|North America

|Original Edition

| 9 June 1998

| style="text-align:center;"|83106-2P

|Special Edition

| 16 February 1999

| style="text-align:center;"|83164-2

References

External links

Talk on Corners at Discogs