As usual, you are a stellar host, letting Andy Murray speak without ever interrupting. It allows us to get in depth into the insights of a man with decades of experience in his field - and it is rather rare to get someone like him tell you so much about the behind-the-scenes of it all!
Listening to your podcast just makes me appreciate the band more and reignite my love of their music
Where to start ? There was so much to unpack in this episode. My thoughts in a very random order sorry :
- The theatre of the EPK !! I cannot believe you allowed us to finally solve this “mystery” ha. It’s so incredible to finally have a name and location. And it is even more incredible as it appeared in a renowned series (Downton Abbey), see the caps below. I could have recognized the place if only the EPK was in better quality, the lighting betteretc. I could never make out the vine painting on the side. The theatre has an interesting history for those interested.
- I cannot believe we might have never known about the behind the scenes of the EPK without your help, and the involvement of Andy Murray in all that. This is incredible, you allowed us to learn so much about that very random bit of promo.
- Andy Murray being such an underestimated champion of the band. I cannot wait to hear about his involvement in Talk On Corners - we had some preview from a John Hughes interview from 2000 and Andrea's memoir mentions it.
- The fact that the band had seemingly no plan or direction for album promotion. This seems absolutely wild to me. It sounds as if the american branch of the RC just insisted on doing it "the american way" (no surprise there lol, it's often the case...) and just threw them to do as much as they could and see what sticks to the promo wall, so to speak. Murray had a more thoughtful approach where he was involved, and a better understanding of the European market from what I gather here. He seemed to “get” the corrs better than their record company.
- I understand a bit better -I think- how John Hughes must have felt about being so protective of the band. I found it extremely interesting to have Andy Murray’s account on his interaction with Hughes. This industry is no joke and he was probably right in shadowing them everywhere, as if these were his own kids. He probably knew no one could be trusted near the girls. He sounded like a father figure on the road - rightly so.
- The corrs being so harshly critical of themselves. It’s kind of heartbreaking to hear they thought they did not look good, or unsatisfied with their image in that video. They looked and sounded terrific and the EPK is a testament to their pure, raw talent. It’s wild to me that they did not like it. It’s funny they played only 2 songs in it.
- I really wish we could have a higher res of that EPK video. Tangentially related, I wish they released the “The Right Time” documentary with one of their DVD, like maybe on the Albert Hall one, that could have been a very nice bonus that would have put to rest rumours of them being just a marketing ploy…
- The insight into how singles were released. It’s so funny the Corrs, if I got that correctly, did not see certain songs like TRT as single material ? Tangentially related, it was always funny to me that they only had 9 songs on their debut album, and the rest are instrumental. They struggled a bit with getting a setlist and a show above one hour at their beginning and played some b-sides then (On Your Own, More than More, then Little Wing and We are Family)...
A few remarks/suggestions/questions
- So the Little Wing thing, I’m not gonna talk anymore about it after that. It sounds as if Andrea’s voice is pitched higher than usual, like some audio filter or something. If you and Murray say it’s her, I have to believe it, but my ears are not convinced lol. Something is amiss here. Anyway, It’s a nice version to hear.
- You mentioned a Spanish version of the EPK, what is it ? Is there a version with questions that don't appear in the one we all know ?
- Why were Andrea and Caroline laughing at one of the questions on the EPK !!!??? Haha I was thinking you might ask the question but it really is a small tiny 2 seconds in the video ^^ I always wondered!
- Is the date indicated on the EPK script the correct one (November 1995)? It's odd considering it's been confirmed in numerous interviews that Keith and Antho were already playing with other bands/artists until the end of 1995 and weren't free until at least February 1996 for Keith and March or April for Antho IIRC. In the interview, they do mention them in the lineup so it does not seem to add up. Were they already engaged with the band by early November 1995 ? That seems odd but interesting nonetheless.
- Do you plan your interview guests well in advance ? I was wondering if it might be interesting to get in touch with the Australian branch of Warner that helped champion the Corrs in Australia for FNF. I have found very old billboard articles where this is discussed thoroughly. Chrissie Camp, Chris Hanlon and Michael Coppel were quoted in the interview.
Finally, I cannot wait to hear your work on Talk On Corners. This is going to be awesome, I’m so glad you decided to continue covering the subsequent album.
Thank you!
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Caps of the theatre from both the EPK and the episode of Downton Abbey. It's a beautiful theatre (when you see it with enough light and high res lol), great scouting of the place ! It hasn't changed much in almost 30 years, you can see a recent picture in there too. If you go on Google map and drop the small buddy on it, you will be able to see inside 360°!
https://www.casimages.com/u/Yrisea/448012/
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