The Album of the year is out today! - Paddy Anglican reviews it.

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April 3rd 2009 marks the release of this wonderfully topical first Album from the Corrigan Brothers - With songs such as "Yummy Mummy", "Credit Crunch" &" The Riches we Need", this inspired collection provides the soundtrack for the times we live in.

It kicks off with the iconic 'There's No one as Irish as Barack Obama", (which Terry Wogan played this week in honour of President Obama's visit to London for the G20 summit), and continues the celebration of all things Irish with the title track, "An Irishman invented Rock & Roll".

The mood changes then with the brilliant "Jesus Freak", rumoured to be the next single - a song about a street evangelist preaching hellfire and damnation who is confronted by another more hopeful picture of God's love. "American Dream" is a moving tribute to the Irish who built America and vividly portrays the pain and the joy of their experience.

On a lighter note comes "Yummy Mummy", a fun portrait of the SUV driving 3o somethings mums who came to epitomize the now deceased Celtic Tiger economy. "The riches we need" is the perfect response to "Yummy Mummy" and in it there is a reminder of the importance of riches of another kind which last longer than the 'things' we all spend our lives trying to accumulate. "Long Journey" is a song about Faithfulness and Forgiveness and is a powerful tribute to the enduring strength of Love, even when it is at first rejected.

The mood lightens again with "Wrongway Corrigan" which tells the story of Douglas Corrigan who flew from New York to California and somehow ended up in Dublin - An ancestor of the Corrigan Brothers who had the same knack for landing on his feet. "Reach out to Me" is a heartfelt plea for the love of another - a Love which will be your 'Trampoline' and 'Submarine'! (They have a thing about Submarines) - Its a fun track but it is also a Love song.

Sometimes we need to laugh about the things we most fear and there is no better tonic than "Credit Crunch" - Laughter truly is the best medicine. The album closes in a practical vein with a 3 minute crash course in Irish called appropriately enough, "Learn Irish in 3 Minutes" - I learnt more Irish from this track than all my years in school.

This album will put a smile on your face and God knows we need something to smile about, but beneath the fun exterior there is a message - What it means to be Irish has changed through the years and the experience of living in Ireland is changing too, but the inventiveness and ingenuity of this album reflects the same inventiveness and ingenuity which we still possess and it is that which is celebrated in this collection. This is a substantial first album from the Corrigan Brothers and one which should not be overlooked.

Its available today (April 3rd) in all good record shops or on itunes.

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