Music Choice

Like Spinal Tap, who had to change their name from the Originals to the New Originals due to overcrowding in the skiffle scene, the Celtic Tenors — Matthew Gilsenan, Daryl Simpson and James Nelson — have struggled to gain a foothold in the market for crooners who can belt out both The Fields of Athenry and Ave Maria. Where the Irish Tenors and the Three Irish Tenors first went, the Celtic Tenors followed, confusingly promoted as the Original Three Irish Tenors for an aborted series of US concerts six years ago, which resulted in the tenors (Celtic) obtaining an injunction against a management company. Since then they have produced five ballad albums, the latest still ruthlessly hogging the middle of the road, with its versions of Danny Boy and All Out of Love, dialling the Celtic schmaltz factor to 11.