My one reservation about this album is that people seeing the accordion featured so prominently on the cover may misjudge the content. You do so at your peril. The instrument is used sensitively on all tracks and is never overpowering.

Michael Coyne hails from Ireland's Co. Mayo but lives in Liverpool and has a very healthy following at live gigs there and wherever he travels. This CD, You're the World, is an ideal showcase of his talent and repertoire.

He opens proceedings with Kevin Collins' nostalgic "Long Gone are the Days," and in many ways this sets the tone of the album. Here is a collection of songs of homecoming and longing with a few sprightly bits of toe tapping and humour thrown in. Many of the songs are of the less performed variety and are all the more welcome for this. It is great to hear something new or at least not over exposed from the Irish and country canon.

The accordion maestro is noted on "Dublin Town in 1962" by himself, Dermot O'Brien. "Your Wedding Day" is one that will probably feature in the afters parties of weddings in times to come, but perhaps not "The Barmaid I Met in Kinsale" -- unless the bride has a good sense of humour.

Love songs abound here, like "So Here are the Roses" and "It Still Takes a Woman." The CD closes on a jaunty beat with a set of jigs that will leave you wanting more, as I am sure his live audiences demand.

This CD is a good introduction to Coyne, if you have not heard him before. It would be a nice sing-along or Irish party album for the coming winter nights and gatherings.

[ visit the artist's website ]