Amazingly, next year marks the 25th anniversary of Sinead O’Connor’s career-making debut, 1987’s The Lion and the Cobra. Unfortunately, other than a memorable cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” her subsequent public life has been notable more for controversy and tabloid headlines (the Pope thing on SNL; public bouts with depression; the recent on-again, off-again, on-again nuptials) than any of her music.
That could change with this new release on the One Little Indian label. Featuring return-to-form originals that are both offbeat and powerful (sometimes all at once, as on the reggaefied title track), and a smart cover of “Queen of Denmark” by former Czars frontman John Grant, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? is her most focused work in some time. While Sinead O’Connor’s still pissed at the Pope, elsewhere you’ll find a chirpy paean to marriage called “4th and Vine.” No word, however, on whether that was recorded when O’Connor was with her new spouse, without or with all over again.
‘Half Notes’ are quick-take thoughts on music from Something Else!, presented whenever the mood strikes us.
- Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Rock + Pop): Death Cab for Cutie, Joe Jackson, Toto + Others - January 18, 2016
- Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Blues, Jazz + R&B): Boz Scaggs, Gavin Harrison, Alabama Shakes - January 10, 2016
- Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Reissues + Live): John Oates, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Faces + others - January 7, 2016
