Sinéad O’Connor’s Best: 12 of Her Finest Musical Moments
26.07.2023 - 20:49
/ variety.com
A.D. Amorosi Today’s news of Sinéad O’Connor’s death at age 56 and the desperate tangle of her life immediately reminded us of the emotional, imagistic depths of her songwriting, her tactile interpretive skills and the piercingly distinctive range of her vocals. For all of the genuine pain she felt throughout her life, O’Connor displayed empowerment, spirituality, savagery, anti-establishment sentiment and, yes, quietude, like no other vocalist could.
Here are 12 magical moments in the Sinéad O’Connor songbook. “Heroine” (Theme from “Captive”) with the Edge (1986)When the Edge was offered the opportunity to create an Infinite Guitar-filled, ambient soundscape for the 1986 Anglo-French drama “Captive,” he turned to fellow U2 member Larry Mullen Jr. and recent Ensign label signee O’Connor for this moody tale of self-doubt and firm, feminine empowerment.
The Sinéad era begins with a whisper and a scream. “Mandinka” (1987)Think about her spiky, ruminative “The Lion and the Cobra” debut – the menacing atmospheres, the crouching punkish guitars, her caterwauling vocals touching on sense memory, sacred screeds and sensuality. Bold stuff.
All of a sudden, there’s her Alex Haley’s “Roots”-inspired “Mandinka” with its chiming six-strings, its double-drummed rhythms, her whooping crane singing and an irresistibly poppy melody that shifts the mood (or at least the commercial fates) of O’Connor’s first album. “I Want Your (Hands on Me)” (1987)Commandingly sexual and breathy in a fashion that had nothing to do with Donna Summer’s orgasmic yawn, O’Connor (and one of the track’s co-writers, producer and then-husband John Reynolds) pinned her cooing vocal and icy, sensual lyrics to a clunky programmed pulse. Later, O’Connor remixed this
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