SINEAD O'Connor, one of the key iconic artists of the 90s, is back with Sinead O'Connor Collaborations that portrays the Irish pop tart's collaborations with other musical giants throughout her career as one of the best Irish export ever.This collection of appearances from the last 20 years starts off with Special Cases (Radio Edit) with Massive Attack and 1,000 Mirrors , a 2003 single with the Asian Dub Foundation.
In both songs, once O'Connor rises up out of the mix, the songs themselves take on an incredible vitality. It is as if O'Connor knew just what the song needed to get the heart pumping and the soul soaring and she hits it each time out.
One of the best tracks in the album is Visions Of You with Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart, where O'Connor sings the surrender of spiritual devotion coming not from weakness, confusion and desperation, but from strength and clarity .
One of O'Connors early liaisons saw her hooking up with Matt Johnson in Kingdom Of Rain (Album Version) from the 1989 album Mind Bomb with a cameo from former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.
The dark duet Blood Of Eden (Radio Edit) with the legendary singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel is perhaps her most infamous, presaging as it did her meltdown, but set in the contexts of these other songs, you can clearly see what an incredible contribution O'Connor made to Gabriel.
The newest track on the album is the collaboration with the hard-hitting Dublin singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey in It's All Good, with Dempsey making it real with his thick accent and roughhewn delivery contrasting nicely with O'Connor's gentility.
Not all songs in the album will strike a chord with the listeners. The Moby track Harbour sounds a little limp when you add in the "O'Connorwail".
This oddball collection of 17 songs from other people's albums, many unheard by most, holds together nicely, is enjoyable from start to finish and could give you a new appreciation for the bad girl from Dublin. - NST 04/12/2005
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