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Post by ganews on Mar 1, 2021 9:46:35 GMT -5
The poll winner for March is Sinead O'Connor's debut, "The Lion & The Cobra". Post your thoughts below!
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repulsionist
TI Forumite
actively disinterested
Posts: 3,563 
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Post by repulsionist on Mar 1, 2021 13:04:28 GMT -5
Viva il sono d'Marco Pirroni! E la voce d'Sinead, ovviamente.
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Post by Prole Hole on Mar 1, 2021 17:47:43 GMT -5
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Post by Djse (and a Sack of Cats) on Mar 7, 2021 13:01:53 GMT -5
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Post by ganews on Mar 11, 2021 16:10:20 GMT -5
I also didn't know much about Sinead O'Connor besides her famous cover and SNL thing. Prince didn't write "Nothing Compares 2 U" for her, but hers is absolutely the superior version.
"Jackie", "Never Get Old", and "Drink Before the War" do that thing where they start very quite so you turn up your speakers, then it eases into normal volume so slowly you realize late that you have it way too loud.
"Madinka" - Oh hey I know this song just not the title and artist, it's pretty good. I always thought it sounded like Kate Pierson from the B52s. "I Want Your (Hands On Me)" - Pretty hot, would definitely be good for a make-out. Very 80s percussion.
It's a well-balanced album. My only critique is that I could with less of the spoken-word. I'd listen to more of her output on the strength of this.
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repulsionist
TI Forumite
actively disinterested
Posts: 3,563
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Post by repulsionist on Mar 14, 2021 23:25:25 GMT -5
King Charles’s Butterfly, Pirroni first plays with Siouxsie and the Banshees at their first gig. He moves on to two smaller, influential bands that wouldn't be out of place in the NWW list. He provides most of the composition for Adam Ant's pop career. He's been a leading light of a particular guitar sound and production for post-punk. He wrote most of the music for the O'Connor record here; matching O"Connor's sung melodies and providing advice, usw.
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Post by Prole Hole on Mar 15, 2021 4:33:19 GMT -5
King Charles’s Butterfly - I think repulsionist has pretty much nailed it. I love his guitar sound and he's a player that does a lot with a little, which is very much my thing. He also appears to be a stand-up guy and a thoroughly decent chap. There's an Adam Ant documentary called The Madness Of Prince Charming which Pirroni was interviewed for and he's just a lovely bloke (it's a great documentary too, genuinely interesting and actually compassionate towards the mental health issues Ant has rather than treating it as tee-hee tabloid fodder). Very highly recommended. I wish I had more to say about this album. It's... fine? That's kind of how I've always felt about Sinead O'Connor. I admire and respect a lot of what she's done without ever quite managing to fully engage with it. This is a decent album - I know I'm damning with faint praise - which works well and I remember "Troy" and "Mandinka" being pretty inescapable during the late 80's. They're solid tracks, in a hey-I-remember-this! sort of way. And that's pretty much the whole thing. So much of this album is yup-this-is-fine and then I just don't think of it again, and I'm slightly at a loss as to explain why. O'Connor's voice is great, it's well written and produced, yes Pirroni is fantastic and even the Enya introduction doesn't make me want to vomit copiously, a real achievement. But there's also something ever so slightly insubstantial about it, despite all the religious imagery and whatnot. I get what it's reaching for but I don't think it ever quite lands it, despite the best of intentions. There are a lot worse debuts than this, though.
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moimoi
AV Clubber
Posts: 5,006 
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Post by moimoi on Mar 16, 2021 17:37:22 GMT -5
I confess, I generally have a low tolerance for female singer/songwriters because the 90s Lilith Fair craze pushed a lot of mediocre white ladies (Jewel, cough, Paula Cole, cough cough, Meredith Brooks, cough cough gasp) into the spotlight. I like my women scary, a la Siouxsie Sioux, not waifish, barefoot, and/or adolescent-sounding. So Sinead caught my attention right away with her distinctive, howling vocals. The vibe of this album is 'slightly more rocking Cocteau Twins or Kate Bush' so it's right up my alley. I agree with JLL that it starts out strong and kind of peters out at the end. I'd reorder the tracks to make "Just Like You Said It Would Be" track 2 and I'd switch "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" and "Never Get Old", if the latter must be kept at all. The album could end with "Troy" and I'd be happy. The last two tracks aren't bad, they're just kind of filler. "Just Call Me Joe" would actually make a pretty good Lush or Slowdive song.
One thing I wanted to mention when I played "The Emperor's New Clothes" on my last radio show (for St. Patrick's Day - of which she may or may not approve, but my female listeners certainly did): when we #savebritney, can we also extend some sympathy to Sinead O'Connor and other female musicians who have struggled with their mental health? Like, even ones that aren't objects of masturbatory desire? I am by no means a militant feminist (I've never felt the need to describe myself as a feminist of any description) but given O'Connor's talent, I feel like she really got fucked over by the press and music industry. It's disheartening when I play someone like Sinead, get notes of thanks from female listeners, and then get a slew of requests from male listeners for male rock artists.
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Post by pantsgoblin on Mar 20, 2021 11:20:01 GMT -5
I’ve never dug deep into O’Connor’s discography despite generally admiring her collaborations with others—her versions of “He Moved Through The Fair” and “The Foggy Dew” with The Chieftains are quality and I think she helped make “Special Cases” the one keeper of Massive Attack’s misbegotten 100th Window. I also have fond memories of her performance from PBS' Sessions at West 54th which, lacking cable, was one of my few windows into alternative as a teenager. Of note: this is the album cover outside of North America. Thoughts: It's pretty good overall in my opinion, though the second half does sag a bit. Crunchier and less glossy than I would have expected for 1987. Thanks go to Prole and repulsionist for teaching me who Marco Pirroni is; for my contribution, I'll note some key figures in Irish and UK music who collaborate here. "Jerusalem" was co-written by Ali McMordie, best known as the original bass player for Stiff Little Fingers. And, yes, that's Enya on the intro to "Never Get Old". Another co-writer on "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" was Rob Dean, who was the original guitarist for David Sylvian's Japan. Lastly, Steve Lillywhite did some remixing on this. Lillywhite of course has a credits list a mile long but I'll always know him as one of the few producers who kicked The Pogues' asses enough to produce a solid album with If I Should Fall from Grace with God and was married to Kirsty MacColl for a while. At the risk of being churlish, I really hope O'Connor (who, after converting to Islam in 2018, now goes by Shuhada' Sadaqat in person but still performs under her birth name), has found peace after that concerning incident where she was apparently wandering aimlessly around Chicago in a manic state. |
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