Collaborations

Sinead O'Connor ranked among the most distinctive and controversial pop music stars of the 1990s, the first and in many ways the most influential of the numerous female performers whose music dominated airwaves throughout the decade. Brash and outspoken – her shaven head, angry visage, and shapeless wardrobe a direct challenge to the popular culture's long-prevailing notions of femininity and sexuality – O'Connor irrevocably altered the image of women in rock; railing against long-standing stereotypes simply by asserting herself not as a sex object but as a serious artist, she kick-started a revolt which led the way for performers ranging from Liz Phair to Courtney Love to Alanis Morissette. For the most part, her forays into dub, dance, and Anglo-Irish rock were successful, culminating in multiple platforms for her distinctive and often otherworldly voice to rise into the great beyond from. As one of alternative rock's most sought-after collaborators – having Sinead on even one track would garner enough press to render a release noteworthy – O'Connor racked up enough "guest vocalist" credits during the late '80s/early '90s to warrant two of these compilations. Collaborations culls tracks from throughout the singer's career, finding her partnering with artists such as Massive Attack, Peter Gabriel, Bono, Moby and more.

Massive Attack's Special Cases is all aswirl with spooky atmospherics and a menacing bass line, which O'Connor fittingly matches with a slightly quavering but mostly flat and affectation-free vocal. 1000 Mirrors, with Asian Dub Foundation, finds her voice rising and falling astride the song's needly melody. Guide Me God, with Ghostland, features a subtle blend of O'Connor and Natacha Atlas' voices finding a path amidst Middle Eastern-tinged guitar lines. The disc's highlight, though, is Empire, featuring Bomb the Bass and reggae poet Benjamin Zephaniah. The arrangement's bed is somehow strident and fluid at the same time, punctuated by Zephaniah's passionate spoken word interludes, and O'Connor is right in her element. About halfway through, Collaborations shifts its focus from electronic music acts (in addition to the aforementioned Massive Attack, Asian Dub Foundation, and Bomb the Base, artists like Jah Wobble, Afro Celt Sound System, and Moby all make appearances) to more traditional fare. It's also where the album weakens a bit, as her collaboration with U2 falls prey to that band's law of diminishing returns, and Kingdom of Rain is far from the strongest The The track ever written. By the time all is said and done, though, we're offered tracks with Aslan, Damien Dempsey, and the Colourfield (as well as a cut with Colourfield leader Terry Hall on his own), each of them showcasing O'Connor in a slightly different light.

Ever since she arrived on the scene, a lot of harsh things have been said about – and sometimes by – Sinead O'Connor. No one, however, has ever been able to deny that she has a truly stunning voice. Hardly surprising, then, that so many people have wanted to collaborate with her over the years, the results of which have now been collected on this consistently rich and rewarding album. An outstanding lineup of collaborators makes this Sinead O'Connor’s release an essential purchase for an incredibly broad range of contemporary music buyers. The appeal of huge names such as U2, Terry Hall and Moby is tempered by an eminently cohesive and listenable collection of music. As irritating as she can be at times, we should be glad Sinead O'Connor hasn't really retired – music would be a lot duller without her.