There is a review of a recent Sinead O'Connor show at the New York Times. Here's some of it:
For a woman who tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on live television, Sinead O'Connor is downright devout. Her faith now is Rastafarianism, the Jamaican creed that brought righteousness to reggae.
...Like a convert making a pilgrimage, she recorded the album in Kingston, Jamaica, with the eminent reggae producers Sly and Robbie: Sly Dunbar on drums and Robbie Shakespeare on bass. Sly and Robbie also lead Ms. O'Connor's band on the tour that brought her to Webster Hall on Friday night. Winston Rodney, a k a Burning Spear, was by her side, playing congas and sometimes joining her with his craggy, adamant voice.
By Friday's concert, Ms. O'Connor had all but sloughed off her previous career. She sang none of her own songs, and onstage as on the album, she strove to reproduce the original reggae arrangements. She only briefly unleashed the banshee ululation that was once her trademark; it got cheers.
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As many of you know, disappointing your fans is a big part of being Advanced. I like her method of giving the audience just enough of what the want to make them think that they were going to get something she had no intention of giving. This whole reggae thing is really great, but if I were her Advancement advisor, I would suggest that she do reggae versions of her hits, especially "Mandinka."
Showing posts with label sinead o'connor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sinead o'connor. Show all posts
Monday, December 12, 2005
Monday, December 05, 2005
Sinead O'Connor: A Sufi Adventure
There is an article about Sinead O'Connor worth reading at the Globe and Mail (thanks to the wonderful folks at Jimmy Page's Sweater Vest for letting me know about it). Here are some choice bits:
O'Connor's life has gone through many twists and turns...including a recent three-year retirement from music, but she sees a straight line running from the girl pictured on the cover of her new album, Throw Down Your Arms, to the collection of reggae classics inside. Even at the age of seven, she says, O'Connor was looking for the God that she found much later in the music of Rastafari. "I understood prior to age seven that God needed to be freed from religion," she says. Her earliest understanding was that God was a bird (as represented in so many paintings of the Virgin Mary), and that He had been ritually trapped in the tabernacle.
..."I kind of understood that music was God, if you like. That it's a little connection, a telephone to God. . . . I hadn't wanted to be a pop star. I wanted to write prophecy, about saints and everything. I'm kind of obsessed with religion and theology. . . . I believe that God is underemployed, and extremely lonely."
..."[ Throw Down Your Arms is] not a reggae record, it's a hard-core Rasta record," she says. "I was approaching these songs as scriptures, and honouring the priesthood of these artists. They're creating this space in their music where God can exist outside of religion, and I want to pass on their teachings and example. . . . In some ways, the album is a book of teachings, or a mass. I ran the songs in sequence the way I would celebrate a mass."
...[O'Connor] put up about $1-million (U.S.) of her own money to make the project go. But she insists that this recording is in no way a continuation of the career she declared dead and buried in 2002. "I completely dissociate myself from anything to do with Sinead O'Connor as I used to be," she says. "This is the first album in a career in religious music. I hesitate to say that, because the perception of what that means is so gacky. I have at least created a new arena for myself, within myself, because the old arena was killing me."
Next to come is an album called Theology, based on scriptures from the Old Testament, with Irish guitarist Steve Cooney. After that she may do a recording of Sufi music, or gospel, or any of the other types of spiritual music that now seem like almost the only things worth recording. She also wants to make "a silly record for babies."
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Either she's a genius or she's insane in the membrane. Or maybe both? Regardless, I can't wait to hear that Sufi record.
O'Connor's life has gone through many twists and turns...including a recent three-year retirement from music, but she sees a straight line running from the girl pictured on the cover of her new album, Throw Down Your Arms, to the collection of reggae classics inside. Even at the age of seven, she says, O'Connor was looking for the God that she found much later in the music of Rastafari. "I understood prior to age seven that God needed to be freed from religion," she says. Her earliest understanding was that God was a bird (as represented in so many paintings of the Virgin Mary), and that He had been ritually trapped in the tabernacle.
..."I kind of understood that music was God, if you like. That it's a little connection, a telephone to God. . . . I hadn't wanted to be a pop star. I wanted to write prophecy, about saints and everything. I'm kind of obsessed with religion and theology. . . . I believe that God is underemployed, and extremely lonely."
..."[ Throw Down Your Arms is] not a reggae record, it's a hard-core Rasta record," she says. "I was approaching these songs as scriptures, and honouring the priesthood of these artists. They're creating this space in their music where God can exist outside of religion, and I want to pass on their teachings and example. . . . In some ways, the album is a book of teachings, or a mass. I ran the songs in sequence the way I would celebrate a mass."
...[O'Connor] put up about $1-million (U.S.) of her own money to make the project go. But she insists that this recording is in no way a continuation of the career she declared dead and buried in 2002. "I completely dissociate myself from anything to do with Sinead O'Connor as I used to be," she says. "This is the first album in a career in religious music. I hesitate to say that, because the perception of what that means is so gacky. I have at least created a new arena for myself, within myself, because the old arena was killing me."
Next to come is an album called Theology, based on scriptures from the Old Testament, with Irish guitarist Steve Cooney. After that she may do a recording of Sufi music, or gospel, or any of the other types of spiritual music that now seem like almost the only things worth recording. She also wants to make "a silly record for babies."
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Either she's a genius or she's insane in the membrane. Or maybe both? Regardless, I can't wait to hear that Sufi record.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Sinead O'Connor No Fan of Little Prince
From contactmusic.com:
SINEAD O'CONNOR shocked fans in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday night (29NOV05) when she blasted the man behind her biggest hit live on stage. Performing reggae songs from her new album THROW DOWN YOUR ARMS, the eccentric Irish singer took offence when one fan repeatedly screamed out for her international hit NOTHING COMPARES 2 U. She initially ignored the requests, until another fans screamed for PRINCE, the writer of the song, at which point she hissed, "F**k that f**king midget."
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Prince replied, "What is essential is invisible to the eye. It's only with the heart that one can see clearly."
SINEAD O'CONNOR shocked fans in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday night (29NOV05) when she blasted the man behind her biggest hit live on stage. Performing reggae songs from her new album THROW DOWN YOUR ARMS, the eccentric Irish singer took offence when one fan repeatedly screamed out for her international hit NOTHING COMPARES 2 U. She initially ignored the requests, until another fans screamed for PRINCE, the writer of the song, at which point she hissed, "F**k that f**king midget."
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Prince replied, "What is essential is invisible to the eye. It's only with the heart that one can see clearly."
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Sinead O'Connor: I and I and Sly (and Robbie)
Here's the latest from soundgenerator.com:
Sinead O'Connor has scheduled her first UK live dates in over three years, with three shows this winter.
The Irish singer/songwriter recently returned to the spotlight after a two-year absence. In 2003, O'Connor declared her music career to be over, saying "I seek no longer to be a 'famous' person, and instead I wish to live a 'normal' life," She also declined several tour options around that time, declaring her daughter Roisin was too young is to be alone for such a long time.
Now, the often-controversial artist is set to return to the live arena with three dates with current producers Sly & Robbie in November. O'Connor is reportly releasing a series of albums in the year ahead, the first being a reggae effort (the follow up to 2002's "Sean Nos Nua"), which was recorded with the seminal production act.
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Wouldn't it be great if she put out an amazing record that sold a billion copies? And then toured with the Rolling Stones? And then starred in "Scream 4"?
Sinead O'Connor has scheduled her first UK live dates in over three years, with three shows this winter.
The Irish singer/songwriter recently returned to the spotlight after a two-year absence. In 2003, O'Connor declared her music career to be over, saying "I seek no longer to be a 'famous' person, and instead I wish to live a 'normal' life," She also declined several tour options around that time, declaring her daughter Roisin was too young is to be alone for such a long time.
Now, the often-controversial artist is set to return to the live arena with three dates with current producers Sly & Robbie in November. O'Connor is reportly releasing a series of albums in the year ahead, the first being a reggae effort (the follow up to 2002's "Sean Nos Nua"), which was recorded with the seminal production act.
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Wouldn't it be great if she put out an amazing record that sold a billion copies? And then toured with the Rolling Stones? And then starred in "Scream 4"?
Friday, June 17, 2005
Siouxsie Sioux: Anything Men Can Do, Icon Do Better
According to BBC News, Siouxsie Sioux has been honored by "Mojo." Let's take a look:
The Siouxsie and the Banshees singer took its Icon award in a readers' vote. Paul Weller took the songwriter award, The Magic Numbers were named best new act and rock band Gang of Four took the inspiration prize in a London ceremony. Madness took the Hall of Fame award. Mojo editor-in-chief Phil Alexander said: "This was an amazing night which brought together real musical heroes."
...Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, U2 guitarist The Edge and Sinead O'Connor were among the musicians to present prizes in the Porchester Hall ceremony on Thursday. Sioux won the Icon award for her "spectacular career on a global scale", also beating the late Mark Bolan and ex-Sex Pistols star John Lydon in the process.
Accepting her award, she struck a customary defiant note when she complained about the lack of women among the winners. "I'm the token female winner," the 48-year-old said. "I think we need a few more women up here."
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Not to mention more Native Americans.
The Siouxsie and the Banshees singer took its Icon award in a readers' vote. Paul Weller took the songwriter award, The Magic Numbers were named best new act and rock band Gang of Four took the inspiration prize in a London ceremony. Madness took the Hall of Fame award. Mojo editor-in-chief Phil Alexander said: "This was an amazing night which brought together real musical heroes."
...Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, U2 guitarist The Edge and Sinead O'Connor were among the musicians to present prizes in the Porchester Hall ceremony on Thursday. Sioux won the Icon award for her "spectacular career on a global scale", also beating the late Mark Bolan and ex-Sex Pistols star John Lydon in the process.
Accepting her award, she struck a customary defiant note when she complained about the lack of women among the winners. "I'm the token female winner," the 48-year-old said. "I think we need a few more women up here."
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Not to mention more Native Americans.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Meltdown Festival: I Got My Chips Cashed In
According to nme.com, Patti Smith has quite a festival brewing:
"More names have been added to the swelling line-up for PATTI SMITH’s MELTDOWN FESTIVAL. The annual season at London’s South Bank Centre will this year be curated by the punk icon to mark 30 years since the release of her seminal work ‘Horses’. Smith performs the album in full on June 25 at the Royal Festival Hall. Smith’s peers Television play two shows at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on June 20-21. Meanwhile, the punk reunion will also see former Voidods leader Richard Hell, who retired from music in 1984, reading from his new novel ‘Godlike’ on June 18. Elsewhere, Tori Amos and Marianne Faithfull join Smith, Yoko Ono, Beth Orton, Sinead O'Connor and Kristin Hersh on the ‘Songs Of Innocence: Protest Song and Lullabies’ line-up at the Royal Festival Hall on June 18."
I don't really like Patti Smith (though I know I'm supposed to), most likely because she is still so Overt. I do like "Because the Night," which I realize is like saying that I don't like the Grateful Dead except for "Touch of Grey." Actually, my true Dead favorite is "Truckin'."
"More names have been added to the swelling line-up for PATTI SMITH’s MELTDOWN FESTIVAL. The annual season at London’s South Bank Centre will this year be curated by the punk icon to mark 30 years since the release of her seminal work ‘Horses’. Smith performs the album in full on June 25 at the Royal Festival Hall. Smith’s peers Television play two shows at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on June 20-21. Meanwhile, the punk reunion will also see former Voidods leader Richard Hell, who retired from music in 1984, reading from his new novel ‘Godlike’ on June 18. Elsewhere, Tori Amos and Marianne Faithfull join Smith, Yoko Ono, Beth Orton, Sinead O'Connor and Kristin Hersh on the ‘Songs Of Innocence: Protest Song and Lullabies’ line-up at the Royal Festival Hall on June 18."
I don't really like Patti Smith (though I know I'm supposed to), most likely because she is still so Overt. I do like "Because the Night," which I realize is like saying that I don't like the Grateful Dead except for "Touch of Grey." Actually, my true Dead favorite is "Truckin'."
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Huey Takes the Jammys
There is a review of the Jammys at the New York Times. Here's the part about Sinead O'Connor's performance:
"The most intriguing name on the bill was that of Sinead O'Connor, the brilliant, unpredictable Irish singer and songwriter who is currently preparing to release an album of reggae covers. (She's even dressing the part: she showed up in a Marcus Garvey T-shirt and a red, yellow and green wrist band.) Unfortunately, Ms. O'Connor's performances offered only brief glimpses of what makes her best music so riveting.
She meekly sang along with Mavis Staples, the jam band Umphrey's McGee and the 1980's star Huey Lewis (this 'all-star' business can be tricky) during 'I'll Take You There.' And she reappeared later to join the reggae pioneer Burning Spear for a reggae set that never ignited. After a miscue halfway through, Ms. O'Connor became the night's only performer to utter four particularly un-jam-ish words: 'O.K., let's start again.'"
I don't see why the all-star business is tricky because of Huey Lewis. He is actually a pretty interesting guy, and he did, after all, have a lot of hits. Maybe I'm just oversensitive about it because I saw him when he toured with Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was really amazing. Plus, "Sports" is one of the most Advanced album titles ever. I'm just going to come right out and say it: I like Huey Lewis and the News.
"The most intriguing name on the bill was that of Sinead O'Connor, the brilliant, unpredictable Irish singer and songwriter who is currently preparing to release an album of reggae covers. (She's even dressing the part: she showed up in a Marcus Garvey T-shirt and a red, yellow and green wrist band.) Unfortunately, Ms. O'Connor's performances offered only brief glimpses of what makes her best music so riveting.
She meekly sang along with Mavis Staples, the jam band Umphrey's McGee and the 1980's star Huey Lewis (this 'all-star' business can be tricky) during 'I'll Take You There.' And she reappeared later to join the reggae pioneer Burning Spear for a reggae set that never ignited. After a miscue halfway through, Ms. O'Connor became the night's only performer to utter four particularly un-jam-ish words: 'O.K., let's start again.'"
I don't see why the all-star business is tricky because of Huey Lewis. He is actually a pretty interesting guy, and he did, after all, have a lot of hits. Maybe I'm just oversensitive about it because I saw him when he toured with Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was really amazing. Plus, "Sports" is one of the most Advanced album titles ever. I'm just going to come right out and say it: I like Huey Lewis and the News.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Sinead at the Jammys
Sinead O'Connor is going to be performing at the Fifth Annual Jammys with Burning Spear, who is reportedly one of her idols. What are the Jammys? An award show/concert that celebrates improvisational music. (Find out more here.) As you may remember, the retired O'Connor is working on several projects, including an album of reggae covers. Here's what will be on that: Burning Spear's “Marcus Garvey” and “Throw Down Your Arms,” and songs Bob Marley, Buju Banton, Israel Vibration, The Abyssians, Lee Perry, Peter Tosh and others. According to a recent press releases, "The album is being recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, with the legendary reggae rhythm section/production duo Sly & Robbie (aka drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare)," and it will released in the fall. I have the strangest feeling that it will be really good.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Nothing Compares 2 I and I
More Sinead news from Yahoo!:
"Irish pop singer Sinead O'Connor is in Jamaica recording a reggae album with some of Jamaica's leading musicians, her producer said Wednesday. The Dublin-born O'Connor has been in the capital Kingston since last week working on tracks for the album, scheduled for release this summer by the British-based Sanctuary Records, said Sly Dunbar. The untitled album will include covers of some of reggae's most famous protest songs — Bob Marley's 'War,' Peter Tosh's 'Downpressor Man,' and Burning Spear's 'Marcus Garvey' — Dunbar said."
What, no Eek-A-Mouse?
"Irish pop singer Sinead O'Connor is in Jamaica recording a reggae album with some of Jamaica's leading musicians, her producer said Wednesday. The Dublin-born O'Connor has been in the capital Kingston since last week working on tracks for the album, scheduled for release this summer by the British-based Sanctuary Records, said Sly Dunbar. The untitled album will include covers of some of reggae's most famous protest songs — Bob Marley's 'War,' Peter Tosh's 'Downpressor Man,' and Burning Spear's 'Marcus Garvey' — Dunbar said."
What, no Eek-A-Mouse?
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Sinead O'Connor: Retirement Is Hard Work
Here's the latest Sinead O'Connor news from billboard.com:
Musical pairings from throughout Irish vocalist Sinead O'Connor's career have been compiled for "Collaborations," due June 21 via Capitol/EMI. The 17-track collection is highlighted by tracks with Peter Gabriel ("Blood of Eden"), U2's Bono ("I'm Not Your Baby") and the Edge ("Heroine," from his unheralded 1986 soundtrack "Captive") and Massive Attack ("Special Cases").... In the spring of 2003, O'Connor announced she was retiring from the music business. But in an interview last month Ireland's Hot Press, she revealed she had signed a new record deal with Sanctuary and is working on three distinct new albums.
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One of those albums, as you may remember, is a reggae project.
Musical pairings from throughout Irish vocalist Sinead O'Connor's career have been compiled for "Collaborations," due June 21 via Capitol/EMI. The 17-track collection is highlighted by tracks with Peter Gabriel ("Blood of Eden"), U2's Bono ("I'm Not Your Baby") and the Edge ("Heroine," from his unheralded 1986 soundtrack "Captive") and Massive Attack ("Special Cases").... In the spring of 2003, O'Connor announced she was retiring from the music business. But in an interview last month Ireland's Hot Press, she revealed she had signed a new record deal with Sanctuary and is working on three distinct new albums.
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One of those albums, as you may remember, is a reggae project.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Sinead: How About a Little Reggae?
I wrote a while back that Sinead O'Connor is coming out of retirement to focus on spirtual music. Well, here's the latest about her rebirth, from rollingstone.com:
Sinead O'Connor, who announced her retirement from the music industry in 2003 after a controversial career, has signed a management contract with Sanctuary and begun work on at least two albums for release in 2005. The records -- including one reggae effort -- will be followed with a tour that will include U.S. dates.
According to her new manager, Danny Heaps, O'Connor will likely team with Jamaican producers Sly and Robbie for the reggae album, while the second album will be "more of a Sinead record." O'Connor has said that at least some of the new material will combine her punk roots with her more newfound spirituality. "I want to at least aim my records at a more spiritualized market," the thirty-eight-year-old singer told Irish music magazine Hotpress, blasting mainstream music as having "all the sincerity of a whore's kiss." While a record deal has yet to be finalized, Heaps is confident that this "will be resolved imminently."
...After six studio albums -- the most recent being 2002's collection of traditional Irish ballads, Sean Nos Nua -- O'Connor announced her retirement from music in 2003. "I seek no longer to be a 'famous' person, and instead I wish to live a 'normal' life," she wrote in a post on her Web site. "My advice to anyone who ever admires a so-called 'celebrity,' if you see them in the street, don't even look at them."
Last September, six months after giving birth to her third child, O'Connor took out a full-page ad in the Irish Examiner to demand privacy and declare her sanity. She posed the question, "If ye think I am so ridiculous, why do ye give me any attention?"
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If ye don't want attention, why do ye take out an ad in the paper? I can't wait to hear the reggae album. She rules.
Sinead O'Connor, who announced her retirement from the music industry in 2003 after a controversial career, has signed a management contract with Sanctuary and begun work on at least two albums for release in 2005. The records -- including one reggae effort -- will be followed with a tour that will include U.S. dates.
According to her new manager, Danny Heaps, O'Connor will likely team with Jamaican producers Sly and Robbie for the reggae album, while the second album will be "more of a Sinead record." O'Connor has said that at least some of the new material will combine her punk roots with her more newfound spirituality. "I want to at least aim my records at a more spiritualized market," the thirty-eight-year-old singer told Irish music magazine Hotpress, blasting mainstream music as having "all the sincerity of a whore's kiss." While a record deal has yet to be finalized, Heaps is confident that this "will be resolved imminently."
...After six studio albums -- the most recent being 2002's collection of traditional Irish ballads, Sean Nos Nua -- O'Connor announced her retirement from music in 2003. "I seek no longer to be a 'famous' person, and instead I wish to live a 'normal' life," she wrote in a post on her Web site. "My advice to anyone who ever admires a so-called 'celebrity,' if you see them in the street, don't even look at them."
Last September, six months after giving birth to her third child, O'Connor took out a full-page ad in the Irish Examiner to demand privacy and declare her sanity. She posed the question, "If ye think I am so ridiculous, why do ye give me any attention?"
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If ye don't want attention, why do ye take out an ad in the paper? I can't wait to hear the reggae album. She rules.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Sinead Back in Business
According to the AP, Sincead O'Connor is coming out of retirement:
Two years ago, O'Connor announced she was retiring to raise her three children. She also disclosed that she was battling a debilitating and painful fatigue illness called fibromyalgia. The magazine Hotpress quoted her as saying she will perform on stage in the next few months at a special appearance in Belfast. O'Connor reportedly said she was already working on material for three different records.
"I want to at least aim my records at a more spiritualized market," she was quoted as saying. "Religious songs with bad words, that's the best way I could describe it," she said. "I've been thinking for years the religious area of music has a huge gap in it. Needs a bit of punky filling."
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Forgive me, but mmm...punky filling. Anyway, I don't mind when we people announce their retirements and then come out of retirement. I really don't know how you can "retire" from music anyway. I also like that she refers to it a spiritualized "market." And, of course, as a watcher of Advancement, I'm quite pleased with her wacky religious phase. I wonder what she'll do next. Disco?
Two years ago, O'Connor announced she was retiring to raise her three children. She also disclosed that she was battling a debilitating and painful fatigue illness called fibromyalgia. The magazine Hotpress quoted her as saying she will perform on stage in the next few months at a special appearance in Belfast. O'Connor reportedly said she was already working on material for three different records.
"I want to at least aim my records at a more spiritualized market," she was quoted as saying. "Religious songs with bad words, that's the best way I could describe it," she said. "I've been thinking for years the religious area of music has a huge gap in it. Needs a bit of punky filling."
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Forgive me, but mmm...punky filling. Anyway, I don't mind when we people announce their retirements and then come out of retirement. I really don't know how you can "retire" from music anyway. I also like that she refers to it a spiritualized "market." And, of course, as a watcher of Advancement, I'm quite pleased with her wacky religious phase. I wonder what she'll do next. Disco?
Friday, September 24, 2004
News Channel 15 Concerned About Sinead O'Connor's Sanity
From News Channel 15 in Fort Wayne, Indiana:
Sinead O'Connor has taken out a full-page ad to proclaim her sanity. The former pop star claims in the Irish Examiner newspaper ad that she's "consistently ridiculed" and "called mad." She asks "not be bashed and called crazy and laughed at" when she sings or speaks. The two-thousand-word essay also asks "If ye all think I am such a crazy person why do ye use me to sell your papers?" During her career, O'Connor specialized in attention-seeking stunts. In 1992, she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul on "Saturday Night Live." She also refused to allow the National Anthem to be played at her concerts in the U-S.
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Why this would be included on the News Channel 15 website is really beyond me. I mean, if ye all think there's a reason, I'd like to hear it.
I really like Sinead O'Connor's music, especially "Mandinka," though I have no idea what it is about.
Sinead O'Connor has taken out a full-page ad to proclaim her sanity. The former pop star claims in the Irish Examiner newspaper ad that she's "consistently ridiculed" and "called mad." She asks "not be bashed and called crazy and laughed at" when she sings or speaks. The two-thousand-word essay also asks "If ye all think I am such a crazy person why do ye use me to sell your papers?" During her career, O'Connor specialized in attention-seeking stunts. In 1992, she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul on "Saturday Night Live." She also refused to allow the National Anthem to be played at her concerts in the U-S.
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Why this would be included on the News Channel 15 website is really beyond me. I mean, if ye all think there's a reason, I'd like to hear it.
I really like Sinead O'Connor's music, especially "Mandinka," though I have no idea what it is about.
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