With her performance at Highline Ballroom started yesterday (I'm going today), the time seems ripe for a fave Sinead list. A little random, I admit, but enough well known songs. I am a big fan and have seen her on stage quite a few times but not in a long while. So, here is a list…
1. Mandinka – Very early Sinead and a sexual serenade for giving and taking. It is easy to hear what impressed fellow country man Bono. She is such a powerful singer, she gives her testy friskiness the power of faith.
2. Untold Stories – the rotting in jail Buju Banton masterpiece shouldn't work by Sinead. But the entire album worth of obscure Reggae covers works perfectly and this as well as the rest.
3. Last Day Of Our Acquaintance – Penultimate song off her breakthrough album, breaks your heart in ways Adele hasn't come within a million ways of replicating. Sinead is so tender, so confused, so sad. She didn't want what she hasn't got.
4. No Man's Woman – Faith And Courage was Sinead's hardest rocking album since her first and her most melodic ever. The title tells the story but not the beautifully sung rock move.
5. Daddy I'm Fine – Same album, a restraint response to her vicious father.
6. Nothing Compares To U – Women have done a better job than men tackling prince. Lauper's "When You Were Mine" came earlier, "Manic Monday" after, but nothing compares to this full blooded version of the ultimate break up song. Best moemnt? "Guess what he told me, guess what he told me…"
7. Dark I Am But Lovely – From the Song of Solomon quote, it ignores the black pigmentation subtext, and wanders the gardens of Jerusalem.
8. This Is To Mother You – There isn't a person in the world who doesn't need this song. We all need it. The ultimate secular promise.
9. War – In its heart of hearts, this version is completely ferocious and fearless.
10. Success Has Made A Failure Of Our Home – This is a perfect song and Sinead can do little with it… except tear it to pieces at the very and throw it back at us at the end.