9. Sinead O’ConnorThe Lion and the Cobra
It’s all about the voice. It’s about the voice and the passion and the unease. You never can feel easy listening to this album. You get intimacy, and it’s almost like an exorcism happens, but then it can go into an orgasm. Like the vocal in ‘Jerusalem’ – you’re listening, and you go, “What the fuck is going on here?”
‘Troy’ is probably the masterpiece. It’s like, “Oh, it’s about a lover” and then you realise it’s her mother! Her mother who used to lock her up. You get the vulnerability and the fury, but there’s this theatricality and conviction. And, you know, she was a woman who was a child when she stood up and fucking kicked the Catholic Church in the balls, and then got blacklisted and opened up a world of torment. But she was right. She was proven right. And the whole mental illness thing… she opened up those gates before anyone was talking about it. It’s almost like you’re living in the era of a Maria Callas. I knew the girl quite well, and oh my God, just the presence of her in a studio. You were just gobsmacked. It’s just the end of the world when you hear that voice.
