I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss

"What have I been writing love songs for?
I don't want to write them any more" sings Sinead O'Connor on her new album, I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss. But, thing is, this album is full of love songs, many of them nakedly emotional. O'Connor is a woman who has become famous for her emotional instability, and she has come into a second period of greatness, as her honesty shines through.

While not as good an album as the last one, How About I Be Me (and you be you) (interestingly, the opening track on the new album is called "How About I Be Me") it's a yearning, heartfelt record with some wonderful grooves. As always, her voice, containing that charming Irish lilt combined with the piercing squeal of the banshee, is powerful.

Love does seem to be on Sinead's mind. In that opening track, she sings:

"Always gonna be the lioness
Taking care of everybody else
A woman like me needs love
A woman like me needs a man to be
Stronger than herself."

In the beautiful "Your Green Jacket," she sings about an unrequited love:

"Smelled your jacket
when you left it on the lonely post
wrapped it around me
like it was the holiest of ghosts
Oh your smell came through
Mmm, made me wish
I had my face buried in you."

And in "The Vishnu Room," which seems to take a Hindu approach, she sings:

"I love you more than I ever loved a man and I'm shy
I want to make love with you more
Than I ever wanted to."

The album also contains some great musical tracks, such as "The Voice of My Doctor," the very danceable "James Brown," and "Harbour," which like the best of her songs, starts slowly and builds to epic proportions. But by far the best song on the record is "8 Good Reasons," which appears to be her laying out why she doesn't kill herself:

"You know I don't much like life
I don't mind admitting that it ain't right
You know I love to make music
But my head got wrecked by the business
Everybody wanting something from me
They rarely ever wanna just know me
I became the stranger no one sees
Cut glass I've crawled upon my knees
But I got eight good reasons to stick around
Eight good reasons, well maybe nine now."

I'm not sure what the reasons are, but I'm glad she has them, as this is a fine record I would love to hear more from this uniquely talented woman.