Sinead O'Connor - I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss (Album Review)
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Written by Gavin Rees
Other people’s expectations don’t really factor into anything that Sinead O’Connor does. ‘I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss’ is testament to the fact, as she turns her singularly direct gaze on the machinations of love, lust and the mess inbetween.
Moving between first-person narratives and character sketches, O’Connor is able to peel back layers of intrigue to reveal some stark truths beneath. “Don’t stop me talking ‘bout love,” she sings on the self-referential opener, How About I Be Me. “Always got to be the lioness, taking care of everybody else. A woman like me needs love.”
Elsewhere, there are moments of lovestruck ambition, indignation and vulnerability. Your Green Jacket’s premise is particularly poignant and underscored by perhaps the album’s best melody: “Even though I know I’m not for you. Is it OK to say I really do adore you?”
Similarly, 8 Good Reasons pairs a powerful lyric - about depression and endurance - with a song capable of carrying it through. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen enough across the album as a whole.
There is a sharp edge present in many of its rockier moments and a few nods to the past - How About I Be Me in particular - but too often O’Connor’s power is washed out by uninspired compositions. Dense Water Deeper Down is undone by an insipid horn arrangement, James Brown by its outdated guitar licks. The Vishnu Room, which uses the record’s most intriguing lyrical setting as pre-marital anxiety rears its head, is a workmanlike plod next to Take Me To Church's stomp.
The irreverence of the cover art and the title’s reference to the recent ‘Ban Bossy’ campaign are almost red herrings. This is a record that burns with O’Connor’s unique fire only in places. When it does, particularly when she spends time with her cast of characters, it’s quite something.
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