Sinead O’Connor
Collaborations
Available: June 21, 2005
Label: Capitol
Rating: 2/5

This album is a collection of the bald-headed, Pope-photo-ripping, Irish pop tart’s collaborations from the last 20 years – an exercise to prove that she was really more than a flash in the pan with “Nothing Compares to U” and “Mandinka.”

The album is a must-buy for Sinead lovers, but for those of us who aren’t, we’d say she’s best in small doses. For instance, as the backing vocal on an electronica song that is three and a half minutes long. Just right, if you ask us.

The collaborations with Massive Attack, Asian Dub Foundation, Bomb the Base, Ghostland that kick off the album are best, and then the rest of the album should have stayed in 1986 where we buried and forgot about these songs for a reason. It doesn’t take a Catholic priest to tell you a Peter Gabriel song can only get worse if you Sinead to it (somebody had to say it). Even the Moby track, “Harbour,” is limp when you add in the “O’Connorwail,” as we like to call it.