Chart entered : 16 January 1917
Chart peak : 17
Number of hits : 16
One of the more singular artists to have emerged in the last three decades, Sinead's output has been somewhat overshadowed by the megahit cover that she's never come close to following up in commercial terms.
Sinead was born in County Dublin ( 1988 would prove to be a good year for Irish acts ) in 1966. Sinead's early life is mired in controversy with Sinead accusing both her parents of abuse - an accusation only partially supported by her siblings - and blaming the influence of the Catholic Church in Ireland for it. It's been a source of "inspiration" for much of her material. What can be stated with certainty is that her parents separated when she was eight, she spent time living with each of them. It was her father who committed her to a Magdalene Asylum for persistent shoplifting and truancy which deepened her antipathy to the Church.
However the Asylum did inadvertently kick start her career in music as one of the volunteers there was the sister of Paul Byrne , drummer with new folk rockers In Tua Nua. She heard Sinead singing and put them in touch. Although they eventually decided she was too young to join the band they did co-write a song with her "Take My Hand" which became their first single for Island in 1984.
In the meantime Sinead had placed ads in the music press and formed her own band Ton Ton Macoute in 1984. She was with them for about a year and then left them behind and moved to London to sign for Ensign. She acquired a manager Fachtna O' Ceallaigh , former head of U2's vanity label, Mother. Although he'd been fired off by U2, he remained on good terms with The Edge and put he and Sinead together to write a song for the film Captive in 1986.
"Heroine" was released as a single - I bought it - and is a pleasant blend of U2 and The Cocteau Twins on which Mr Evans keeps himself in check for the first couple of minutes which are dominated by a two note synth riff which doesn't seem to be quite in time with Sinead's vocals. It's too fast to be a ballad and too slow to be a pop hit. The film failed to raise much interest and so the single failed to get out of the bubbling under section.
She then did some backing vocals for World Party's first album "Private Revolution" , cutting a striking figure in the video for the title track with her shaved head.
The sessions for her own debut album were fraught with four months' work scrapped because Sinead could not get on with producer Mick Glossop. Eventually Sinead herself shared the production chores with Kevin Moloney.
Finally her debut single "Troy" came out in the autumn of 1987. To say it was a brave choice is an understatement. At six and a half minutes long, the song is a synth and strings , largely beatless Gothic epic which starts out soft and nostalgic then works itself up into a howl of pain and betrayal , each minute more coruscating than the last. Sinead moves from pure folk tones to an icy punk snarl , a bit like Toyah if she could have sung in tune . The song's refrain is a reference to the Yeats poem No Second Troy. The daytime jocks wouldn't touch it and it bombed completely here although it was a sizeable hit in the Low Countries. It did however become an enduring favourite on the Annie Nightingale show and a horrible dance version was a minor hit here in 2002.
"Mandinka" was the second single from the album "The Lion And The Cobra". Lyrically it gives the first indication of Sinead's enduring interest in black culture, Mandinka being the name of the tribe of Alex Haley's ancestors in Roots. Sinead uses Haley's genealogical triumph as an inspiration for her own struggles with the record company or at least that's how I interpret it. Musically, it's a more conventional rock record with ex-Anr Marco Pirroni providing a fat glam guitar riff and a heavy backbeat from John Reynolds who was pounding Sinead as well as the drums when the record was made. It's OK but would be better without the banshee howls that punctuate the lyric.
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