Customer Reviews

Universal Mother

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

By the time "Univeral Mother" came out, Sinead had become high on my list of favorite female artists - solely because of "Lion and the Cobra" and "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got". Being objective, this CD has some beautiful arrangements, but only about half of the songs really grabbed me, but when they grabbed me, they REALLY grabbed me. I enjoyed "Red Football" because of its message and I love how the song ends on a very angry, retaliatory way. I also was touched by "Scorn Not His Simplicity", which is a beautifully touching song about a mother whose child is 'not like all the others' and deals powerfully with a mother's feelings of 'what did I do wrong to deserve this' and 'why was my child born this way'. It is just an incredibly powerful song and very well written. I was surprised how much I loved "All Apologies" and I honestly think I like her version better than Kurt Cobain's, but I do like Kurt's as well.

But, my all-time favorite Sinead song is "Perfect Indian". This is one of those songs that if it was possible to wear out a CD from playing a song too much, it would be this one. Since I dabble a little on the piano, I was very much pulled in by the music. I have to say it is one of the most perfectly beautiful piano pieces I have ever heard in my life! And, Sinead's very moving vocals make this song a beautiful gem. I would have gladly paid $15 just for this one song, but I was glad I did like a few more. I have never known any artist to put so much intensity into her songs, whether it's angst or understated, she commands her songs and pulls the listener into her world of lyrics and you come away feeling like you just had a very deep conversation with a very close friend.

"Universal Mother" is a voyage into bitterness, betrayal and, ultimately, redemption. The inclusion of Germaine Greer's sound bite on track one was a little over the top, in my opinion, but when the horns start to blow on "Fire On Babylon," the listener is blasted into a very eloquent tapestry of rage. "Babylon" is one of Sinead's best songs simply by virtue of its experimental quality. The rage here is heartbreaking, even shocking. The fact that this is followed by "John I Love You/My Darling Child" is even more stunning. Now the fallout from Babylon's rage has come to earth and we are faced with an uplifting ode to the tenderness of loving relationships and between adults and the sheer joy brought into the adult world by the presence of a child. Sinead pulls it off with admirable ease and the genuine quality of her songwriting is so evident here. I don't think I've ever listened to an album that has been so perfectly recorded to be listened to "as a whole"--Sinead even urges that her fans listen to it in this manner (via the liner notes). This record is really like one continuous orchestral piece rather than a number of different songs. Mystifying and marvelous. The standout for me was "Thank You For Hearing Me." I absolutely lost it when I heard this song for the first time. It's beautiful, it's crushing, its triumphant, it's gorgeous. It's %^&&#ing religious! The only track I found to be out of place on this CD was "Scorn Not His Simplicity." While this is a lovely song(penned by Phil Coulter) and Sinead did a great job, it didn't seem to fit the thread of album overall. Otherwise, buy this CD. It will grow on you like no other.

It's hard to believe that Sinead O'Connor's last album came out six years ago, but this was it, and many Sinead fans either loved it or hated it when it arrived. This was a remarkably experimental album in that it was recorded and designed to be listened to as a whole, rather than as a collection of individual songs. The concept was obviously motherhood in all its guises...spiritual, marital, sexual, redemptive, creative, destructive etc. A startlingly spiritual work, it is an album that grows on the listener in powerful ways. People I've talked to who bought this record have unanimously said that the more they listened to it, the more they "got" it, and once they "got" it, they were under a spell that will never, ever be broken. I won't name the best tracks on this record, because I consider this record to be one all-inclusive orchestral piece. Groundbreaking and amazing, and a shame that it didn't get the attention it deserves, but that's partly Sinead's fault(for alienating the masses with her personal political choices), partly the fault of a record company that couldn't promote her, and partly the fault of American musical un-sophistication.

Oh, how soon they forget. O'Connor was already a major, Grammy-nominated "star" with a multi-platinum album ('Lion & Cobra') and a slew of international Modern Rock hit singles even before her freakishly mesmerizing crossover success with the Prince "cover" (Nothing Compares 2 U) in 1990.

Then, she protested institutional child-abuse in the RC Church in 1992 by "shredding" a little piece of paper on SNL, and two years later she gave "birth" (one would think literally) to this album, which cracked the Billboard Top 40 and made critics & fans churn with praise. The disc went-on to shift a couple of million units, and it's easy to see why O'Connor retained such a huge audience even after enormous controversy and boycott.

Like the gorgeous, ineffable Joni Mitchell, O'Connor steadfastly bucked every "standard" and did so brilliantly with this little "number." This album is the quintessential definition of an "album." 'Universal Mother' is a song-cycle of great pretension and bombast and harrowing vulnerability, but only a singer-songwriter like O'Connor (or perhaps the divine Mitchell, for that matter) could have pulled something like this "off."

Her opener, 'Fire on Babylon' is still one of the most scorchingly weird pieces of "protest-brilliance" ever committed to record. You've got loads of Sinead-ammunition with nuances of Peter Gabriel, some Kate Bush, some Joni, and SERIOUS funk-fusions that *nobody* was doing at the time. Forget boundaries; this chick was so outside-the-box that she created her own box. And it worked. The song still gives anyone with a soul the heebie-jeebies (or ought to). Then, O'Connor (after dropping the musical equivalent of a nuke), starts dusting and doing a 'Mother Teresa' amid the fallout with "John I Love U"--a waltz!!! Up next? Well, you have bared fangs about women's reproductive rights on 'Red Football' and the spookiest cover of Cobain's 'All Apologies' that is ever likely to be put down. 'Nuff said.

It only gets more chilling: stormy Irish seas and magically-transformed swan-people press against the brain with 'Perfect Indian,' wherein O'Connor sings of suicide and mythology with the kind of vocal clarity that could not only shatter a window-pane, but scour-it-clean beforehand.

A gut-wrenching cover of Ralph McTell's "Scorn Not His Simplicity" (stark piano-ode to a Downs-Syndrome Child's struggle to be loved) sets-up the blood-curdlingly Gothic 'All Babies' and then segues toward one of the most utterly original, brilliant, hair-raisingly rendered Irish "tradtionals" in history...only it wasn't "traditional" (O'Connor wrote & performed it for the album). Go figger.

A greasy, drop-dead sincere "rap" about the real origin of the Irish Potato Famine comes next (with the recurrent theme of nation-as-mother, mother-as-mother, Reason-as-mother) and then the elegiac hip-hop of 'Thank You 4 Hearing Me'--a soaring hymn loaded with Tim Simenon's ultra-funk that became a massive hit for Sinead in Europe, after USA radio had long refused to play her singles.

The whole thing is an opera, and O'Connor (being one of the true few who really deserves the legit title of "diva") constructs this record as a total drama from which she deftly blasts, bickers, belts, brays, bleats...and then caresses, careens, cuddles, and croons a spellbinding tale of "motherhood" is bracing, to say the least.

It's also probably the best record you forgot to buy, from the '90s.

The fact that it sold so well, two years after O'Connor had chucked-up her mainstream superstardom, is a testament to how extremely good was this disc. It does, indeed, remind me of some of Joni Mitchell's opuses (and some BIG time Nina Simone, honey!)...wherein O'Connor was blithely not afraid to throw the curviest of balls and make it all astonishingly SUPREME, in the end.

This is one of those records. The amazing thing about O'Connor is that she went-on to "rule" according to her own terms, with albums like this...just outside the spotlight, but big-selling and earth-shattering. Listen to this--start-to-finish--and see if you don't get the proverbial goosebumps. A classic for its daring fusion & experimentalism alone, and no mistake.

A Desert Island disc for the "Voice" and the passion, as usual.

"Universal Mother" was Sinead's first album of new material after her 1990 blockbuster "I Do Not Want What I Have'nt Got" and in the 4 years in between the two album's her popularity declined significantly due to some bad behavior and and an ill-conceived album of pop standards that was not her forte. Consequently, "Universal Mother" was not heard by many people - which is unfortunate becuase it is mostly a very good effort. Sinead's voice is truly a work of art: at times soft and ghostly and at other times belting out anger with an intensity that is frightening. On "Red Football," she begins gently but soon turns all fury on an abusive lover. She tackles "All Apologies" with a deft touch and makes the song her own. The gorgeous "In this Heart" features a haunting O'Connor vocal backed by a choir. Only when Sinead sings lullabies to her children does this album falter. This is definately worth a listen.

Universal Mother came out when I was much younger and served as bible to me; with every emotion I wanted to see expressed: anger (Fire On Babylon), adoration and love (John I Love You, In This Heart), pain (Tiny Grief Song), gratitude (Thank You For Hearing Me). Throughout nearly 6 years, this album has grown so much in me that I don't think I'll ever stop listening this. Completely exeptional and inspiring.

"Universal Mother" was released after a 2-year hiatus of recording, following a severe depression along with drug addiction. Although this album peaked in the 30's on the Billboard chart, it seems to be the most overlooked in Sinead's catalogue, which is a shame because i believe it to be perhaps the best.

"Fire On Babylon" is one of Sinead's strongest songs, with her powerful soprano voice and scathing lyrics of child abuse and pain. The music itself has a somewhat indescribable Euro-hip-hop feel to it. The soft ballad "John I Love You" follows, and leads into the almost achingly soft "My Darling Child", both showing Sinead's versatility in emotion, following the seethingly angry "Fire On Babylon". Jake Reynolds, Sinead's eldest child, makes a guest appearance on the self-penned "Am I A Human?", following the two ballads. The next two selections, "Red Football" and "All Apologies", seem just as powerful of statements yet like a hodge-podge at the same time, the latter featuring only Sinead's seemingly muted vocal and an acoustic guitar being strummed on. Side one closes out with the beautiful and tragic ballad "A Perfect Indian".

Opening Side 2 is another piano-ladden ballad in the same fashion as "A Perfect Indian", but totally different subject matter, titled "Scorn Not His Simplicity". Sinead's voice sounds as if it's on the brink of tears when she sings of a disabled child who "looks like the others" but is "not the same". The album then goes back to the rather angst-ridden side of Sinead on "All Babies", a song about how all babies "are born out of great pain"; this song seems to be the low-point of the album, not really having an intelligible point or statement to it like other selections. Following "All Babies" is couple of what sound like one-take style songs, this time featuring no instruments other than voice. The first of the 2 a capella numbers is the beautiful "In This Heart"; accompanying Sinead are Voice Squad. Sinead's voice blends beautifully with the male background singers of Voice Squad. Following this is the simpler-yet "Tiny Grief Song", another song without much of a point; along the lines of what people would call a "filler" track. Still, it showcases Sinead's great voice, and still holds the listener almost spellbound. Another stong track follows this, the single titled "Famine". In hind sight, "Famine" is somewhat of a weird song, in that it samples from many publications (The Beatles' "Elanor Rigby", the soundtrack to "The Fiddler On The Roof", and different speeches by various political leaders), features a similar "Euro-hip-hop" feel as "Fire On Babylon" (but is lesser in intensity"), and features Sinead rapping the lyrics. It sounds sort of strange to hear a woman with an Irish accent rapping about how "there never really was" a famine in Ireland. Like the reviewer from Rolling Stone said above, it may work because it borders on being great and terrible; this songs is the epitomy of that statement. The last track on this wonderful album is the beautifully emotional and sensitive "Thank You For Hearing Me". Although repetitive and somewhat long (clocking in at about 6 minutes), it doesn't get tiresome at all. Sinead's voice in this number ranges from terrible to something close to a wail, but never loses its sensitivity, which is appropriate to the song's subject matter.

Perhaps the reason why Sinead stated that it's better to listen to this album as a whole than as single tracks on the inside liner notes is that this record takes so many different twists and turns. It ranges from overwhelmingly sensitive to angry; from grief-stricken to thankful. This record wonderfully shows the many sides of the beautiful person that is Sinead O'Connor, and offers some excellent music along the way. All these reasons make this one of my all-time favourite albums.

This record has incredible different moods and musical styles, and Sinèad succeeds to make it one peace of art.

The record opens with a speech from Germaine Greer about the influence women could have in politics. Fire On Babylon follows next and this one of Sinèad's angriest songs. The song is about child abuse and some traumatic experiences Sinèad had in her own childhood. The song is very percussive and Sinèad's vocals are really incredible. It's spine tingling to hear her hit those high notes and with so much fury. Song number three is John I Love You. This is a declaration of love to her former husband and father of her first born child, John Reynolds. A lot of songs on this album feature beautiful moody piano play, and this is one of those songs. My Darling Child is a love song for her son, Jake. It's almost a lullabye. Am I A Human? is a very short song, sung by Jake (nine years old then) himself. Red Football is another song that's loaded with fury. The song starts rather gently, and Sinèad sings that she's not the angry person everybody thinks, but a sensitive one. Beautiful lyrics. At the end, the songs turns into a frenzy of Sinèad's forcefull vocals and the impressing drumming of John Reynolds.
All Apologies is a cover from Kurt Cobain and really fits in the mood of this album. There is only a guitar and vocals from Sinèad. A Perfect Indian is another piano ballad and one of the most beautiful songs on the album. "I'm sailing on this terrible ocean/Iv'e come for myself to retrieve/To long have I feeling like Lir's children/And there is only one way to be free."

Scorn Not His Simplicity is written by Phil Coulter and is about a child that seems to be disabled with something and is ignored by the rest. Sinèad's vocals seem to be on the brink of tears. All Babies tells about some religion views on child birth. In This Heart is maybe the most beautiful thing I have ever heard Sinèad sing. This acapella song has background vocals by the Voice Squad, and Sinèad's vocals blend perfectly with theirs. Tiny Grief Song is a little song (also acapella) but with a unclear message. In Famine, there are a lot of samples and a hiphop beat. Sinèad raps about the so called "Famine" in Ireland, or that there really never was one. This one has to be heard a few times to be fully appreciated. And the last song is Thank You For Hearing Me. Another highlight. Sinèad thanks everything that she has experienced so far in her life, good and bad things. The song is rather long, but the vocals and music are quite beautiful and at the end, you hear waves crashing on the beach.

This album is a wonderful listening experience on a rainy day or when you be want to be enjoyed by the beautiful musician that Sinèad O'Connor is.

I admit I didn't get this until last year, but am glad I have it now. I won't say it's as excellent as "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" or "Faith And Courage", but it's up there. "Fire On Babylon" is very strong, and "John, I Love You" is very good also. Many of the songs are fairly soft and quiet, though she excells at those as well. "All Apologies" is even more gentle than the Nirvana original, and "Scorn Not His Simplicity" is mellow and moving too. As with all her albums, as wonderful as the music is, it's still her voice that takes center stage. She truly can belt it out better than most. Overall I may send a newcomer elsewhere, but any real fan should own "Universal Mother".

"Universal Mother" is an underrated gem within Sinead O'Connor's amazing catalog of albums. Chances are, you've probably never heard of this CD, nor do many of the reviews here do it full justice. Personally, I consider this to be her greatest album, followed very closely by her big-band classic "Am I Not Your Girl?". Both CDs are criminally overlooked even by Sinead fans, but buy these to discover some of the `90s most undiscovered treasures.

"Universal Mother" is chock-full of good songs. Some of these I would hail as instant classics, and others take a while to grow on you. The best song here, "John I love You" is interesting in the way it changes tempo, meter and rhythm, all the while retaining the good old flavor of a traditional pop ballad. "In This Heart" is a totally acoustic rendition by O'Connor and her backing vocalists. This sort of stripped down Celtic sentiment works very well with the earth-mother concept this record was going for. Interestingly, the song that most people remember as the `big single' from this album - "Fire on Babylon" - is the least attention-grabbing track.

"Famine", a spoken word lament on Irish history will teach you everything you need to know about the Irish Political Psyche in three minutes, and "Scorn not his Simplicity" is poignant and touching with a chorus to kill for. Also on this release is the underground European hit "Thank you for Hearing Me", a much celebrated song that harkens to the best of Sineads' vocal recordings. But the standout for me is "Red Football" - this is a very unusual track that totally dispenses with meter or tune and instead sets itself up for some loud, blaring music at the end of the track - but weirdly it all works, and will have you reaching for the repeat button.

Get this album to discover some really rock-solid pop songs. I've had this for about a decade now, in some form or the other, and just last week dumped the whole thing on my Ipod. It sounds better than ever.

Rock fans, Sinead does a killer rare cover of Nirvana's "All Apologies" on this CD. Worth every cent.

Five Stars.