Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Revolutions come and Revolutions go, commitment to change over and over again, to grow and transform, to iron out the wrinkles of the life and acquire new habits, perhaps even destructive ones that will get up the nose of some that once preyed upon your mind can be a good thing as long as you are true to yourself and central core beliefs. Revolution is desirable; revulsion should be rejected as quickly as an uninvited guest at your wake, for Sinéad O’ Connor and her blistering new album, I’m Not Busy, I’m The Boss, Revolution is once more hand and at times there is not person you should rather have by your side fighting your corner.

I’m Not Busy, I’m The Boss is an album of undisguised anger, of disagreements between the heart and the head but filled with passion, Ms O’ Connor’s direct and affirmative action way of passion, the kind that wakes you during the middle of the night and in which in others becomes an objectionable ogre which lures them into desperation and loathing, in Ms O’ Connor comes out scrapping for all the good they muster.

Sinéad O’ Connor may well have changed her attire on many occasion, however the younger woman’s cerebral clothes still fit her and she will not change those, to do so her fans, the world of humanity, would lose something of the forthright, honest outspoken nature which not only keeps her an interesting and thought provoking woman but keeps music so fresh and at times remarkably intoxicating.

From the very opening of I’m Not Busy, I’m The Boss, the thematic structure of the songs are clear. Never one to shy away from a controversial subject, never one to suggest to that she might pull back from saying something that could land her in trouble with a particular part of society, songs such as How About I Be Me, Kisses Like Mine, 8 Good Reasons, Streetcars the sensual beauty of How Nice A Woman Can Be and the unfolding nature of Little Story all play at times that Revolution is not just a physical political construct but it must start with the greatest weapons of all, that of communication and of the self. Nothing else matters apart from the facility to change and not be the person you were ten years whilst retaining your beliefs.

I’m Not Busy, I’m The Boss could be seen as Ms. O’ Connor’s most enlightened album to date and the most directly demanding since the tremendous I Do Not Want I Haven’t Got album over 20 years ago. An album of perfect timing!

Ian D. Hall