Los Angeles Times
February 14, 1988, Sunday, Home Edition

WINTER ALBUM ROUNDUP
By TERRY ATKINSON


   * * * SINEAD O'CONNOR. "The Lion and the Cobra." Chrysalis/Ensign. This debut
album from 21-year-old Irish singer Sinead (pronounced shin-AID) O'Connor
demands attention. The nine songs here don't just sashay up and politely ask to
be heard; they bowl you over.

   Sometimes for the wrong reasons. O'Connor is fond of dynamics and she loves
to yell. That'd be just fine if she did so only at appropriate moments. No such
luck. Also, she has a weakness for thorny art songs that work very nicely when
she adds a sporadic melodic sense but collapse tunelessness when she doesn't.
And when she shifts to her bleat during a failure like "Troy," the result can be
deadly.

   But even this LP's faltering moments are largely due to ambition. "The Lion
and the Cobra" simply rages with nerve and vision and epic, unusual
arrangements. Sometimes it all comes together. Best example: "Jerusalem," a
soaring, strongly rhythmic track where O'Connor's assertive vocal style is at
its most impressive, switching from a biting, rustic tone on the verses to the
great, high wail of the chorus. "Mandinka" and "Jackie," the other songs that
come closest to "rock," also reflect many of the same strengths.

   O'Connor is also most pleasing at the other end of the spectrum, where she
allows her voice to settle into a relatively calm mode, taking a folk-tinged
form in "Just Like U Said It Would B" (at least until the bleat again enters)
or, best of all, getting very low-key and spooky on "Just Call Me Joe," which
also benefits from a drone-guitar drive that's more effective than the
synthesizer-heavy arrangements on several other songs.

   Unfortunately, the LP's lyrics are hard to understand or come across as too
obscure, even pretentious. This, plus the flash and show, constructs a barrier.
After several listenings one is left still wondering, "Just who is Sinead
O'Connor?"

   "The Lion and the Cobra" doesn't answer that question, but it certainly
invites it. And it's an invitation that's hard to turn down.