release date: Aug. 11, 2014
format: digital (15 x File, FLAC) (Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: John Reynolds
label: Nettwerk - nationality: Ireland
Track highlights: 1. "How About I Be Me" - 2. "Dense Water Deeper Down" - 4. "Your Green Jacket" - 5. "The Vishnu Room" - 6. "The Voice of My Doctor" - 9. "8 Good Reasons" - 10. "Take Me to Church" - 11. "Where Have You Been?"
10th and final studio album by Sinéad O'Connor following 2½ years after How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?
(Feb. 2012). The standard digital, cd, and vinyl issues comes as a 12 tracks version, and a digital and cd 'Limited' Deluxe Edition adds another three tracks to the set list and extends the total running time from 41 mins to 50 mins. As was the case with her fine 2012 album, this one is produced by John Reynolds, who both plays drums and keyboards and also handles programming and mixing of the album, and then he's also co-composer of more than half of the songs. Guitarist Graham Kearns is co-composer of five songs. Guitarist Justin Adams has co-composed two tracks - he also played on her 2012 album as well as playing on the Gospel Oak ep (1997) but Reynolds is the only recurring name from her earliest albums who participate on this, as he appears as O'Connor's only stable instrumentalist throughout her career. Additionally, Sean Kuti is credited saxophone on an album, which also features Brian Eno on keyboards as he did on the 2012 album.
Stylewise, the album follows the rock-energy of the predecessor, and in many ways it feels much like a second chapter to that. There's of course a new distinct persona of O'Connor, which makes this stand out in her all of her discography. For this, she has been styled as some new Joan Jett-inspired dominatrix, which both serves to create a distance from her own life and at the same time comes out as something rather forced, or at best: a new suit to represent a new image to create a proper distance - like a shield. Musically, the album continues the blend with a few soft ballads and a majority of energetic rockers. It has become more evident that O'Connor no longer possesses the same prolific vocal instrument she became renowned for. Age and smoking (?) has taken a toll on her vocal cords that necessarily provides for another expression. It's not that her vocal performance by normal standards is bad or particular narrow, it's just that it has become clear that there's a change and a limitation. That said, the album is far from one of her lesser ones. It's actually as if she has regained some of her initial strengths on this and on the former that should've served her well. Some see this as another step up with more tension and better arrangements and production compared to her 2012 'comeback' album. Some critics highlight this as a kind of a swan song and they accentuate that she succeeds in abstains from lyrics about her own experiences in life. This I think, is more a matter of style, I think, 'cause the album is filled to the brim with songs that could easily be viewed as sheer autobographical as any of her previous songs. You could instead argue that her writing skills have improved, which isn't to say that her starting point and her source to her songs has changed. In her private life, O'Connor seems to continue struggles with life and relationships. In 2006 she gave birth to a son Yeshua - the father, Frank Bonadio and O'Connor separated in 2007. Then in 2010, O'Connor married Steve Cooney - the couple separated in early 2011, and in late 2011 she then married a therapist Barry Herridge in Las Vegas - a marriage that lasted one week.
Two tracks from the album were selected as singles. "Take Me to Church" (Jul. 2014) as promotional single followed by "8 Good Reasons" (Oct. 2014), none of which made a huge impact on the singles chart list. I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss is a fine and a solid album to end a splendid career with, although, it did became an unforseen early end. Her final years appears to have been overshadowed with personal difficulty, which also explains why a follow-up to this very album never was recorded. In 2017 O'Connor changed her name to Magda Davitt as she explicitly wanted to free herself from 'patriarchal slave names', and one year later she converted to Islam and adopted the name of Shuhada' Sadaqat.
O'Connor passed away Jul. 2023 after a period with unstable health. She openly talked of mental sickness, and she spent some time in and out of hospital after having released this album and she also fought her cannabis addiction. In 2022, O'Connor was outspoken about a new mental low after her son Shane had comitted suicide, and she was again hospitalised for mental struggles. O'Connor's death Jul. 2023 at age 56 is, however, declared due to natural causes.
In the liner notes of her albums, O'Connor has often directed the attention to others, husbands, peoples, religions - on I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss O'Connor dedicates the album to herself. She issued an autobiography "Rememberings" in 2021, which are now critically acclaimed memoirs. The album here may not be among her top-5 albums but lesser will do and it's definitely one to know of. Imo, and out of her ten studio albums, this one sits comfortably as her sixth overall best.
Recommended.
