Ottowa Citizen
2 July 2000

Faith and Courage
Sinead O'Connor (Atlantic) 

Weeks before Sinead O'Connor came out and told
everyone she was a lesbian, she sent the advance
single of this album, No Man's Woman, to radio
stations. 

It contained enough clues -- ''My friends think I'm
alone, but I've got secrets'' -- and whether or not
she meant it as an inside joke, it really does not
matter in the end. 

For all her history of jerking people's chains with
what has often been a sanctimonious, preachy style,
O'Connor's latest album is a relaxed, highly
entertaining collection, some of her best work in a
decade, echoing 

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. 

The above-mentioned song is punchy and upbeat, and is
among the many highlights. The real highlight is a
searing three-minute rocker (not exactly something
she's been known for) called Daddy I'm Fine, an
autobiographical tale about growing up in Dublin and
wanting to be a rock star. 

It's an instant classic, refreshingly upbeat, full of
wild energy. Anyone who can deliver a line like ''I
get sexy underneath the lights/ like I wanna f---
every man in sight'' and (a) not sound ridiculous, and
(b) sound as if she really means it, is definitely
learning some of subtler elements of the power of rock
'n' roll.