The San Francisco Chronicle
SEPTEMBER 11, 1994, SUNDAY, SUNDAY EDITION


    SINEAD O'CONNOR: Universal Mother

   Chrysalis, ERG

   Four Stars

   In the course of her seven-year career, Sinead O'Connor has gotten herself
labeled a troublesome young woman. One listen to her pristine voice, however,
and one realizes instantly why people put up with her opinionated nature: She
has sheer, unadulterated talent. Whether or not you agree with her, you cannot
help but be enchanted by her lovely voice.

   ''Universal Mother'' is only O'Connor's third LP of original songs (on 1992's
''Am I Not Your Girl'' she covered standards), and on pure musical grounds it is
a huge improvement over 1990's ''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got'' or her 1987
debut, ''The Lion and the Cobra.''

   On ''Mother,'' she has discarded the awkward dance rhythms of ''Mandinka,''
''Jump in the River'' and ''The Emperor's New Clothes.'' In their stead comes
inspiration from jazz, rap and classical music, and mostly from O'Connor's ever-
stronger personality.

   At times ''Universal Mother'' is politically charged -- it begins with a
speech by Germaine Greer and winds up with a belligerent rap about Ireland
(''Famine'') that suggests that the potato famine of 1847 was essentially a
British conspiracy.

   But O'Connor's beautiful voice makes the stridency palatable, and ''Universal
Mother'' is as effective, in its way, as Paul Simon's anti- apartheid LP
''Graceland.''

   Purposely to be released Thursday on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement,
this record concentrates on the subject of motherhood, reflecting on it from the
perspective of both mother and child.  O'Connor's own childhood, as described in
''Red Football,'' has clearly not been good; as a mother, however, she is more
hopeful.  Time and again she exhibits pity, empathy and hope for future
generations: ''There's life outside your mother's garden,'' she sings to her son
on ''John I Love You.'' ''My darling child, you gave life to me,'' she adds on
the gentle, balletic ''My Darling Child.''

   O'Connor does a gentle, unemphatic version of Nirvana's ''All Apologies''
that emphasizes forgiveness rather than guilt, as Kurt Cobain did. Instead of
shrieking ''married -- buried,'' she speaks it quietly. O'Connor is stronger per
son than Cobain was, as is obvious when she sings later on in the record, ''My
head is not a football for you. . . . My body's not a football for you.''

    Perhaps the standout moment on ''Universal Mother'' is the song ''All
Babies,'' which can be likened to a hymn. Musically, O'Connor has gotten better
over the years, until she can comfortably be put in the league of Peter Gabriel
(who did a duet with her on his last album), Sting or Simon.

   Unlike those artists, O'Connor's credentials as an oppressed minority
strengthen her convictions: More noticeable than ever before is her slight but
beautiful brogue, which colors many of her phrases here. With Ireland in the
front of the news today, one can't help but rejoice to hear her proud, strong
and ultimately Irish voice.

   * Gina Arnold