Sinead O'connor - I do not want what I haven't got (1988)

Sinead O'connor has been one of the most controversial singer songwriters of her generation and also one of the most successful female artist of all time.

Tracing her routes back to early 1980s Ireland, Sinead was in the post punk band Tom Tom Macoute but part of her knew this would never satisfy her and she longed for wider acceptance which would be denied her if she remained in Ireland. It was in 1986 that she made the move to London to record her debut album - 'The Lion and the Cobra' preceding it with the stunning single 'Troy' as her debut single. Although it charted poorly it introduced Sinead to the mainstream leading to a huge world wide hit 'Mandinka' as her second single. This album sold over one million copies worldwide but her second album cemented her reputation as a true singer.

An intial single 'Jump in the River' was chosen and released as the first single, just scraping the top 75 of the UK singles chart.  With the great tracks this made a strange debut with the weakest album track but nevertheless it was a single. Based in thr performance of this single the album could have flopped and indeed it made a poor entry to the chart compared to her debut album. Things continued with the harrowing 'three babies' a song about miscarriage which despite its difficult subject matter performed far better than the debut single, very nearly reaching the top 40. At this point the album continued to hover in the lower reaches of the chart but this would change with the release of the third single.

'Nothing Compares 2 U' is a haunting ballad written by Prince and has to stand out as one of the most important singles released by a female artist. The video featuring for the most part Sinead lipsyncing with tesrs pouring down her elfin face. The song cannot fail to move any listener and Sinead's emotional vocal is incomparable to the dross produced by talent shows. Recorded in a single take, this career defining single went on to sell over two million copies worldwide reaching number one in multitudes of countries. Indeed in the UK the song spent 4 weeks at number one and six months in the top 75!

The final single, the anthemic rock singke 'The Emperors New Clothes' was also a commercial success and an awsome performance.

The album has gone on to sell in excess of seven million copies worldwide, becoming one of the all time best selling albums.  It spent nearly a year in the top 100 in the UK.

Although the singles were good they were hugely surpassed by two lp tracks - the political 'Black boys on mopeds' and finally the ground breaking 'Feels so different' - possibly one of the strongest and most haunting song's written.

Sinead O'connor may be controversial but her her music has bought hope and beauty to many people and she will always be seen as an iconic, talented musician.

The Cure - Disintegration (1989)

1989 saw tbe release of the most iconic album by The Cure, possibly of the 80s. This was the album to propel The Cure into the mainstream around the globe, cementing them as the most important alternative rock band there has ever been.  With worldwide sales figures exceeding 6,000,000 this was a truly incredible release and destined to become an 80s classic.

Conceived in 1987, soon after the release of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss me, their million seller worldwide breakthrough album, Disintegration was set to be a dark album exploring emotions that harked back to their earlier album Pornography, with similar themes and ideas. It was also written during the break down of the relationship between Robert Smith and his oldest friend, keyboard player and occasional drummer, Lol Tolhurst. Indeed despite being listed as a performer on the album, his contribution was virtially non existent.

Myth surrounds the album but it was largely recorded in Sussex with the music coming before the lyrics. Famously, Smith kept the lyrics in his bedroom which caught fire. It ended up with him crawling through smoke to rescue them - the album would have otherwise been instrumental!

The first single to be released in the UK was surprising and an unysual choice. Lullaby harked back in many ways to the psychadelic pop of The Caterpillar (1984). With strongly gothic undertones and a slow chilling tune it would be easy to see this single fall by the wayside but it didn't. It rapidly climbed European charts finally reaching number 3 in the UK. Lullaby ended up being The Cure's first top ten single since The Caterpillar and has to this day remained The Cure's most successful UK single. An expensive video was made for the single featuring Smith being eaten by a spider which was also him. The band were lined up in old dusty military outfits and plastered with as much black makeup as possible. The video went on to win a Brit award for video of the year.

Over in the US, the record company thought Lullaby was a poor choice of single and just too out there for the US market. Instead the brilliantly rocky Fascination Street was released with another top video. This song remains a cure classic which is regularly played. The single sold well scraping the top 40 on the billboard top 200, their biggest US hit up to that point. The single even made the UK top 75 on import sales alone.

The album was released soon after entering the UK chart at number 3, their most succesful placing uo until then and stuck around in the UK charts for months, going on to sell more than 500,000 copies in the UK alone. The album even charted at number 38 when it was rereleased as a 25th anniversary package.

The album also entered the US chart in the top 40 and sold solidly until they released the second single, Lovesong. This slow ballad, became a Cure classic love song along similar lines to Jusy Like Heaven. The haunting 3 chord melody and jangly guitar - an instantly recognisable Smith trait which has been copied by many - led to a memorable brilliant song. The video was also great and featured Smith in a cave surrounded by very phallic stalagmites.

Lovesong was well received in the UK making the top 20 - a great chart position but in the US things were very different. The song attracted huge radio and tv exposure and shot it's way to number 2 selling over 1,000,000 copies in the process! Ob the strength of this single The Cure played a sell out stadium tour with audiences of 40,000 on some nights. The single remained in the US charts for months on end being a huge success for the band.

A final single, Pictures of You, was released about 8 months after the album release and although slightly weaker it had the classic Cure sound and a nice video of the band playing in a snowstorm - typically eccentric....

The album kept it's best moments as album tracks, mostly too long or too melancholic to be singles but all utterly outstanding, from start to end the album flowed as acomplete dramatic work rising to the climatic Disintegration - an epic 8 minute song about  falling apart which is easily the best track ever recorded by The Cure with only 100 Years and From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea coming close.

Plainsong was a dreamy understated but perfect opening track with a short almost whispered lyric towards the end. Prayers for Rain a gothic masterpiece in everyway rising to an epic 30 second note by Smith with one of most inspired vocal performances. Same Deep Water as You is an elegaic piece stretching to 10 minutes with jangling guitars and desperate lyrics. A standout track on the album.

Overall this rates as obe of the greatest albums ever released and will be remembered as such for many years. A true masterpiece.

Kate Bush - The Dreaming (1982)

After releasing 3 albums back to back to huge commercial success, Kate Bush needed a break to relax, consider and create her first album of all new songs. Whereas her previous albums had contained tracks from as early as 1976, this was to be a completely new album, created and recorded to exacting standards and totally controlled at points by Kate.

The process was slow, with Kate often relying on her Fairlight CMI to produce the sounds she was after. Indeed this was the most prominent sound used on the album. Other performances included Kate singing a line forwards, playing it then backwards, learning the sound until she could sing it, then reversing that sound. This gave the vocals an alien intense feeling I have only heard executed in songs by Dublin art rock band Virgin Prunes.

This was the album that would establish Kate as a serious artist and not just an enigmatic somewhat eccentric pop singer who did that dance to those songs.

After 'Never for Ever' Kate disappeared for nearly 2 years. She spent most of this time creating 'The Dreaming' but treated us to a glimpse a while before it's release. The tumbling, gothic, 'Sat in your lap' from 1981 became her seventh song to break the top 20 rising to a respectable number 11. This complete change of style shocked some people but wowed the critics. We were finally getting a glipse of the genius and raw emotion of Kate Bush. A three and a half minute frenzy of hard hitting drums, fairlight samples and Kate delivering her most powerful vocal yet. In no way could this be described as pop music.

The arrival of the album was preceded by the release of the somewhat bizarre 'The Dreaming' a strange single choice as it entered the chart at number 48 then promptly disappeared from view probably not helped by a weak b side - an instrumental version of the song.  Even a hugely expensive video couldn't help push the song up the chart and zero airplay didn't help either. It was just too far ahead of it's time.

Nevetheless this was an interesting song featuring a cast of performers impesonating animals and playing digeridoo and Kate performing in a classic Australianesque accent. Completely crazy but crazily brilliant.

Shortly after the single, the album was released entering the chart at number 3 quickly selling more than 50,000 copies. And that was it. After 10 weeks it had dropped out of the chart. A re-entry to the chart was acheived in 2014 after Bush's record smashing 'Before the Dawn' concerts and it hung around in the lower reaches of the top 40 for a few more weeks. Sales figures of Bush's albums are notoriously well hidden but the album is likely to have sold around 100,000 copies in the UK. It did suceed moderately in other countries like France and Japan so is likely to have sold in the region of 250,000 copies. A mere quater of the sales of her previous recording. This was despite Kate extensively promoting the album - this was before she withdrew from the press - including record signings that went hours over their alloted time so Kate could meet all of her fans who had bought the record.

In order to try and boost the album, a third single was released. Now seen as Bush's lost single 'There goes a Tenner...' remains her only single not to chart despite it's shear brilliance of the telling of a robbery going wrong. It had an equally brilliant video but with no airplay it was doomed to history. A real shame.

The forth single came in the shape of 'Suspended in Gaffa' a brilliant song and somewhat autobiographical. Again a tremendous video and a hit in Europe, the single wasn't even given a UK release.

The final single was the hauntingly beautiful  'Night of the Swallow' which only had a release in Ireland with no video clip. Why this wasn't the lead single on the album has always bern a surprise to me as it surely had the potential to be a massive hit, as could 'There goes a Tenner...'. Sadly lack of record company promotion and radio play left them to linger on the vine. These singles have become some of Kate's most collectable. 'Night of the Swallow' often sells for in excess of £100, 'There goes a Tenner...' and 'Suspended in Gaffa' well into double figures and a 12" promo of 'The Dreaming' recently sold on an auction site for £1500.

Although the singles failed to set the charts ablaze it was the rest of the album tracks that were truly impressive. The first side was dominated by 'Pull out the Pin'. This was the story of a Vietnamese soldier and their perspective of fighting against the American enemy. With it's haunting vocal and use of Fairlight and bass, this track is quite unlike any other of Bush's songs. 'I love life... so pull out the pin' is the prevalent lyric throught the song, it has some feeling of 'Army Dreamers' but is far superior in all ways.

The second side ends with the absolute show stoppers. Both completely unique in Bush's repertoire. 'Houdini' is the story of Houdini giving his wife the code 'Rosabelle believe' so if spirit was real she would know he existed beyond death and could convey this message to her via a sceance or medium.  This song is just so technically brilliant. Her growling vocal spanning 2 octaves in one song is truly impressive. During the recoring sessions, to perfect these vocals, including the rasping cry, she ate chocolate, drank milk and smoked as much of possible. Whether it is good or bad, it was certainly the key to fit her artistic lock. Bush will never equal this track and it must remain her most complex clever piece of music.

The album closes with a song about a possessed house wanting to remove it's tenanats. Loosly based on Stephen King's 'The Shining', 'Get out of my House' is a complex rythmic piece running over four odd minutes. A truly challenging vocal performence which Bush execute's perfectly. As the song and album draw to a close, it descend onto Kate and her band descending into donkey brays in time to thundering drums. This has to be the finest way ever to close an album.

'With a kiss, I pass the key...'