Review of Sinead O'Connor's "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got"

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990) is the second album from controversial Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor. Though she gained attention for defending the IRA, shaving her head and one shocking incident after another on a tour of America, it was mainly on the strength of her music that she and her work rocketed to fame.

This is a very interesting album to say the least. For instance it has a very religious feel to it. The opening track, 'Feel So Different' opens with the famous prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Then the closer, the title track, sounds exactly like a church hymn.

Added to this there are a number of songs which seem almost like elegies. 'Feel So Different' and 'Black Boys on Mopeds' would not sound out of place at a requiem what with the fact that they combine beautiful melodies with a solemn atmosphere.

Combined with this pious ambience is the realisation that this is a very personal album for O'Connor. Her songs, like the well-known Prince cover 'Nothing Compares 2 U' are almost painfully open and sincere. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the positive side it is captivating- as a listener- to realise that the music you are hearing is passionate and heartfelt and meaningful. This, though, leads to a potential negative. Because I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got basically sees O'Connor lure the listener into her (musical) world, if you don't like her earnestness and point of view it all seems so self-righteous and self-indulgent.

In the end it seems that O'Connor comes out somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. Some of the music is excellent. 'The Emperor's New Clothes', for example, is a fantastic piece of rock with some cool guitar work, while she covers 'Nothing Compares 2 U' very well. But some of the music is also poor. The title track- the church hymn- is appallingly boring and even the Pope would probably agree, while 'Jump in the River' has an edginess to it which doesn't quite work.

So I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is some parts good and some parts bad. For those who really 'get' what O'Connor is about and trying to say, then this record would seem almost like a religious experience. For the casual music fan, though, it is more difficult to ignore the musical faults that are, at time glaring, even if this is coupled with

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