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Contemporary versions of old Irish folk songs are like new versions of the Holy Scriptures; you are always going to offend those who believe themselves to be purists. And after you dismiss that group as dismissible there is still the more genuine challenge; can you make new without losing the power of the old. Sinead O’Connor’s new album title which is literally translated “old style, new” seems like a contradiction. But of course contradictions could be Miss O’Connor’s middle name and if any voice can succeed in such an attempt it is she. Sinead of course has been recording old Irish songs for years, her versions of "Danny Boy" with Davy Spillane and "She Moves Through the Fair" with The Chieftains being particularly stunning. Her connections with Afro Celt System and their singer Iarla Ó Lionáird were also more than successful and a live version of "The Singing Bird" that appears here first saw light of day on Ó Lionáird’s album I Could Write The Sky.

So we know O’Connor can do it and as much as she wanted to do it we should have been prepared for it. And of course it works. That voice is so perfect and the Irish brogue that has always under girded it has never been any more at home. For some there might be too concentrated an amount of the old Irish but she has succeeded in making these songs sit in a contemporary musical landscape much as Bono has been hailing Eugene Peterson’s contemporary version of the Bible ­ The Message. She succeeds by being under extravagant in arrangements and though bedded in the use of the traditional instruments making it neither fiddly-dee nor some malformed new style ­ sean-nos nua, if you like! There will be detractors of course but ignore them and enjoy.

It would actually have been great and perfect for "Danny Boy" to have appeared here. On first listen the better known ones like "My Lagan Love" and "Molly Malone" which she has stolen back from Rugby fans to give it a new dignity and respect are the most satisfying but on further listens, maybe particularly if you are Irish, you find yourself becoming wonderfully educated in a wonderful heritage of songs of love and war and adventure going back over centuries.

If you think that you will be able to sit back and enjoy the voice and the songs and not have to deal with contemporary issues or Ms O’Connor’s own issues then you can think again. The album booklet, behind a rather garish cover, gives not only lyrics and translations of the two Irish language songs but also Sinead’s own commentary. "Peggy Gordon" becomes a celebration of homosexual love and that is really making the old style Ireland new. The “God-sent miracle” of the new “born again and something more joyous” Ireland becomes the point of "Her Mantle So Green," originally a b-side to "No Man’s Woman." "Paddy’s Lament" is described as the best “antiwar song ever made” and becomes particularly poignant and will have her thrown into Steve Earle’s den of lions with its’ “To the devil I would say, ‘God curse America/For in truth I’ve had enough of her hard fighting.”

Religious readings of the songs is also to the fore, following O’Connor’s ordination as a Priest in a rebel Catholic order. Recent press to promote the album has been giving accounts of her awareness of the Holy Spirit in her life from a very young age. In a personal introduction to the album she writes about all the songs being prayers and that songs are healing. She suggests that the listener try to “hear beyond the words and feel Jah at work in your heart through a song in your soul.” "Lord Baker" a ten minute duet with Christy Moore, whose voice is an added` bonus and as the king of contemporary Irish folk music gives a place of context, is perceived as a Song of Solomon type thing ­ “underneath the subtext tells the relationship between God and mankind.” "The Singing Bird" is seen as a prayer and goes on to say “it also acknowledges that prayers given in praise of Jah, bring a sense of connection with The Most High, love, peace and utter joy into one’s heart.” Her use of Jah may not make the reference any less Christian but it reflects her recent comments to rock journalist Sean O’Hagan where she said, “I consider myself more a Rasta than a Catholic.” Just when you think she has landed!

This is genuine article Celtic music as opposed to what Enya and even worse American singers who’ve never set foot in Ireland are making big bucks out of. It has all the ethereal qualities of the big productions but is more rooted and authentic in transporting songs a couple of centuries forward. And beyond the music it has all the intrigue of Sinead O’Connor. It would not be the same without her!
   
Steve Stockman