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Melville House, Kristin Hersh: Sinéad o'Connor : the Last Interview (2024, Melville House Publishing) 4 stars

A significant collection of interviews with the defiant, controversial, and ground-breaking singer, songwriter, and activist …

35 Years of Interviews showcasing a talented, torchered artist

4 stars

9 transcribed interviews, 10 if you include the Intro between Kristin Hersh and Sinead O'Connor, that span 1986 through 2021. Can be a quick read if one has a couple hours, or easily digested over a few days. One or two of the interviews are quite lengthy and involved. Most of them feel whole.

As you read them, you can feel the mood of Sinead - at times and especially earlier there is a lot of angst and energy. The Spin and View interviews appear to be very lucid. It's obvious she was a talented and tortured soul, and it's visible through these interviews. As a young adult when she broke into the music business, I saw the manufactured side of her persona. These interviews show what she was dealing with, sometimes with her demons.

As Ms. Hersh closes her intro: "So where is the beauty? In all of it: in the pain, the joy, the mess, the person, and her music."