(The Sinead O Connor version that is - do talk about any others if you like. The Prince version on that 2CD Hits thing he did was ghastly.)
― Tom, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Carry on!
What this 'despite everything'? What has she done? And why should it affect how you listen to the track (I know that it should but if something is really good then it can really be forgotten about).
― Julio desouza, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― minna, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jack Cole, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Andrew, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Melissa W, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Rosie: I WENT TO THE DOCTOR, Prince: what'd he say? Rosie: AND GUESS WHAT HE TOLD ME!!! Prince: I'm listenin' Rosie: GUESS WHAT HE TOLD ME!!!
― al, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dare, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― PJ Miller, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
I also like her version of 'Don't Cry For Me Agentina' - in fact, that whole covers alb is wonderful. She's a great singer of other ppl's songs (her own tunes usually leave me cold...)
― Andrew L, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jeff W, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― J Blount, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Sorry crap joke, I remember being too young to get this record when it came out but old enough to actually hear it alot. I think now I might see it differently if I heard it for the first time somehow.
― Ronan, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Queen I never had sexual relations with that BildeberG, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― David, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
I think I'd rank "Manic Monday" in there, too.
Sinead certainly has loads of unpleasant baggage that is largely extraneous to her music, mostly from her silly and feckless grandstanding. Nor have I really cared one way or another what she's done musically for the past decade or so.
But damn if her "Nothing Compares" isn't a great song.
― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― DeRayMi, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tom, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
it's odd that someone refers to o'connor's interpretation as "overblown." it would have to be overblown in some conceptual sense, as in, its overblown or ostentatious austerity. i can see how the video would contribute to this impression.
but really it's a remarkably austere and restrained performance, especially by o'connor's standards and also by the standards of pop ballads in general. i think it's devastating.
also, ca. 1990 o'connor looks a bit like winona ryder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUiTQvT0W_0
― amateurist, Saturday, 8 August 2009 08:04 (fourteen years ago) link
The Family's version is better.
― EZ Snappin, Saturday, 8 August 2009 14:06 (fourteen years ago) link
sweet tune
― ice cr?m, Saturday, 8 August 2009 14:08 (fourteen years ago) link
I prefer Dan Kelly & The Ukeladies tropical version:
http://www.last.fm/music/Dan+Kelly/_/Nothing+Compares+2+U
Might seem a bit spare to those fans of the overwrought.
― Craicwhore (craicwhore), Sunday, 9 August 2009 00:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Dan Kelly looks like Tim Robbins which is good in my book but his music kind of reminds me of Jack Johnson or something that could fit on that soundtrack for that awful Adam Sandler movie where he works at an aquarium.
― Moka, Sunday, 9 August 2009 01:41 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm yet to hear a version of this song that I really like. It's a shame because it's a really good melody but every single version I've heard of it fucks up either with really cheesy arrangements or a schmaltzy vocal delivery.
― Moka, Sunday, 9 August 2009 01:49 (fourteen years ago) link
I think it's funny that the original poster speaks of the Prince version as if he was some passerby who heard Sinead's version and wrote a low-key cover of it for a Greatest Hits collection, and not someone that, you know, wrote and ORIGINALLY performed the song....
― Cyberdune Butt (Elvin Wayburn Phillips), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, but she stole it from him. It'll always be her song. Same way "Respect" is Aretha Franklin's song.
― Mark, Monday, 10 August 2009 00:39 (fourteen years ago) link
in that it's associated with her more primarily than him, yes. better, no.
― Cyberdune Butt (Elvin Wayburn Phillips), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Sinead's version is glorious. kthxbai
― Turangalila, Monday, 10 August 2009 00:47 (fourteen years ago) link
^^
i performed it once. i even tried to hit the high note. my boyfriend says people thought it was so pretty.
― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Awwwww :D
― Turangalila, Monday, 10 August 2009 00:49 (fourteen years ago) link
her version is fine...not arguing that. just amused by the initial post from a gazillion years ago
― Cyberdune Butt (Elvin Wayburn Phillips), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:52 (fourteen years ago) link
1) it's more than "fine"
2) whoever wrote it/originally recorded it shouldn't dictate how good it is, right?
― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:53 (fourteen years ago) link
1. "fine" was the word I chose to explain that I wasn't knocking Sinead's version
2. no, i was making fun of the fact that the original poster didn't seem to know that Prince actually wrote the song and knocked him as if he ripped it off of her.
― Cyberdune Butt (Elvin Wayburn Phillips), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:55 (fourteen years ago) link
he just said he didn't like the prince version. that doesn't mean he didn't know he wrote it. i think everyone knows that. doesn't mean you have to like it!
― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:57 (fourteen years ago) link
sorry i'm being slightly argumentative. carry on. prince is cool.
― I love rainbow cookies (surm), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:59 (fourteen years ago) link
The two versions are different enough to almost be considered separate songs; I sort of don't see a point in (wait for it...) COMPARING them.
― I am over wieght and I have angelical quilities (HI DERE), Monday, 10 August 2009 14:27 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm still slightly surprised there are ppl on this board who don't recognise a t0m 3wing post o:
― thomp, Monday, 10 August 2009 15:00 (fourteen years ago) link
princes version is terrible. i wish he would stop performing it live too.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 10 August 2009 16:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm a huge Prince fan but to me it's still obvious that Sinead's version beats both the original Family version (which suffers from Paul Peterson's bland imitation-of-Prince vocals) and Prince's later cover (which lack the emotional austerity of Sinead's version, though like Al said upthread, Rosie Gaines does fine job on it) 5 to 1.
― Tuomas, Monday, 10 August 2009 17:51 (fourteen years ago) link
rosie gaines overpowers it. its not really a song really benefits from a big soul vocal or the npg sounding like a gospel covers band at a restaurant on a sunday afternoon.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 10 August 2009 17:55 (fourteen years ago) link
is there a prince version that isn't the live one?
― Crackle Box, Monday, 10 August 2009 17:58 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't think so.
― Tuomas, Monday, 10 August 2009 18:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Just got a copy of this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/The_Family_LP.jpg
Decent record. Sounds like what it is: Prince outtakes and B-sides. But it was 1984/85, and Prince's outtakes/B-sides were on a pretty high level during those years.
No one will ever touch Sinead on this song, though.
― Mark, Saturday, 26 February 2011 04:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Attn songwriters: this is how you write a verse
All the flowers that u planted, mama, in the back yardAll died when u went awayI know that living with u baby was sometimes hardBut I'm willing to give it another try
― Mark, Saturday, 26 February 2011 04:36 (thirteen years ago) link
The Prince version is good. They're both good, and very different of course.
― historyyy (prettylikealaindelon), Sunday, 27 February 2011 13:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Seems only Britishers (or Anglophiles) think that the Sinead version is better than the Prince live version.
― A Scanner Snarkly (Steve Shasta), Sunday, 27 February 2011 16:02 (thirteen years ago) link
it was a big thing in "britain"*. i do prefer it.
*i am from scotland and of latin american extraction and do not identify as british. tho aye a a brit cunt tbh.
― À la recherche du temps Pardew (jim in glasgow), Sunday, 27 February 2011 16:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Speaking about her relationship with Prince in an interview with Norwegian station NRK in November 2014 O'Connor said, "I did meet him a couple of times. We didn't get on at all. In fact, we had a punch-up." She continued: "He summoned me to his house after 'Nothing Compares 2 U.' I made it without him. I'd never met him. He summoned me to his house—and it's foolish to do this to an Irish woman—he said he didn't like me saying bad words in interviews. So I told him to fuck off." O'Connor said: "He got quite violent. I had to escape out of his house at five in the morning. He packed a bigger punch than mine."
― ejemplo (crüt), Monday, 25 April 2016 13:47 (seven years ago) link
wow. that's pretty crazy !
― AlXTC from Paris, Monday, 25 April 2016 13:50 (seven years ago) link
Jesus
― Treeship, Monday, 25 April 2016 15:38 (seven years ago) link
i want to do this song at karaoke
― Treeship, Monday, 25 April 2016 15:40 (seven years ago) link
Any song where you can seriously belt it out is perfect for karaoke
except that when you're drunk (which is condition sine qua non for me to do karaoke), you're pretty sure to miss all the high notes !
― AlXTC from Paris, Monday, 25 April 2016 15:43 (seven years ago) link
Lol no one could even approach the original though. Almost takes the pressure off.
― Treeship, Monday, 25 April 2016 15:46 (seven years ago) link
you could make up for the bum notes by crying by the end of the song !
― AlXTC from Paris, Monday, 25 April 2016 15:48 (seven years ago) link
Nothing Compares to Sinead
― Treeship, Monday, 25 April 2016 15:49 (seven years ago) link
Lol yeah. I'm sure my rendition will affect me powerfully, regardless of what the crowd would make of it
― Treeship, Monday, 25 April 2016 15:50 (seven years ago) link
I was always curious about Sinead came by that song - was she really one of the 200 people that bought that album by the Family
― Οὖτις, Monday, 25 April 2016 15:56 (seven years ago) link
good question ! I found this "It was Sinéad O'Connor's manager, Fachtna O'Kelly, who came up with the idea for the Irish singer to cover the Prince song."
― AlXTC from Paris, Monday, 25 April 2016 16:03 (seven years ago) link
I briefly considered this for karaoke on Saturday night, only because I had been refusing to attempt Prince for months, because how could I even presume, so I was thinking Manic Monday or this, which is still tough but I remember getting compliments for my diva-like performance of it in 1991(!) at my 12th birthday party (yeah, the oldest I got compliments for that sort of behaviour), but I don't have that range anymore so I chickened out. I said I'd do Poplife but it wasn't on there, I got roped into backing vocals on Purple Rain, didn't do myself too proud really.
― Jonathan Hellion Mumble, Monday, 25 April 2016 20:51 (seven years ago) link
there's been very little "here's the shitty stuff Prince did" since his death; wondering when that will start to slip out. the only negative story I could remember (aside from him maybe personally being a dick to people) was that violent story Sinead recalled. Wonder what the story behind that is.
― akm, Monday, 25 April 2016 21:13 (seven years ago) link
it's a weird story
― Treeship, Monday, 25 April 2016 22:06 (seven years ago) link
it's probably true though, idk. i can't imagine those two would ever get along.
― Treeship, Monday, 25 April 2016 22:18 (seven years ago) link
so the version on the hits cd kinda sucks yah but if you saw p perform this in the 2014/2015 tour (he sang it all himself with mellotron backing) then that would be your choice version trust me. fuck it maybe ill put up a version on youtube.
― kurt schwitterz, Monday, 25 April 2016 23:37 (seven years ago) link
he sang this at the piano last month when I saw him and it was great. he's fully capable of doing great versions of the song, it's too bad he never officially recorded one.
― akm, Monday, 25 April 2016 23:47 (seven years ago) link
― akm, Monday, April 25, 2016 5:13 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
once the details of his speed & opiate addiction start to appear i'm sure there will be all sorts of tell-alls. Surprised that this interview with his alleged dealer hasn't been posted in any thread yet: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html
― flappy bird, Monday, 25 April 2016 23:47 (seven years ago) link
sinead o'connor is (like prince himself) a bit of a loon and a fabulist, so i'm not sure we should take her story at face value.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Tuesday, 26 April 2016 02:05 (seven years ago) link
Over the last few days I've been positively haunted by this song. At the time in 1990, I had a hard time engaging with it ... the song and video were absolutely everywhere, the beat was strident and a bit plodding, and it was generally difficult to see past the cult of personality around Sinead. But 26 years (gah) later, this sounds to me like an absolute gem of a gospel tune -- and is just wrenching in the wake of Prince's death and what increasingly sounds like a lonely existence.
That said, before I go and call this one of Prince's best songs, I actually wonder a bit how much of the credit for her version should go to him. The lyrics are amazing and the verses are undeniably beautiful in all the versions of the song. But the chorus on the Family original (and the live version w Rosie Gaines) is an unlistenable train wreck -- the chords are totally different and oddly mismatched with the melody. It makes me wonder what Sinead or Nellee Hooper (the original producer before he and Sinead got into a row) saw in the tune in the first place.
Have they ever said anything about it?
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 12 May 2016 13:24 (seven years ago) link
I assume this is one of the songs which was inspired by his love for Susannah melvoin
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 12 May 2016 13:32 (seven years ago) link
Still never heard the family album. It's hard to search for in the downloadosphere
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 12 May 2016 13:33 (seven years ago) link
xpost All very good questions! I'm not sure I've ever read, or remember reading, how this obscure Prince song made its way to a (relatively) obscure Irish singer.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 May 2016 13:35 (seven years ago) link
I don't understand what people are hearing that would make them say the version with Rosie Gaines is an unlistenable train wreck
― i like to trump and i am crazy (DJP), Thursday, 12 May 2016 13:55 (seven years ago) link
weird hearing the family do this song recently as a tribute while sticking to the original arrangement so faithfully. the reason their version never went anywhere, apart from the aspirationally overwrought vocal, was because it has that stupid 'oh oh ohhh ohhh ohh' part after every few lines (how did that make the final edit?). it has the same problems as the prince/gaines duet, though that was somehow even worse, as it had unnecessary NPG bombast on top of the stupid hammy melodramatics of the family version.
― StillAdvance, Thursday, 12 May 2016 14:02 (seven years ago) link
its actually kind of amazing that anyone would hear that song in the late 80s and think 'i know what this song needs' (or rather, i know what this song definitely does NOT need)
― StillAdvance, Thursday, 12 May 2016 14:03 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZlzN0Gtpp8
In the Gaines version (not sure if it's on YouTube), the chorus comes at 1:34 -- it's less that it's jarring and more that the chords are again different (different than the Family version, actually) and chorus doesn't really land.
So I guess the question is: who re-wrote the chorus for Sinead's version?
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 12 May 2016 14:12 (seven years ago) link
I can't stand the Rosie version.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 May 2016 14:15 (seven years ago) link
Not big jazz fans you two, I'd guess?
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 12 May 2016 15:27 (seven years ago) link
also, prince and rosie singing this as a DUET doesnt work. its a song thats meant to be solitary. not two lovers singing back to each other, like endless love or something.
― StillAdvance, Thursday, 12 May 2016 15:41 (seven years ago) link
That. Like the Dixie Chicks doing Landslide as a harmonizing trio. Plus, love jazz, just think Rosie version is kind of generic and cheesy, both the production and the performance, but Sinead gets at something deeper, perhaps due to the austerity of the production/arrangement?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 May 2016 15:42 (seven years ago) link
My snark was directed more at NTI, who seemed upset at chord substitution.
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 12 May 2016 16:08 (seven years ago) link
I don't think he was upset. He's just saying that it doesn't sound good and he's really right. I could honestly hear the Family version working with different instrumentation or a different mix or something though.
― how's life, Thursday, 12 May 2016 16:28 (seven years ago) link
Family version would work better with a stronger and more distinctive vocalist. Clare Fischer's string arrangement is still sublime. Altho Sinead's version is still definitive, I think the recorded Family version would likely work with an impassioned vocal. There must be a demo/guide vocal version in the vault.
― vmajestic, Thursday, 12 May 2016 16:50 (seven years ago) link
Impassioned Prince vocal, that is.
― vmajestic, Thursday, 12 May 2016 16:51 (seven years ago) link
impassioned, sure, but its not a song that benefits from a big fire and desire-type soul vocal IMO
― StillAdvance, Thursday, 12 May 2016 16:59 (seven years ago) link
Here's an interesting article about the recording of Sinead's version.
― Vast Halo, Thursday, 12 May 2016 17:41 (seven years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 12 May 2016 17:59 (seven years ago) link
Wrong.
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 12 May 2016 20:29 (seven years ago) link
Not really interested in getting into a debate over jazz theory here but suffice it to say that since the tune in the chorus on the Family version is also completely different than Sinead's there must be "melody subs" as well.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 13 May 2016 12:40 (seven years ago) link
Ok, I can't help myself. Those aren't substitutions. They're different chords. The chorus of the Family version resolves on the I chord. The Sinead version resolves on the V.
And yes, it sounds terrible in the former.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 13 May 2016 23:35 (seven years ago) link
Sound on Sound is a treasure.
― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Saturday, 14 May 2016 00:23 (seven years ago) link
Agreed
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 14 May 2016 00:36 (seven years ago) link
ex-post: I never debate with dude who have broken ears, but you do have my sympathy.
― Three Word Username, Saturday, 14 May 2016 16:22 (seven years ago) link
good to know
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 18 May 2016 13:46 (seven years ago) link
Dixie Chicks cover is pretty faithful to the Sinead version.
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 May 2016 22:13 (seven years ago) link
Tons of other covers of this song floating around out there.
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 May 2016 22:28 (seven years ago) link
The one by Taylor Dane is not bad and also features an amusing if a wee bit hard to follow story about getting invited to and performing at a Prince aftershow.
― Son of Shaftway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 May 2016 23:21 (seven years ago) link
This may leave you cold or you might find it a wee bit moving:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt1YhpQb8go
― Why You Wanna Treeship Borad? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 29 May 2016 23:32 (seven years ago) link