Sinead O' Connor - Theology

Sinead O’ Connor’s latest offering appears in two CDs. The first CD, ‘The Dublin Sessions’, is somewhat hard to swallow as it basically consists of a set of acoustic demos, which come over very religious and holy in their truths. ‘Something Beautiful’ sounds almost medieval, with its soft acoustic guitar and Sinead’s vocal which has a gospel tone. ‘We People Who are Darker Than Blue’ is in a similar style and as fragile as a Nick Drake track. ‘Out of the Depths’ is happier in tone, a song about religion. ‘Dark, Yet I am Lovely’ is again fragile with minimal backing and had another strong religious theme. ‘If You Had a Vineyard’ is graceful in sound, reminiscent of Beth Orton or Suzanne Vega and like an acoustic hymn. “Watcher of Men’ is a song about being born and then being rejected, while ‘At Birth’, which is very short and to the point, is a song about being an outsider. ‘33’, which is another short number, features a picked guitar and is a song about jah. ‘The Glory of Jah’ again features a picked guitar and is like a hymn. ‘Whomsoever Dwells’ sounds like a political Michelle Shocked number, very softly sang and softly played, while “Rivers of Babylon’ is a religious reading of the old spiritual song made famous by Boney M. After this there is an uncredited secret track, which has no backing instruments and is sung through distortion effects. The second CD, “The London Lessons’ , gives most of these tracks proper arrangements.. ‘Something Beautiful’ has a violin intro and, using a band, is much fuller in sound, giving the track a much richer atmosphere. and more room to breathe. “We People Who are Darker Than Blue’ has electronic backing. The vocal has more depth, and it sounds like the Style Council. with its sexy synth drums, keyboards and lead guitar and a choir at the end. The instruments on ‘Out of the Depths’ are placed under the vocal which is the main instrument here, while ‘33’ has a mixed vibe, somewhere between an oriental sound and a Cajun party tune. ‘Dark, Yet I 'am Lovely’ is acoustic and moody sounding like a Yoko Ono track. while ‘I Don't Know How to Love Him’ is hymnal. ‘If You Had a Vineyard’ is once more strummed and sounds again like a slow hymn. ‘The Glory of Jah’ has a firm solid groove, while ‘Watcher of Men’ has a dark and sinister sound. The drum work on ‘Whomever Dwells’ recalls the Smiths’ 'Reel Around the Fountain' (Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce were Sinead’s backing band on her first album, ‘The Lion and the Cobra’), while cellos on it are as dark as Joy Division and are backed by sad Tindersticks-like violins. ‘Rivers of Babylon’ meanwhile is again given a fine and jolly reading

Track Listing:-

1 Something Beautiful
2 We People Who Are Darker Than Blue
3 Out Of The Depths
4 Dark I Am Yet Lovely
5 If You Had A Vineyard
6 Watcher Of Men
7 33
8 The Glory Of Jah
9 Whomsoever Dwells
10 Rivers Of Babylon
11 Hosanna Filio David
12 Bonus Interview
13 Something Beautiful
14 We People Who Are Darker Than Blue
15 Out Of The Depths
16 33
17 Dark I Am Yet Lovely
18 I Don't Know How To Love Him
19 If You Had A Vineyard
20 The Glory Of Jah
21 Watcher Of Men
22 Whomsoever Dwells
23 Rivers Of Babylon
24 Bonus Interview