Koch Records
2007
Theology
About This Album
Theology is an enigmatic double-disc collection of original recordings and covers. The songs on both discs are nearly identical, the difference is that on the versions Sinéad O'Connor recorded in Dublin she is accompanied solely by her own and Steve Cooney's acoustic guitars, and on the latter set, recorded in London, she was backed by a rotating band full of studio musicians who include everyone from bassist Robbie Shakespeare and drummer Matthew Phillips, to pianist Toby Baker, guitarist Mark Gilmour, and strings. The sheer minimal approach of the Dublin set carries within it a kind of authority, in her own elegant yet poignant tunes such as "Something Beautiful," "Out of the Depths," the tender "Dark I Am Yet Lovely," the minimal waltz that is "If You Had a Vineyard," and the nearly whispered "Whomsoever Dwells," (a kind of title track for her rarities, B-sides and live collection of the same name in 2003 called She Who Dwells...), and a truly moving reading of "By the Rivers of Babylon." The London Sessions are no less eerie, but they are, in essence, different songs when filled out by a larger group of players. Here, "Something Beautiful," with its strings and slippery drum kit, is nearly a processional.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,2,3,6 and 9)

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