 Sinéad O'Connor This EP came out in 1997, about five years after Sinéad O'Connor dropped off my music-fan radar, though recently I've been theorizing that maybe she wasn't as dismissable as all that. Universal Mother seemed like a pretty slight album at the time, though when you look at it in terms of, say, Jewel or Lisa Loeb, it is a pretty solid outing. She hasn't done all that much since then … a couple of studio albums, a bunch of compilation appearances. Really, someone should compile all her non-album tracks, that would make a pretty amazing record. They missed the boat, it would have been great to do the best-of like the U2 singles collection, where the first pressing had a bonus disc of b-sides. As it is, Gospel Oak will be absolutely essential listening for Sinéad diehards, of somewhat marginal interest to the casual fan, and a bit of an annoyance to people like me in the middle. The EP contains two great songs: "This is to Mother You," which is one of her best, and should have been included on the best-of, and "This IS a Rebel Song," which is one of her deepest; both of these have really pretty melodies. The three tracks in between these two are kind of unmemorable, and a live version of the traditional "He Moved Through the Fair" is fine, but nothing like the live "Troy" or any of Sinéad's past glories. I must have gotten a limited edition pressing of this, because it came with a bonus disc that features a thirteen-and-a-half minute remix of "Fire on Babylon" which is pretty trancey. Pretty good, too, though it's annoying to have this on a separate disc. In fact, I'd much rather have all these tracks on one CD along with other Sinéad b-sides – hm, maybe I should make a CDR of that. I'm all about aesthetics, you know – a clunky 2-disc EP versus a "subversive" CDR? No question. Sinéad O'Connor will eventually be celebrated and understood outside of the context of her sometimes bizarre personal life. This EP is not the most essential thing I've ever stumbled across (and aside from Enoch Light's Gonna Fly Now I can't think of anything essential that I ever found in a bargain bin) but it's hardly cause to perpetuate the myth that Sinéad got irrelevant with the big-band album. I truly think she's consistently made excellent, uncompromising music, and in the end that's what's going to matter. It'll probably take years, but my pet late-80s ladies will get their props. Sinéad O'Connor and Edie Brickell, take your bows!
Review by Jimi Hend |