I briefly interrupt our current place in the Sinéad O'Connor discography journey to interject a completely random, unrelated-to-this-era video that I thought might interest the crowd! I'm assuming this was recorded during Lilith Fair 1998 while O'Connor was on the bill. Personally, I've always found Angel to be a bit of a dirge-like slog to get through (not to mention it's hysterical how people take a song about heroin addiction and use it for weddings, funerals, etc.), and the quality's not amazing, but it's interesting to hear their two voices together. Sarah McLachlan & Sinéad O'Connor: Angel (live)
Today's song is "Regina Caeli", a traditional song arranged by Sinéad O'Connor, and produced by Sinéad O'Connor. It is the first song in the video below, a cappella, and is only 1.03 minutes long. Sinéad, under the name Sister Marie-Bernadette O'Connor, would release another version of Regina Caeli in 2004 on a Christmas album called Biscantorat: The Sound of Glenstal Abbey. I'm going ot hold that song and others from that album up around Christmas 2022. Line Up: Sinéad O'Connor: vocal Regina caeli, laetare, Alleluia, Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia Quia quem meruisti portare, Alleluia, Because He whom you were worthy to bear, Alleluia, Resurrexit, sicut dixit, Alleluia, Has risen, just as He said, Alleluia, Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluia. Pray to God for us, Alleluia.
"Regina Caeli" is a good opener for an album like this, and functions well as an opening prayer to "The Queen of Heaven", i.e., Mary, or perhaps, in Sinéad's rather neo-pagan mind in the early '00s, The Goddess. By itself, here, it's not all that interesting, but it does lead very nicely into the second song, which is beautiful. 2.7/5
Collated ratings for Sean-Nós Nua Peggy Gordon 4.268 Her Mantle So Green 3.908 Lord Franklin 4.325 The Singing Bird 4.14 Óró, Sé Do Bheatha 'Bhaile 4.512 Molly Malone 3.706 Paddy's Lament 4.26 The Moorlough Shore 4.3648 The Parting Glass 4.16 Báidiín Fheilimi 2.95 My Lagan Love 4.3875 Lord Baker 2.6085 I'll Tell Me Ma 3.37 Sean-Nos Nua 3.874 Average by song: 3.92 In Marble Halls [Japanese bonus Track] 4.4875 Spanish Lady 4.37 I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls [duet] 2.5167 What Your Soul Sings 4.5583 Special Cases 4.2 Prayer For England 4.228 Simple Heart 3.08 One More Day 3.068 The Funeral 3.14
Regina Caeli Not really much to react to - I can see its worth as an intro to the album and I'm glad it's brief. The soft vocal is nice and appropriate for the material; as usual I don't love the wavering on notes. 2/5
Today's song is "O Fillii et Filae", written by Jean Tesserand; arranged by Simon Sleeman. produced by Sinéad O'Connor, Adrian Sherwood & Skip MacDonald. Sinead O'Connor - O Filii Et Filiae Lyrics | AZLyrics.com Given the producers, this is likely either an outtake from Faith And Courage or Sean-Nos Nua. The translation of the Latin lyrics are: Brothers and sisters, The heavenly king, the king of glory, Today submitted to death. Alleluia. On this holiest celebration day, Let there be praise and jubiliation. We pray to the Lord. Alleluia. For these things, the humblest Devotions and deserved Thanks let us give to God. Alleluia.
O Filii Et Filiae Much better - the production and simple percussion make this more interesting. Devotionals are not my thing (shocking, I know), but between the instrumentation and Latin language, this is quite enjoyable. 3/5
I think this is gorgeous and it is one of my favorite songs by Sinéad. What a gorgeous melody. This is better than most of what had been on her previous two albums and would have graced either, though might not have fit on Sean-Nós Nua. 5/5
Today's song is "My Love I Bring", written by Pablo Moses and produced by Sinéad O'Connor, Adrian Sherwood and Skip MacDonald. Sinead O'Connor - My Love I Bring Lyrics | AZLyrics.com "My Love I Bring" is a reggae remake of a song by roots reggae artists Pablo Moses This was initially released on the Various Artists compilation album Chainstore Massacre in November, 2002. The version from She Who Dwells In The Place Most High Shall Abide Under The Shadow Of The Almighty is a slightly longer edit/version. Probably an outtake from either Sean-Nós Nua or Faith And Courage.
This is a beautiful cover (but my god, the sound). Very sad, and I like the groove and instrumentation. Only quibble is the Tupperware-sound of the drum, which is a thing which happens when something is ultra-compressed. This is not the first time I've mentioned this, nor will it be the last. But she sells the intense melancholy in this song well and other than the drum sound, and the general sound, I adore it. 4.5/5
My Love I Bring - this is great, I think that youtube version sounds particularly bad but even the album version is a bit rough. It sounds like it never got a proper polish in the mix because they had decided it wasn't going to be used. The whistles/flutes work well with the reggae.
My Love I Bring I love the loping reggae beat and Sinéad sounds great here. I think she does a much better job singing it than Pablo Moses in the original (see link below). She definite makes me sit up and pay attention to the words, rather than just get lost in the groove, which is what I often do when I listen to reggae music. The original is probably better, musically, but Sinéad did a very good job producing this. 4.25/5 Original by Pablo Moses:
My Love I Bring Reggae's never exactly been top of my list of musical genres (I'm going to struggle with Throw Down Your Arms, too!), but this is fairly enjoyable, if repetitive. 2.5/5
Getting behind the times here… Regina Caeli — neutral, 2.5/5 O Fillii et Filae — well, might enjoy a very different production more. 3.461/5 My Love I Bring — I expect I would prefer more organic sound like on original I Love I Bring. Big lift over last couple though. 4.2/5
