Faith and Courage

Faith and Courage is the fifth studio album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released on 13 June 2000, by Atlantic Records. It was O'Connor's first release in three years, her previous album being the greatest hits package So Far... The Best of Sinéad O'Connor in 1997, plus it was her first studio album in six years.

Faith and Courage
Studio album by
Sinéad O'Connor
Released13 June 2000
Recorded1999-2000
Genre
LabelAtlantic
Producer
Sinéad O'Connor chronology
So Far... The Best Of
(1997)		 Faith and Courage
(2000)		 Sean-Nós Nua
(2002)
Singles from Faith and Courage
  1. "No Man's Woman"
    Released: 21 April 2000[1]
  2. "Jealous"
    Released: 31 October 2000

O'Connor composed a majority of the tracks on Faith and Courage and production duties were shared by a variety of artists including Wyclef Jean, David A. Stewart, Brian Eno, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Anne Preven and Scott Cutler among others.

Background

In 1998, Sinéad O'Connor left label Ensign Records and signed with Atlantic Records, but her album was delayed due to her personal struggles, including the birth of her daughter, an alleged suicide attempt, a bitter custody battle and becoming a priestess in a religious order.[2][3] O'Connor described Faith and Courage, her first album with Atlantic, as a record about "survival" which depicted her own troubled "journey" as she bared her soul on a series of autobiographical and often cathartic songs. "It's exciting and a little scary to be back. I wanted to make a record which was strong and positive. It's about getting my spirit back on its feet and standing up", she said.[2]

Andy Murray, marketing director of Warner Music Europe, commented: "It's the right time for her to break her silence. [...] and everybody seems to think it's her best album since her first record. The marketing campaign is about reminding people who she is. But actually, despite the long gap, nobody seems to need reminding. There's a real excitement around the record, which has surprised a lot of people".[2]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(64/100)[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[5]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[6]
LA Weekly(mixed)[7]
NME(5/10)[8]
Pitchfork(3.8/10)[9]
Robert Christgau[10]
Rolling Stone[11]
Slant Magazine[12]
Spin(3/10)[4]
Wall of Sound(84/100)[13]

Faith and Courage received positive reviews from music critics, including the best ones she had received in years.[2] Irish Hot Press magazine suggested that the album was O'Connor's equivalent of Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks (1975).[2]

It was placed on Slant Magazine's list of best albums of the 2000s at number 99.[14]

Chart performance

The album was certified gold (35,000 Copies) in Australia in 2000.[15] As of 2014, sales in the United States have exceeded 219,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[16]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."The Healing Room"O'ConnorSherwood, McDonald5:35
2."No Man's Woman"O'Connor, Scott Cutler, Anne PrevenCutler, Preven3:00
3."Jealous"O'Connor, David A. StewartStewart4:18
4."Dancing Lessons"O'Connor, Wyclef Jean, Jerry Duplessis, Blandinna Melky Jean, Jimmy CozierJean, Duplessis4:17
5."Daddy I'm Fine"O'Connor, StewartStewart2:58
6."'Til I Whisper U Something"O'Connor, StewartStewart6:08
7."Hold Back the Night"Robert HodgensStewart4:11
8."What Doesn't Belong To Me"O'ConnorSherwood, McDonald5:37
9."The State I'm In"Cutler, PrevenCutler, Preven4:10
10."The Lamb's Book of Life"O'Connor, Kevin "She'kspere" BriggsBriggs4:56
11."If U Ever"O'ConnorSherwood, McDonald4:24
12."Emma's Song"O'ConnorEno, Reynolds3:20
13."Kyrié Eléison"Traditional, arranged by O'Connor, Adrian Sherwood, Skip McDonald, Alan BranchSherwood, McDonald2:45

Charts
Chart (2000) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[17] 18
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[18] 21
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 20
European Albums (Music & Media)[20] 24
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[21] 46
French Albums (SNEP)[22] 27
Irish Albums (IRMA)[23] 8
Italian Albums (FIMI)[24] 25
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[25] 33
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[26] 38
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[27] 59
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[28] 19
UK Albums (OCC)[29] 61
US Billboard 200[30] 55
US Top Internet Albums (Billboard)[31] 8

Personnel
  • Sinéad O'Connor - vocals, backing vocals
  • Skip McDonald - guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
  • Carlton "Bubblers" Ogilvie - bass guitar, piano
  • Professor Stretch - programming, keyboards
  • Rusty Anderson, Derek Scott, David A. Stewart, Scott Cutler - guitar
  • Paul Bushnell, Jah Wobble - bass guitar
  • Scot Coogan, Lil John, Chris Sharrock, John Reynolds - drums
  • Jeff Turzo, Simon Mundey, Mark Price, Andy Wright - programming
  • David Campbell - strings arrangement, viola
  • Joel Derouin - violin
  • Larry Corbet - cello
  • Kieran Kiely - whistle
  • Caroline Dale - strings
  • Blandinna Melky Jean - additional vocals on track 4
  • Chucho Merchan - additional bass guitar on track 6
  • Little Roy - backing vocals on track 6
  • Zac Rae, David Levita - keyboards
  • Anne Preven - backing vocals on track 9
  • Karren Berz - orchestral arrangement
  • Bonjo I Abinghi Noah - percussion
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References
  1. "Billboard". April 2000.
  2. Williamson, Nigel (17 June 2000). "Sinead's journey of survival" (PDF). Music & Media. 17 (25): 1–21. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  3. http://www.mtv.com/news/1432773/sinead-oconnor-brings-faith-and-courage/
  4. "Critic reviews at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  5. Allmusic review
  6. Will Hermes (2000-06-16). "Entertainment Weekly review". Ew.com. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  7. "LA Weekly review". Archived from the original on August 24, 2000. Retrieved 2013-01-03.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  8. "NME review". Nme.com. 2000-07-13. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  9. "Pitchfork Media review". Pitchfork.com. 2000-07-31. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  10. Christgau, Robert. "CG: Sinéad O'Connor". Robert Christgau.
  11. Barry Walters (2000-06-22). "Rolling Stone review". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  12. "Slant Magazine review". Slantmagazine.com. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  13. "Wall of Sound review". Archived from the original on July 11, 2000. Retrieved 2013-01-03.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  14. Cinquemani, Sal. "Best of the Aughts: Albums". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  15. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  16. http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6214061/billboard-cover-sinead-oconnor-on-having-no-regrets-being-irregular-and
  17. "Australiancharts.com – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  18. "Austriancharts.at – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  19. "Ultratop.be – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  20. https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Music-and-Media/00s/2000/MM-2000-07-01.pdf
  21. "Dutchcharts.nl – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  22. "Lescharts.com – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  23. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 24, 2000". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  24. "Italiancharts.com – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  25. "Charts.nz – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  26. "Norwegiancharts.com – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  27. "Swedishcharts.com – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  28. "Swisscharts.com – Sinéad O'Connor – Faith and Courage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  29. "Sinéad O'Connor | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  30. "Sinead OConnor Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  31. "Billboard". July 2000.
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