The Jerusalem Post
June 27, 2000

Sinead O'Connor shows faith and courage

David Brinn

Sinead O'Connor returns from a six-year hiatus with
her first full-length disc which contains some of her
strongest work yet - Faith and Courage. Those two
words form the backbone of O'Connor's intense,
confessional songs which make up the bulk of the disc.

In fact, aside from John Lennon in his late
Beatles/early Plastic Ono Band mode, no other
contemporary rocker has come close to reaching O'Connor's 
synthesis of song and prayer.

Faith and Courage offers reflections on her career,
her Irish homeland, her status as a mother, and as a
woman. From someone of lesser stature, topics like
these might have resulted in self-serving, rock star
platitudes. In O'Connor's hands, tracks like "The
Healing Room," the funky single "No Man's Woman,"
and the plaintive appeal of "Hold Back the Night" take
on mystical tones, as if some other- worldy
presence is pulling the songs out of her. She sounds
more serene than in the past, though, and less
controlled by internal demons.

But the key to the disc's success is that the fervent
lyrical attack is tempered by some of the most
accessible music she's ever made. Dave Stewart of
Eurythmics fame injects a contemporary sheen to the
half-dozen tracks on which he's featured. "Jealous" in
particular, has a pointedly Eurythmics feel to it.
And the fiery pumped up love letter to her father
"Daddy I'm Fine," (which, if I were her father, would
not exactly instill me a sense of well being) provides
a rare unflinching look how a successful artist looks
at their career.

While the tabloids are more interested in O'Connor's
"coming out" and anti-Catholic declarations, Faith
and Courage puts the focus squarely right back where
it should be - on her music.