''Gospel Oak'' is an
EP by Irish singer
Sinéad O'Connor
Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...
. The album sold 70,000 copies in the United States.
The album is named after the
London neighbourhood of
Gospel Oak where O’Connor was living at the time. The cover photograph shows the two brick
skew arch bridges adjacent to
Gospel Oak railway station
Gospel Oak railway station is in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. It is on the North London line (NLL) and is also the western passenger terminus of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line – known informally as GOBLIN. Passengers us ...
in
north London. It was dedicated to "the people of
Israel,
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
and
Northern Ireland".
Critical reception
British magazine ''
Music Week'' rated the EP four out of five, writing, "Motherhood is treating O'Connor well, judging by this angst-free, truly beautiful EP on which the acoustic, traditional instrumentation is the perfect foil for her stunning voice. Another
Chrysalis
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
number one?" David Sinclair from ''
The Times'' commented, "The
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
avenger in a gentle, devotional mood."
Track listing
The UK release contains only the first four tracks. The Japanese release contains tracks 1–4 and 7, and an US release contains track 1–6 on one CD and track 7 on a bonus CD.
Personnel
*Sinéad O'Connor – vocals, electric guitar on track 5
*
John Reynolds – drums, bass guitar, programming
*Clare Kenny – bass guitar
*
Justin Adams
Justin Alexander Adams (born 22 July 1961) is an English guitarist and composer who works in blues and African styles.
Biography
Born in London, the son of a diplomat, Adams spent some of his early childhood growing up in Egypt, before return ...
– guitar
*
Caroline Dale – cello
*Carol Issacs – piano, accordion
*
Ian Stanley, Graham Henderson – keyboards
*
Davy Spillane
Davy Spillane (born 1959 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician, songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle.
Biography Irish music
At the age of 12, Spillane started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him an ...
– Uilleann pipes
*Ed Rockett – low and high whistle
*The Muses – backing vocals
*
Jah Wobble – bass guitar on track 3
*Andy Wright – programming on track 3
*
Dónal Lunny – bouzouki
Charts
References
1997 debut EPs
Sinéad O'Connor albums
Chrysalis Records EPs
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