Theology (album)

Untitled

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(50/100)
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The Austin Chronicle
Hot Press	(favorable)
The Music Box
The Observer
PopMatters
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Spin	(4/10)
Uncut

Theology is the eighth full-length album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 2007 on Rubyworks (and Koch Records in the USA). The album consists of two discs – the acoustic "Dublin Sessions" and full-band "London Sessions".

The first single from Theology is "I Don't Know How to Love Him" (an Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice song from Jesus Christ Superstar). In the issue dated 14 July 2007, the album entered the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at number 168. The album also debuted in the top 20 of Billboard's Independent Albums list at number 15. First-week sales of the album in the USA amounted to 4,700 units, while the record also charted in Ireland, France and Italy.

The album sold 375,000 copies worldwide.

Track listing

Disc one – Dublin Sessions

1. "Something Beautiful" (O'Connor) – 5:29
2. "We People Who Are Darker Than Blue" (Curtis Mayfield) – 3:56
3. "Out of the Depths" (O'Connor) – 5:06
4. "Dark I Am Yet Lovely" (O'Connor) – 4:11
5. "If You Had a Vineyard" (O'Connor) – 6:18
6. "Watcher of Men" (O'Connor, Tomlinson) – 2:34
7. "33" (O'Connor, Tomlinson) – 2:33
8. "The Glory of Jah" (O'Connor, Tomlinson) – 3:32
9. "Whomsoever Dwells" (O'Connor, Tomlinson) – 2:53
10. "Rivers of Babylon" (Dowe, McNaughton) – 3:39
11. "Hosanna Filio David" (Traditional) – 0:44

Disc two – London Sessions

1. "Something Beautiful" (O'Connor) – 5:15
2. "We People Who Are Darker Than Blue" (Curtis Mayfield) – 4:25
3. "Out of the Depths" (O'Connor) – 5:03
4. "33" (O'Connor, Tomlinson) – 2:43
5. "Dark I Am Yet Lovely" (O'Connor) – 3:31
6. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice) – 4:13
7. "If You Had a Vineyard" (O'Connor) – 6:34
8. "The Glory of Jah" (O'Connor, Tomlinson) – 4:56
9. "Watcher of Men" (O'Connor, Tomlinson) – 3:18
10. "Whomsoever Dwells" (O'Connor, Tomlinson) – 5:34
11. "Rivers of Babylon" (Dowe, McNaughton) – 4:28

The exclusive edition sold at Best Buy stores in the United States includes five additional live tracks, recorded at Dublin's Sugar Club on 8 November 2006. Two of these, "Something Beautiful" and "If You Had a Vineyard," were made available for download on O'Connor's MySpace page in early 2007.

1. "Something Beautiful" – 6:02
2. "If You Had a Vineyard" – 6:36
3. "The Glory of Jah" – 3:51
4. "Whomsoever Dwells" – 3:54
5. "33" – 3:19

The Borders-exclusive edition includes three interviews.

Personnel

Disc one – Dublin Sessions

• Sinéad O'Connor – vocals, guitar
• Steve Cooney – guitars
• Graham Bolger - producer, engineer & mix

Disc two – London Sessions

• Sinéad O'Connor – vocals, guitar
• Ron Tom – guitar
• Robbie Shakespeare – bass
• Don-E – guitar, bass, piano
• Matthew Phillips – drums, percussion
• Mark Gilmour – guitar, bass
• Sam Cloth Shop – guitar
• Toby Baker – piano
• Camilla – harp
• Andrew Smith – guitar, bass
• Hawi – guitar
• Speks – drums, percussion
• Julian Saxi – violin
• Neil Williams – violin
• Jonah O'Leary – violin
• Duaba Tice – cello
• Natalie Azario – cello
• Richard Baylis – French horn
• Nathan Tice
• Bev, Chris Brown, Val – backing vocals
• John Reynolds – drums and production assistance on "I Don't Know How To Love Him"

Chart performance

Chart (2007)	Peak position
Poland Album Chart	30
UK Albums Chart	157
UK Indie Album Chart	15
US Billboard 200	168
US Independent Albums	15
Canadian Top 100 Alternative Albums	35
Irish Top 100 Albums	18
Italian Top 100 Albums	56
French Top 200 Albums	81
German Top 100 Albums	86
Polish Top 50 Albums	34

External links

• Theology at Metacritic