Sinéad O’Connor announced her retirement in 2003, a year after releasing her sixth studio album, and dropped a compilation of old demos as a farewell offering.
That retirement proved temporary as she released her next studio album just two years later. 2005’s Throw Down Your Arms was O’Connor’s third album of covers. After tackling jazz standards and traditional Irish ballads, she now turned her attention to classic reggae.
Sinéad O’Connor followed up Faith and Courage with an album even closer to her heart. Sean-Nós Nua features a baker’s dozen of traditional Irish songs. The title means “new old style,” reflecting her contemporary sensibility merging with tunes first performed hundreds of years ago.
If you’re a fan of old-fashioned Irish ballads, this is the album for you. Sean-Nós Nua doesn’t take many chances in its production or arrangement — the key here is O’Connor’s wonderful voice, paired with lilting acoustic instruments.
The week of August 4, 1073, saw Maureen McGovern’s recording of ‘The Morning After’ reach the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100, where it would remain for two weeks. This was McGovern’s first single and her only career #1.
‘The Morning After’ was the love theme of the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure, and was performed in the movie by the ship’s singer (Carol Lynley played the role but Renée Armand dudded her vocals). McGovern released her own version of the track several months after the film came out. The song won Best Original Song at that year’s Academy Awards.
Throwing back to the week of August 3, 1963, we find the R&B vocal group The Tymes in the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with their song ‘So Much in Love.’ This doo-wop treasure spent exactly one week at #1.
‘So Much in Love’ was The Tymes’ debut single. Their follow-up release, ‘Wonderful! Wonderful!,’ made it to #7 but they never reached the top ten in the U.S. again. It was a different story in the UK, where they went relatively unnoticed through the 60s but scored a #1 hit in 1975 with ‘Ms Grace.’
Six years separated Sinéad O’Connor’s fourth and fifth studio albums, with Faith and Courage dropping in 2000, exactly a decade after I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.
O’Connor suffered plenty of personal and professional turmoil during those ten years, but she managed to emerge from it with what I consider her best album. A strong case can certainly be made for The Lion and the Cobra and I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got — and those are her career-defining albums, no doubt — but song for song I find this one even better.
Meet Me In Montauk 