Sinead O'Connor – Lion And The Cobra

180-gram vinyl includes insert

The Lion And The Cobra (1987) is the highly successful debut album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. Deemed "one of the most electrifying debuts in rock history," the album charted well and sold 2,500,000 copies worldwide. The album featured prominent session musicians John Reynolds on drums, former Adam and the Ants and Siouxsie and the Banshees guitarist Marco Pirroni, former Japan guitarist Rob Dean and Mike Clowes from Friction Groove on keyboards.

The first single "Troy" peaked at No. 8 in The Netherlands and No. 12 in Belgium. The second single was "Mandinka", the video for which was shown heavily after debuting on MTV's 120 Minutes. The single was a mainstream Pop hit in the U.K., peaking at No. 17 in the singles chart, as well as No. 6 in her native Ireland. "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" debuted in May 1988 on the same show, featuring a rap interlude by MC Lyte. The song was featured in the 1988 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.

The U.S. cover differed from the European release, as it was felt a more subdued pose of O'Connor would present a "softer" image.

To quote her fellow Irishman, poet William Butler Yeats, when The Lion and the Cobra was released, a terrible beauty was born. O'Connor has a haunting voice as dark as the Irish bogs, and her unwavering delivery simultaneously inflames and chills. She sings in two ranges: her soprano ("Never Get Old," "Jackie") is a nearly monastic chant that's angular and breathy like a pan flute or a tin whistle, while her alto, reigning in "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" and "Mandinka," is a suspended, forceful spoken-word tone that never quite yells. By switching back and forth between these two vocal modes, she yanks the listener into her turmoil, giving you no choice but to empathize.

She was only 20 years old during this recording, and her difficult relationships with lovers, motherhood, her parents, and the Catholic Church were traumatic and fresh. But rather than mellow with maturity, she gained notoriety with publicly unfavorable political antics that would accompany and often overshadow her equally astounding follow-up, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.