The Lion And The Cobra (studio album)
by Sinéad O'Connor

The Lion And The Cobra by Sinéad O'Connor
Year: 1987
Overall rank: 1,315th   
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 204 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1987 (24th)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (211th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,315th)

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Sinead O'Connor - The Lion And The Cobra [New Vinyl LP] Reissue
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Sinead O’ Connor- The Lion And The Cobra Vinyl- New Sealed 2015 Europe 180 Gram
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Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and The Cobra 1987 US Chrysalis Vinyl Record LP
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Sinéad O'Connor bestography

The Lion And The Cobra is ranked 2nd best out of 15 albums by Sinéad O'Connor on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Sinéad O'Connor is I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got which is ranked number 1069 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,625.

Sinéad O'Connor album bestography « Higher ranked (1,069th)
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
This album (1,315th)
The Lion And The Cobra
Lower ranked (5,087th) »
Faith And Courage

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

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Teddy Swims - Kegsmas 2025
Coca-Cola Roxy, Atlanta, United States. United States
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Jan
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19:30
Escape the Fate
Encore, Tucson, United States. United States
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Jan
23
Fri
20:00
Yächtley Crëw - "Seas The Night" World Tour
Hard Rock Live Sacramento, Wheatland, United States. United States
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The Lion And The Cobra track list

   The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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1.
Average Rating: 82 (39 votes)Comments: View 0
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2.
Average Rating: 85 (56 votes)Comments: View 0
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3.
Average Rating: 81 (38 votes)Comments: View 0
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5.
Average Rating: 78 (35 votes)Comments: View 0
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6.
Average Rating: 84 (49 votes)Comments: View 0
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8.
Average Rating: 82 (39 votes)Comments: View 0
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9.
Average Rating: 78 (34 votes)Comments: View 0
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The Lion And The Cobra rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,315th | 1980s rank: 211th | 1987 rank: 24th

The Lion And The Cobra collection

The Lion And The Cobra ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 204 votes)
   Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 204 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !
3 days ago Araldo   1,46980/100
 
80/100
 !
11/26/2025 14:36 Timooosterink   76073/100
 
75/100
 !
11/18/2025 08:07 CellarDoor   8,04279/100
 
95/100
 !
11/12/2025 23:16 NYAndreas   1,43243/100
 
60/100
 !
08/27/2025 15:58 Milhaud   1,62469/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.0/100, a mean average of 77.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.7.

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The Lion And The Cobra comments

Showing all 6 comments |
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(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
100/100
From 09/27/2019 11:35 | #243110
This is her best album
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 04/22/2016 05:17 | #164266
Really dig Mandinka, but the rest I just don't connect with. It's not bad, just not my thing.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 01/29/2016 14:56 | #158090
Ever since this album I follow Sinéad. This is one of her best albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 03/10/2014 14:34 | #105888
Enchanting and haunting debut that just keeps sounding better with each listen. By far her greatest effort.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 06/17/2012 21:14 | #44628
Though her subsequent work often leaves me cold, O'Connor's debut is a brilliant, eclectic collection in which even the love songs, such as the gorgeous "Just Like U Said It Would B," sound fiery and raw. "Troy," one of the finest songs of the decade, is a devastating entreaty to an ex-lover she can't—or won't—shake free of. "Drink Before the War" is a passionate anti-war cry housed in a lovely ballad. "I Want Your (Hands On Me)" is a lusty little dance, catchy and about as subtle as the title would suggest. Songs such as "Jackie," "Just Call Me Joe," "Mandinka," "Never Get Old," and "Jerusalem" show an extraordinary array of subjects, styles and influences. These songs are deep and literate and often sound as if they cost O'Connor a piece of her soul to get them on record.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 08/22/2011 15:52 | #26538
With this album, Sinead O'Connor combines hard-rock riffs, discordant electronics, neoclassical arrangements, funk grooves and hip-hop. These elements emphasize the full impact of her expressive and 'acrobatically' intense emotionally charged vocals that fuse Gregorian chants, African-American spirituals, Celtic ballads, middle-eastern Litanies and Laurie Anderson's and Meredith Monk's experiments on the human voice. The result is a masterpiece of an album that resembles a hallucinatory psychodrama that exudes vulnerability and loneliness.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1987
1. The Joshua Tree by U2
2. Appetite For Destruction by Guns N' Roses
3. Sign "O" The Times by Prince
4. Strangeways, Here We Come by The Smiths
5. You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur
6. Document by R.E.M.
7. Bad by Michael Jackson
8. Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode
9. Sister by Sonic Youth
10. Hysteria by Def Leppard
11. Substance by New Order
12. Kick by INXS
13. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me by The Cure
14. Louder Than Bombs by The Smiths
15. Darklands by The Jesus And Mary Chain
16. Come On Pilgrim by Pixies
17. Diesel And Dust by Midnight Oil
18. Paid In Full by Eric B. & Rakim
19. Tango In The Night by Fleetwood Mac
20. Tunnel Of Love by Bruce Springsteen
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