Life Before Insanity

Last updated
Life Before Insanity
Gov't Mule - Life Before Insanity.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 15, 2000 (2000-02-15)
Recorded Muscle Shoals Studios, Sheffield, AL and Water Music, Hoboken, NJ
Genre Blues rock [1]
Length73:50
Label Capricorn
Producer Michael Barbiero
Gov't Mule chronology
Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends
(1999)
Life Before Insanity
(2000)
The Deep End, Volume 1
(2001)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Atlanta Constitution B [3]
Dayton Daily News B− [4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Spin 6/10 [7]

Life Before Insanity is the third studio album by Gov't Mule. [8] The album was released on February 15, 2000, by Capricorn Records.

Contents

The album peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart. [9]

Production

The album was produced by Michael Barbiero. [10] Unlike the band's first two albums, Life Before Insanity utilized both overdubbing and multiple guest musicians. [11] It was the last album recorded with founding member Allen Woody, who died in August 2000. [12]

Critical reception

The Austin Chronicle wrote that "having Ben Harper cameo with Haynes on 'Lay Your Burden Down' is a guitarist's dream, but while the song rolls along, it never takes off—never reaches the pairing's potential." [13] The Washington Post thought that the album "recalls the vintage blues-rock of the early Allman Brothers Band and Clapton's Cream." [1]

Track listing

All songs by Warren Haynes unless otherwise noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Wandering Child" (Haynes, Matt Abts)6:05
2."Life Before Insanity" (Haynes, Danny Louis)6:12
3."Bad Little Doggie" (Haynes, Abts, Allen Woody)3:48
4."Lay Your Burden Down" (Haynes, Michael Barbiero)5:27
5."Fallen Down"6:58
6."World Gone Wild"6:17
7."Tastes Like Wine"6:57
8."I Think You Know What I Mean"4:55
9."Far Away"5:54
10."No Need to Suffer"8:20
11."In My Life/If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day" (Haynes, Robert Johnson)12:48

Personnel

Additional personnel

Production

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References

  1. 1 2 "GOV'T MULE "Life Before Insanity" Capricorn". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  2. Smith, Michael B. (2011). "Life Before Insanity - Gov't Mule | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  3. "ON MUSIC". The Atlanta Constitution: G5. 2 Mar 2000.
  4. Simmons, Carol (7 Apr 2000). "RECORDINGS IN BRIEF". Dayton Daily News: 25.
  5. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 3. MUZE. p. 843.
  6. Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (April 6, 2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   9780743201698 via Google Books.
  7. "Reviews". SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. March 6, 2000 via Google Books.
  8. "An Evening with Gov't Mule". The Stranger.
  9. "Gov't Mule". Billboard.
  10. "Studio Monitor". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. September 9, 2000 via Google Books.
  11. Sculley, Alan (11 Aug 2000). "POWER TRIO GOV'T MULE PACKS ITS OWN POTENT KICK". The Morning Call: D14.
  12. "Allen Woody, Gov't Mule Bassist, Dies". MTV News. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020.
  13. "Gov't Mule Life Before Insanity (Capricorn)". www.austinchronicle.com.