music.wikisort.org - Composition

Life Before Insanity is the third studio album by Gov't Mule.[7] The album was released on February 15, 2000, by Capricorn Records.

Life Before Insanity
Studio album by Gov't Mule
Released	February 15, 2000 (2000-02-15)
Recorded	Muscle Shoals Studios, Sheffield, AL and Water Music, Hoboken, NJ
Genre	Southern rock, hard rock, blues rock
Length	73:50
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
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Atlanta Constitution	B[2]
Dayton Daily News	B−[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]
Spin	6/10[6]

The album peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart.[8]

Production

The album was produced by Michael Barbiero.[9] Unlike the band's first two albums, Life Before Insanity utilized both overdubbing and multiple guest musicians.[10] It was the last album recorded with founding member Allen Woody, who died in August 2000.[11]

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."[12] The Washington Post thought that the album "recalls the vintage blues-rock of the early Allman Brothers Band and Clapton's Cream."[13]

Track listing

All songs by Warren Haynes unless otherwise noted.

Personnel

• Warren Haynes – guitar, slide guitar, vocals
• Allen Woody – bass, mandolin on "Life Before Insanity", electric upright bass on "Tastes Like Wine", rhythm guitar on "I Think You Know What I Mean", fretless bass on "Far Away", dulcitar on "In My Life"
• Matt Abts – drums, djembe, ashika on "In My Life"

Additional personnel

• Michael Barbiero – glockenspiel on "Far Away"
• Hook Herrera – harmonica on "Bad Little Doggie" and "I Think You Know What I Mean"
• Ben Harper – vocals and lap steel on "Lay Your Burden Down"
• Johnny Neel – organ, Wurlitzer piano and background vocals

Production

• Michael Barbiero – producer, engineer, mixing
• Ray Martin – mixing, additional engineering
• Warren Haynes – mixing
• Brodie Hutcheson – mixing, additional engineering
• Dan Jurow – additional engineering
• Greg Calbi – mastering
• Mark Pagliaro- guitar, bass, mandolin, amp, tech
• Daniel Saratec- drum, percussion tech

References

External links

• Life Before Insanity (CD liner). Gov't Mule. Atlanta, GA: Capricorn. 2000. 314 546 489-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

---