Call me crazy but.

[dougb]

I think go insane is one of the best albums ever made.Pure genius

[wondergirl9847]

Yep, it IS. Of course, I'm biased as I think every single thing the man has done is genius.

I'm no musician, but if my heart and soul loves it, it's genius to me. I don't care how technically perfect or unperfect his stuff is. I don't care who thinks whatever about him or his music. I love it and that's ALL that matters.

I will never forget when I first heard the Go Insane and Slow Dancing clips online when I found out who Lindsey was. I am an 80's music FREAK, so those two songs stood out and I made sure I ordered that CD along with OOTC. Those were just 2 of the greatest investments I ever made.

[seteca]

Without a shadow of a doubt my favourite LB solo album, my favourite album by any solo artist, and the collection of songs is one of the greatest pieces of music of all time.

You defined it perfectly in two words: PURE GENIUS.

[jbrownsjr]

It's a great album for sure

[dougb]

Yes I have listened very hard to this album and musicaly it is very deep, very complex, the way it comes together it almost a story.I know it is an old album but I can honestly say without a doubt one of the best top 50 albums ever.I think if these were on a mac album they would have been big hits its to bad its overlooked

[mylittledemon]

I would have to agree, and disagree. I think "Out of the Cradle" is his masterpiece. A really beautiful album and it flows together really well. I think "Go Insane" is a somewhat close second. I just feel OOTC showcases his guitar skills a *little* bit more comprehensively. But I guess it all depends on your taste & opinion of course!

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

I would have to agree, and disagree. I think "Out of the Cradle" is his masterpiece. A really beautiful album and it flows together really well. I think "Go Insane" is a somewhat close second. I just feel OOTC showcases his guitar skills a *little* bit more comprehensively. But I guess it all depends on your taste & opinion of course!

I agree that OOTC is better, in fact I would daresay it's MUCH better. I have developed a new appreciation for Go Insane, however, after I listened to it on good speakers instead of my old crappy ones and realized there were a lot of nuances I'd been missing.

[wondergirl9847]

Isn't meant as a guitar showcase tho. It was made in a very experimental timeframe, the 80's. LOL I think GI shows how Lindsey can do something other than play guitar, he can arrange music using other means. I am wondering if he thought his guitar was sort of a "crutch" (not in a bad way, really), so he didn't use it as much on GI as to prove it to himself he could do it.

These days, he's back to heavy guitar tho . Although, OOTC is my fave album, they are all masterpieces and I hate comparing them, because they all represent a time in his life, when he did something different.

[Mari]

GOS is my favorite. I hardly ever listen to Go Insane. Might be because I only have it on lp
Can I still call myself a lindseyfan?

[WelshWitchPMD]

I love Go Insane. I have a new found appreciation for this LP since last summer. I would say that OOTC (funny I just bought a new copy of the CD last night at Barnes and Noble) is my favorite.
Christy you are right when you say that they can't be compared because they are from 2 different eras and times in Lindsey's life. They are both fantastic in their own way.
The only solo LP that I can't get into is Law and Order and I have tried but I just can't.

[seteca]

As Christy said, the album is not at all about showing off guitar skills, and there is less lead guitar on it than on any other FM/LB album. Musically, it shows us just how incredibly multi-talented he is, and apart from the fact that he plays a countless number of instruments on it, the sampling used in some of the songs is of the same quality and level that artists like Jean Michel Jarre and Depeche Mode were coming out with at the same time. I said it before and I'll say it again, it's just pure musical genius.

There is one thought I've always had about this album but have been a little afraid of mentioning on The Ledge as I don't want anybody to take it the wrong way: I think that to even be able to really emotionally 100% connect with the album as a whole, you have to be a guy. I say this because the entire album was very personally written and performed by a guy, who felt that he had been driven to insanity by the pain, sadness and anger of previous relationships with girlfriends. For example, I think that most women who hear/read the line "So I go insane, like I always do, and I call your name, she's a lot like you" probably don't realise just how deep and complex a meaning it has.
Just to reiterate, I hope nobody takes what I said the wrong way: I'm not saying at all that men get more hurt than women or women get more hurt than men or anything like that; just that by nature we go through slightly/severely different emotions. There are a few Stevie Nicks songs (which are about relationships) which are among my favourite songs of all time, but I know that (although I love the songs so much) I will never be able to connect with them to the same extent that a female fan would, simply because I'm a guy.

JMHO.

[wondergirl9847]

Take something the wrong way? The Ledge? You're kidding, right?

Hehe. Yeah, we all take different songs in different ways. I've said it a million times that Red Rover means sooooooooo much to me because it reminds me of my grandfather, who passed away in 1996. I've got a serious connection to that song, but others don't, so they may hate/not like it. *just had to put the song on...heh*

ISA is the song that hit me like a Mack truck back in 2001 because I was an emotional wreck from my parents splitting up. I felt alone, hurt, torn, afraid, etc. and that song fit me to a T.

Go Insane actually helped me in a bad situation, gave me strength. I've never had a relationship, so I can't apply the song to that.

It is weird that I connect with Lindsey since most his songs are about women. LOL I'm glad he wrote Red Rover, which is not about women, directly. There's more to life than relationships. I just apply the songs in other ways to various situations in my life.

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by seteca

There is one thought I've always had about this album but have been a little afraid of mentioning on The Ledge as I don't want anybody to take it the wrong way: I think that to even be able to really emotionally 100% connect with the album as a whole, you have to be a guy. I say this because the entire album was very personally written and performed by a guy, who felt that he had been driven to insanity by the pain, sadness and anger of previous relationships with girlfriends. For example, I think that most women who hear/read the line "So I go insane, like I always do, and I call your name, she's a lot like you" probably don't realise just how deep and complex a meaning it has.

Just to reiterate, I hope nobody takes what I said the wrong way: I'm not saying at all that men get more hurt than women or women get more hurt than men or anything like that; just that by nature we go through slightly/severely different emotions. There are a few Stevie Nicks songs (which are about relationships) which are among my favourite songs of all time, but I know that (although I love the songs so much) I will never be able to connect with them to the same extent that a female fan would, simply because I'm a guy.

JMHO.

While I disagree that women can't get the complexity of some of the emotion there, I do agree that perhaps we can't relate to it as well. I do find myself reacting in a different way to Stevie's music than to Lindsey's, and often Stevie's songs are much easier for me to relate to on an emotional level. The last time I had a relationship that ended badly, I thought of "Silver Springs" and not a song off of "Go Insane" or really any Lindsey song. And I suppose few guys would relate to the line "I am crying in the morning; I am trying to be strong" from "Destiny" like I did at the time, lol. All that macho stuff gets in the way. In other words, I see your point.

[face of glass]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

LOL I think GI shows how Lindsey can do something other than play guitar, he can arrange music using other means. I am wondering if he thought his guitar was sort of a "crutch" (not in a bad way, really), so he didn't use it as much on GI as to prove it to himself he could do it.

The amount of guitars on the album is definitely up to debate. The solo in "I Want You" may sound like it's partly a keyboard thing but it might as well be a guitar fed through some kind of device. It's similar to the solo that Adrian Belew plays in Talking Heads' "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" in that it sounds like some bleepy synthesizer but is actually a guitar. I think some other bits on the album that we think are keyboards might actually be guitars; "Play In The Rain" comes to mind as another example. And in this case doing things that way makes sense; achieving a new variety of tones for his guitars. Making a guitar sound like a bass drum in "Red Rover" doesn't make sense because you can always use a real bass drum. Oh wait, this is Lindsey Buckingham we're talking about. He's crazy enough to do something like that.

Originally Posted by sodascouts

And I suppose few guys would relate to the line "I am crying in the morning; I am trying to be strong" from "Destiny" like I did at the time, lol. All that macho stuff gets in the way. In other words, I see your point.

I personally relate to the verses of "Destiny" but even that is more because of the way she sings them (and that bass in the background). The chorus takes away from their intimate effect on me though.
I do find certain macho elements from Go Insane as well; in spite of the lyricism of "D.W. Suite" there's still the sexual desire to possess someone (and I find violent qualities in them too) in "Loving Cup" and "I Want You" plus the isolationism of "Play In The Rain". Not to mention the black-and-white thinking of "Go Insane" and the ultimate example of cycles in "I Must Go".
But those are just some of the things that still draw me to the album. I don't think it is dated because the mainstream never truly explored this side of the new technology available to them. Sure, it is the traditional '80s over-the-top studio album but one could say that of everything he's done (just change the decade). Let's wait for a few years and then the '90s will be "the decade that good taste forgot".

[seteca]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

While I disagree that women can't get the complexity of some of the emotion there, I do agree that perhaps we can't relate to it as well.

Sorry, yea, that's exactly what I meant. When I said "realise" I didn't mean it as in "understanding", I meant it in the literal sense of "relating to"/experiencing.

The last time I had a relationship that ended badly, I thought of "Silver Springs" and not a song off of "Go Insane" or really any Lindsey song.

Every time I've had a relationship that ended badly I've thought of at least one (usually many) of the songs on the "Go Insane" album...lol.

And I suppose few guys would relate to the line "I am crying in the morning; I am trying to be strong" from "Destiny" like I did at the time, lol. All that macho stuff gets in the way.

See you lost me there, don't have a clue why you'd relate to that. Now excuse me while I go pump some iron, after which I intend to stand on my street corner wolf-whistling at girls and grabbing my crotch.