'Fess up - who here likes Sweet Insanity?

[CenturyDeprived]

yes my sweet insanity CD has gotten a lot of spins in my car of late and i've come to the conclusion THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH IT, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN RELEASED.  darker forces were afoot back then.  bob dylan sounds cartoonish though

I do wonder what the response - critical and otherwise - would have been if SI had been released back in '91. I think my initial reaction would have been disappointment that he didn't create another suite like Rio Grande. I don't think the production would have bothered me back then, though, everything coming out at the time was overproduced, if it wasn't grunge, or roots rock.

I think Sweet Insanity is underrated on the whole, but if its non-release in 1991 meant the non-release of Smart Girls, it was probably well worth it.

I know I read Brian mentioning the song somewhat fondly in an interview years later, but still, I do wonder if there's one unreleased song that slipped out which Brian (perhaps on the advice of others) might wish to put back into the vault, would there be a better candidate than Smart Girls? Maybe Brian (Thank You)? I guess with the Landy promo cassette of the album, Smart Girls could almost be considered "released", but not quite in my book.

[Seaside Woman]

Apart from Hotter, I loved every track. It's a stellar album. I was over the moon when I got my factory pressed hard copy and played it every day for a couple of years.

[Mr. Cohen]

I think Sweet Insanity has a bunch of average to good tracks, but nothing that stands out as classic or essential. Which is probably the problem. There's no "Love & Mercy" here - heck, no "Imagination", I'd say. Where's the single?

[SIP.FLAC]

There a clutch of great songs on this thing, a lot of horrible lyrics and terrible lyrics. But the worst part is the vocal work. There is something about the way the vocals are mixed, or recorded...when one of those wall o' Brians pop up I feel physically uncomfortable.

[job]

There a clutch of great songs on this thing, a lot of horrible lyrics and terrible lyrics. But the worst part is the vocal work. There is something about the way the vocals are mixed, or recorded...when one of those wall o' Brians pop up I feel physically uncomfortable.

This.  Exactly.

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

My problem with the vocals on Sweet Insanity-- and on OCA and Imagination, for that matter -- is that the Wall of Brians intrudes on the lead vocal lines. There'll be a pause in the lead vocal, and the backgrounds will come in so up front, and so identifiably Brian, that my brain doesn't recognize the background vocals as backgrounds. And then the lead jumps back in and BAM! Too many Brians, too in your face, too monolithic.