Edge of Insanity
| Edge of Insanity | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Error creating thumbnail: File missing Cover art by Guy Aitchison | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 1986 | |||
| Recorded | 1985 | |||
| Studio | Prairie Sun Recording Studios (Cotati, California) | |||
| Genre | Instrumental rock, neoclassical metal | |||
| Length | 41:17[1] | |||
| Label | Shrapnel | |||
| Producer | Mike Varney | |||
| Tony MacAlpine chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative cover | ||||
| Error creating thumbnail: File missing Japanese edition | ||||
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Edge of Insanity is the first studio album by guitarist Tony MacAlpine, released in 1986 through Shrapnel Records. In 2014, nearly thirty years after its release, MacAlpine performed the album in full during a series of shows in California and Baja California.[2]
Critical reception
[edit | edit source]| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  Half starFile:Star empty.svgFile:Star empty.svg[3] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 4/10[4] |
| Kerrang! | File:Star empty.svgFile:Star empty.svg[5] |
In a contemporary review, Paul Henderson of Kerrang! defined MacAlpine's technical abilities on guitar and piano as "quite phenomenal", but found his playing "totally cold" and with "a serious lack of rock 'n' roll attitude", while, in contrast, praised "the masterful, superbly sympathetic, yet also inspired" performance of bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Steve Smith.[5]
Andy Hinds of AllMusic described Edge of Insanity as following "the rough blueprint of Yngwie [Malmsteen]'s model" and praised MacAlpine's "impressive licks" and "exciting guitar/keyboard interplay". However, he remarked that "his second album, Maximum Security, is much better."[3] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff gave the same judgement, but considered Edge of Insanity "nicely intimate, versatile and not embarassingly recorded."[4]
In a 2009 article by Guitar World magazine, Edge of Insanity was ranked fourth on the all-time top ten list of shred albums. The staff wrote: "The album that launched Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records, Edge of Insanity shows off Tony MacAlpine's fearsome shred chops not only on the six-string ("Quarter to Midnight") but also on the ivories ("Chopin, Prelude 16, Opus 28")."[6]
Track listing
[edit | edit source]All music is composed by Tony MacAlpine, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Wheel of Fortune" | 3:43 |
| 2. | "The Stranger" | 3:59 |
| 3. | "Quarter to Midnight (Live Solo)" | 2:24 |
| 4. | "Agrionia" | 4:31 |
| 5. | "Empire in the Sky †" | 5:54 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 6. | "The Witch and the Priest" | 3:33 |
| 7. | "The Taker" | 3:22 |
| 8. | "Chopin, Prelude 16, Opus 28" (Frédéric Chopin) | 1:20 |
| 9. | "Edge of Insanity" | 4:18 |
| 10. | "The Raven" | 4:13 |
| 11. | "No Place in Time" | 4:00 |
| Total length: | 41:17 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Birds of Prey (Billy's Boogie)" | 3:45 |
| Total length: | 45:02 | |
- ^† – On some reissues of the album, "Empire in the Sky" is split into two tracks.
Personnel
[edit | edit source]- Musicians
- Tony MacAlpine – guitars, keyboards, bass (track 7)
- Billy Sheehan – bass (except track 3, 7 and 8)
- Steve Smith – drums
- Production
- Mike Varney – producer
- Steve Fontano – engineer
- George Horn – mastering at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California
- Mike Mani – keyboards programming
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Edge of Insanity (CD release "SH-1021cd").
- ^ "New Southern California Dates!" Archived 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine. tonymacalpine.com. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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- ^ MacAlpine, Tony. "Session notes: Edge of Insanity". tonymacalpine.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
External links
[edit | edit source]- In Review: Tony MacAlpine "Edge Of Insanity" at Guitar Nine Records
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