Go Insane - Vol 2

Go Insane Vol. 2, released in 1991 on the Italian Alucia/Never End Records imprint (catalog number A 112.10.3.NE 4/2), is the second disc of a two-CD limited edition set issued in Italy. Tracks are numbered 10 through 18 on the disc itself, picking up directly where Volume 1 leaves off, making it clear the two were designed as a unified set. Both volumes share the limited edition designation on their packaging, though no specific pressing quantity is stated anywhere on the release.

The longbox format here is genuinely distinctive. It is a die-cut, fold-open paper longbox housing a separate cardboard sleeve that contains the disc and an insert. The longbox itself is tall and narrow, as expected for the format, and the cover photograph is where things get visually interesting. What you see in the image is a close-up, high-contrast black-and-white photograph of a pair of ornate wooden doors, the kind you might find on a 19th century institutional building or church. The doors are paneled and heavily carved with decorative rosette or flower-like medallions in each panel section, giving the image a formal, almost gothic quality. The grain of the photograph is coarse, lending it a grainy, aged look that suits the archival nature of the material inside. A circular sticker with "The Doors" and the limited edition individual number is on the upper left corner. The overall color palette is strictly monochrome, no color anywhere on the front. The aesthetic feels deliberate, understated even, which is unusual for the Italian bootleg market of the early 1990s, a period when that scene often leaned toward louder, more sensationalist design. The back cover provides source information for the tracks, which is a level of documentation not always found on Italian pressings of this era. The insert accompanying the disc presumably carries additional notes or imagery consistent with the set's restrained visual theme, though its exact contents are not fully documented.

The track sourcing on Vol. 2 is well documented on the back cover, and collectors should pay close attention to it. Tracks 10, 11, 12, 15, and 18 (Alabama Song, Backdoor Man, Five To One, Go Insane, and The End) are drawn from the Hollywood Bowl show recorded July 5, 1968, a performance that has circulated in various forms over the years, including on officially sanctioned releases. Tracks 13, 14, and 16 (I'm A King Bee, Who Do You Love, and Summer's Almost Gone) come from the Matrix Club, San Francisco, March 10, 1967, an early and particularly raw document of the band's live sound during the period immediately following their debut album. Track 17, listed on the Discogs entry as Let It Bleed rather than Do It as shown in the tracklist above, is noted as recorded live in Los Angeles in 1968. Tracks 13, 15, and 17 are flagged on the back cover as unreleased at the time of this pressing, which adds a layer of collector interest regardless of whether subsequent official releases have since made some of that material more widely available. For context on how the Hollywood Bowl recordings have been presented elsewhere, the Live In Seattle release and sets like Freedom Man - The Doors in 1970 show how varied the documentation of the band's live output has been across the bootleg and gray-area release spectrum. The Matrix recordings are among the most significant early live documents in the Doors catalog, and their inclusion here alongside the Hollywood Bowl material makes this volume substantive. The double-CD Go Insane silk release post-dates this two-volume set and presents a different selection for comparison. Discogs currently shows 49 collectors holding this disc with 7 on the want list, numbers that suggest it is findable but not common, particularly as a complete set with Vol. 1 in its original longbox condition.

If you are building a collection of early Doors live recordings and want the Matrix 1967 material in a physical format with documented sourcing, this Italian pressing is worth tracking down, especially as a complete two-volume longbox set alongside Vol. 1. The Discogs want-to-have ratio is modest, so prices should be reasonable, but finding both volumes together in clean longbox condition is the real challenge. Solo disc without the box is a lesser acquisition. Also worth cross-referencing with The Lizard King Vol. 1 for similar Italian-market archival releases from the same period.