The 1981 Listening Post - Lindsay Buckingham - Law and Order

Lindsay Buckingham - Law and Order 

#562

By Tami Fitzkoff

October 3 1981

Lindsay Buckingham

Law and Order

Genre: Quirky and Cool

Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5

Tami’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Trouble

A Satisfied Mind

September Song

I’ll Tell You Now

Love From Here, Love From There

Lindsay’s first solo album is great. It may not be for everyone but I dig it. Lindsay at times sounds like Freddie Mercury meets rockabilly with a touch of Dr. Demento and an airy mix of music. It’s whimsical, fun, breezy and cool. It seems to me like Lindsay really enjoyed himself making this record. And I guess it just rubbed off on me. The music just sounds good. I don’t know why he named it “Law and Order,” it’s more like Wild, Wacky and Wonderful but I guess that would be a lame title.

The one song that charted on this album, “Trouble,” (and the only song I knew going into this review) is actually one of my favorite 80’s songs. The chorus has been lodged in my head since I was a kid. The lyrics act as a voiceover whenever I’ve been in uncomfortable situations… “I think I’m in trouble (truh-wah-ble).” It’s a cool smooth song, which oddly starts out with him comically singing “two, a-three, a-four, two, a-three, a-four.” I was surprised that he did three covers on this album. They are rock and roll/country ballads about love and loss “It Was I,” “September Song,” and “A Satisfied Mind.” I had never heard any of them before and Lindsay gives a country Wall Of Sound vibe to each of them and I liked them all. Even the bizarre songs like “Bwana” and “That’s How We Do It In LA” that I find hard to describe, which some people (like my wife) found super annoying, I found to be amusing. And then there were his other  originals, “Mary Lee Jones,”I’ll Tell You Now,” and “Love From Here, Love From There” where I just felt like I could be hanging by a pool enjoying the Buckingham breeze. It’s only 36 minutes and worth a listen.

https://open.spotify.com/album/38UhlwlFmxKBRVCUdaY21m?si=UL1U3675QvyvW6eQ7ngrrg

The 1984 Listening Post - Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane

Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane

#184

July 

Lindsey Buckingham

Go Insane

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Go Insane

Slow Dancing

Bang the Drum

D.W. Suite

Why this album came into our lives I can’t remember. I don’t think *I* owned it but there was a copy on cassette that I used to listen to. Especially on one life defining night in New York. A terrible experience in an acting rehearsal space…I won’t go into detail. It still haunts me.  It was the catalyst for me leaving the acting department and wading in the morass of the film department. I should’ve left college that semester. It really wasn’t for me. I wasn’t ready. But had I left I know that I never would have been roommates with someone with whom I, on a lark, took a post senior year trip to LA. He and I would not have been roommates in Los Angeles. I would not have started to pursue a career here. I would not have gotten married, had a kid, lost that kid, got remarried and had these two. 

More likely I would have gone home to figure out what I wanted to do. Stayed in the NY area to try my hand at acting. And, also likely, when my father died shortly thereafter, I wouldn’t have gone back toLos Angeles, beckoned by a commercial director who wanted to see me for a certain spot (kicking off a decade long working relationship and decades long friendship). I would probably have moved back home, directionless, to help my mother with her situation as a widow with debt. It’s doubtful I would have gotten out of New Jersey, probably taking over their business. And I’d be a completely different person than I am today. 

That acting experience that night was only partially the reason those things never happened, but, had it not occurred, there’s a good chance that I would not have left the theater department. It was but one in a series of events…

And it all started with staring out the 2nd floor rehearsal studio window, listening to Go Insane by Lindsey Buckingham. 

Strangely, the record isn’t bringing back nostalgia or pangs of any kind. I just recall it. But because of that night, I can’t be objective. 

It’s experimental and dark. it sounds like Lindsey but not like Fleetwood Mac. Like he’s trying to break out of something. Be something else. It was the perfect record for that night, a bridge between middle of the road and experimentation. Exactly where I was at the time. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/go-insane/357962619