It’s not surprising that portions of Lindsey Buckingham’s solo albums could be mistaken for Fleetwood Mac records. For one thing, he contributed immeasurably to the best-known LPs by that group, which he joined in 1975. Moreover, his solo albums have occasionally embraced contributions from Fleetwood Mac’s members and associates.
Now, the Rhino label has bundled the first three of those solo records—1981’s Law and Order, 1984’s Go Insane and 1992’s Out of the Cradle—in a clamshell-boxed four-CD set that also includes a disc of rarities. Called 20th Century Lindsey, the anthology (also available on four LPs) features remastered audio. The collection was released on August 16, 2024, in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
After Buckingham’s Fleetwood Mac bandmates balked at continuing in the adventurous direction typified by his title track on 1979’s Tusk, he ostensibly decided to follow the suggestion offered by the title of one of his own big hits from the group’s Rumours album: “Go Your Own Way.” The result was 1981’s excellent Law and Order, Buckingham’s first solo LP, which found him not only writing most of the 11 songs and handling all lead vocals, but playing nearly every instrument, including guitars, keyboards, drums and bass. He did, however, enlist some support from his bandmates: Mick Fleetwood played drums on one track, Christine McVie sang backup on another and Fleetwood Mac producer Richard Dashut co-produced with Buckingham.
His desire to experiment notwithstanding, nothing on the record wanders nearly as far from the mainstream as “Tusk” did. “Bwana,” the leadoff track, is probably the most adventurous number, but it’s accessible and catchy. “Trouble,” which became a Top 10 hit, is a lilting, well-produced gem, as is a cover of Gary Paxton’s “It Was I.” (The album’s other non-originals include likable readings of the standards “A Satisfied Mind” and “September Song.”)
Go Insane, which appeared three years later, is a bit more experimental and was slightly less commercially successful than Law and Order, perhaps partly because Dashut was not on hand to co-produce. Again playing most of the instruments, Buckingham seems more focused on rhythm than melody here. Standouts include the title cut, which became the singer’s second hit single and reportedly concerns his relationship with bandmate and former lover Stevie Nicks; “Slow Dancing,” a disco-influenced number that sounds like a Tusk outtake, and the nearly seven-minute “D.W. Suite,” a tribute to the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, who drowned while the album was being made.
Related: Our review of a 2018 Buckingham live show
While Law and Order and Go Insane were side projects, Buckingham crafted Out of the Cradle in the five years after he left the “cradle” represented by Fleetwood Mac. This album, which makes extensive use of acoustic guitar and once again finds the singer playing most of the instruments, didn’t sell as well as its predecessors. Perhaps because Buckingham had more time to focus on its creation, however, its songs are among the most substantive and instantly likable of the lot. He reunited for this set with Dashut, who not only co-produced but is credited as co-author of seven of the tracks. Buckingham wrote the rest of the material aside from an instrumental version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “This Nearly Was Mine” and a languid reading of the Kingston Trio’s “All My Sorrows.”
Three of the eight tracks on the bonus disc are simply extended and/or remixed versions of songs from the three other CDs but the other numbers, all from film soundtracks, are more notable. They include “Twisted,” a duet with Nicks, from Twister; the catchy “Time Bomb Town,” from Back to the Future; “On the Wrong Side” (not to be confused with an identically titled tune on Buckingham’s eponymous 2021 LP), from With Honors; and the upbeat “Holiday Road” and “Dancin’ Across the USA,” both from National Lampoon’s Vacation.
A top editor at leading consumer and trade magazines for more than 40 years, Jeff has interviewed dozens of musical luminaries, including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tommy James, Tom Waits, the Righteous Brothers, and the members of Steely Dan.
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