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 audio that was remastered around 2017.
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.
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.
Also Noteworthy
Steve Forbert, Daylight Savings Time. “I’m interested in the song and making a good record of it that you want to live with and play over and over,” folk singer Steve Forbert told me in a 2022 interview. He delivers on that goal on Daylight Savings Time, his 21st studio album. Produced by Steve Greenwell, who filled the same role for 2020’s Early Morning Rain and 2022’s Moving Through America, the all-originals collection is eminently listenable and consistently lilting. As usual, Forbert plays acoustic guitar and harmonica. Backup includes a keyboard and accordion player, an electric guitarist, a drummer, and a bass player.
The album’s title comes from its first single, “Sound Existence,” where Forbert lauds the extra hour of daylight resulting from the clock change in March. Another highlight is “Purple Toyota,” where the singer – who has previously penned lyrics about everything from fried oysters to the names of New Jersey towns – again proves he can write a good song about almost anything. He can also sound rather cheery when singing about nearly any subject, as evidenced by “The Blues,” a toe-tapper where he namechecks Janis Joplin and Amy Winehouse.
Michael Reynolds, Tarnished Nickel Sky. Back in 2002, Michael Reynolds co-founded an alt-country band called Pinmonkey, which he served as lead vocalist. But the group disbanded in 2006, and about eight years later, Reynolds quit the music business.
You’ll be glad he recently decided to give it another shot when you hear the stupendous Tarnished Nickel Sky, which was winningly produced by Ray Kennedy, the five-time Grammy winner of LPs by the likes of Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle. It’s a thoroughly engaging country-rock outing that recalls the Flying Burrito Brothers’ catalog as well as the Byrds’ groundbreaking Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
The album’s 11 songs are all new and self-penned, but any one of them could be mistaken for an old classic. Whether he’s singing about a trucker who misses his home (“Two Hours from Jackson”), describing a man who “ain’t had no trouble finding trouble so far” (“The Whiskey Goes Down Easy”), or limning the life of a wanderer (“So Many Trains”), Reynolds melds poetic lyrics to addictive melodies. His sweet tenor is the icing on the cake.
Jeff Burger’s website, byjeffburger.com, contains five decades’ worth of music reviews, interviews, and commentary. His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters.
