Upon the Fleetwood Mac album, Tusk, being labeled a general failure, Lindsey Buckingham was approached by the talentless Mick Fleetwood, who informed him that the band wouldn't pursue recording in the same manner. What he apparently meant by that was that the band wouldn't record in Buckingham's studio, nor take artistic risks with their material.
You'll of course remember Mick Fleetwood as the guy from the band that contributes nothing to the writing of the material, and simply plays drums while leaching off of everyone else's efforts, and / or sleeping with their women. The guy who's only contribution to the band was his name.
Buckingham saw the writing on the wall, and concluded that if he was going to continue to take risks, and define himself artistically long term, he was going to need to do so by releasing solo albums. He began the process of what would become Law And Order in February 1981, but would put it briefly on hold to return to Mac for his contributions to Mirage. He'd return in June to finalize things, and released the album on October 16 that same year.
Bwana opens the record with its uniquely weird, yet strangely appealing chanting of ra-ta-ta-ta throughout it. From there, things go in all sorts of directions. Blues, rockability, country, adult contemporary, rock, pop, and ballads all fill the spectrum.
I think Record World sums it up best with their review, stating it's, "quite a collection; some of it is lovely, some of it is quirky, and about all of it is appealing." It's such a unique album that it's hard to really pick things out, but despite that challenge, I did ultimately do just that, picking Bwana, That's How We Do It In L.A., Mary Lee Jones, and Trouble.
With that said, I heard nothing that I would label as bad. If anything, I would agree with the retrospective review of William Ruhlmann of AllMusic, where a lot of the songs feel like high quality unfinished demos. So many tracks fade in, or seem to abruptly fade out, and / or have gibberish talking at the beginning, that it just feels unpolished. Good, but still incomplete. Overall, I dig its quirkiness though. It definitely stands out as one of the most unique albums I've heard in a while.
After its release, Buckingham would contribute the tracks Holiday Road, and Dancing Across The U.S.A. to the 1983 comedy, National Lampoon's Vacation. A fun fact about this is that this is where the artist would first hit my young ears, and become relevant to me. Meanwhile, an unfun fact is that the soundtrack has never been released on CD, and vinyl pressings are quite expensive.
In 1984, work began on what would become his second studio album, Go Insane. However, things were temporarily shelved, and work stalled before getting on track. But, we'll go into all of that tomorrow.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS November 29, 1980 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS November 29, 1986 |
