Three years after his first studio album, and still on hiatus from Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham began laying down the demos for what would become the album, Go Insane. However, he'd put the project on hold, waiting for producer Richard Dashut to finish goofing around with the talentless Mick Fleetwood, and his solo project, I'm Not Me. Unfortunately, because Fleetwood only thrives on the talent of others, recording dredged on, resulting in Dashut being burned out when the project was finally completed.
Buckingham would turn to Roy Thomas Baker, and hand deliver the demos to him for review. However, after hearing them, Baker scraped eight of the twelve, and paired the artist with Gordon Fordyce to finish the album.
Things kick off with the amazing, I Want You, a pop rock song which messes with the ears with its bouncing vocals, and then cleans up with a solid guitar lick solo. Go Insane, the song, follows, and really kicks everything into orbit for me. It's also the track which I bought the album for.
My expectations continued to be exceeded with Slow Dancing, and I Must Go, which kept the energy level high, and continued the overall pop rock sound. However, I will agree with Buckingham's own assessment thus far. Recording heavily relied on the use of the Fairlight Computer, which offered too many musical variations at the touch of a button, which were often utilized. Lindsey stated that this, "may explain some of the LP’s more glaring faults." It's a very "noisy" recording, with sounds coming out of every nook and cranny. Not bad, but definitely "busy".
Side one of the record finishes with Play In The Rain, a three and a half minute sound effect driven track, which seemed more so to be an artist playing with his equipment, rather than seriously laying down a track, yet somehow, it made the cut to be added to the final product. This is then followed by the side B opener, Play In The Rain (Continued), and it does just that...It literally continues from where the last one left off. Ironically, as a whole, the two together work, but more so as ambience music. It brings that Buckingham quirk and charm that keeps you hooked, while at the same time questioning yourself as to what you're listening to.
Admittedly, this series of songs kind of fatigued me, and while Loving Cup, and Bang The Drum kept the energy and non-stop sounds coming, I had to take a step back mentally. Mind you, they weren't bad tracks. It was just too much at this point. Sensory overload, perhaps. Things drop off significantly with the final track, D.W. Suite, a tribute to the late Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, who passed away prior to Go Insane being released.
Overall, I favor the first side of the album, but things significantly take a downturn as the back half progresses. Like I said above, I think most of this is brought on by sensory overload. There's just too much happening in each track to keep up with.
As for Lindsey, he finished up the 80's with the contribution of Time Bomb Town to 1985's Back To The Future, and recorded with Fleetwood Mac for their 1987's Tango In The Night before departing the band. He would eventually release his third studio album in 1992, and come back to Fleetwood Mac for 2003's Say You Will.
However, between that gap, he stayed relatively out of the spotlight until the 1997 Fleetwood Mac reunion, and was present for their 1998 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Since then he's continued to tour with them, and returned to his solo career as of 2006, release five more albums through 2021.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS November 30, 1985 |
