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- Verified Buyer
With his 1984 solo album "Go Insane", Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham delivered an album that ingeniously combines hard-hitting songwriting with bracing, thrilling production and great arranging.The problem with Buckingham tends to be that he doesn't have the raw materials to justify all of his "insanity", and his work ends up sounding badly forced and at times grating; however, this extremely cathartic album is a huge exception. Aside from the first track, Buckingham composed every track here himself, and he also does all the vocals/ plays all the instruments on all but 3 tracks (and of those 3, he still sings/ plays nearly everything), and track after track oozes confidence and brilliance.Don't let anyone fool you into thinking this album has a "generic '80s sound". Actually, this album strikingly foreshadows a considerable amount of what George Michael did on his 1987 "Faith" album which is widely hailed as a masterpiece. Compare the layered, seemingly vari-speed vocals of Lindsey's "I Must Go" with those on George's "I Want Your Sex (Part 1)", both of which are extremely edgy tracks, and you'll have a good idea of what I'm getting at; plus, both Lindsey & GM played all of the instruments on their respective tracks.The back cover of the "Go Insane" album shows Buckingham staring at a naked woman, which is a perfect complement for the music inside. The delirious carnival-from-hell style opening track "I Want You", the stomping title track, & "Slow Dancing" each have richly harmonized, irresistibly catchy choruses. The romantically/ sexually-obsessive "Slow Dancing" is absolutely brilliant--masterfully detailed and executed, it makes great use of a characteristic Buckingham bass line, featuring his ingenious "music box"-style instrumental breaks, and a fade-out that gives way to a lone waltzing acoustic guitar; this track is a great example of the kind of terrific details/ hooks that are packed into track after track. The explosively funky "I Must Go" is another uncanny, ultra-catchy, intricately arranged gem of a track (good grief, just listen to the VOCALS); and "Play In the Rain"/ "Play In the Rain (Continued)" are a cool mix of sound collage with Oriental-ish influences & effective use of a simple guitar progression (though the former is marred a little by the annoying panting sounds).Fans of Buckingham's guitar playing will finds lots to sink their teeth into here. Also, over the course of the album, Buckingham gets a ton of mileage out of various techniques including crashing electronic percussion, methodologically placed sound effects, and stereo tricks such as having each syllable of the lyric alternating between each stereo channel. The one track where he goes relatively easy on the stereo tricks is the bluesy "Loving Cup", and Lindsey's vocals on this track are kind of buried in the mix as well--but even this is a wild track that totally gets under your skin.The "ballad" "Bang the Drum" is a track you could accurately describe as a disorienting "updating" of 1950's style doo-wop. Quite intriguing stuff.The album closer is the 3-part "D.W. Suite" (D.W. standing for Dennis Wilson, of the Beach Boys, who died in 1983)--the first part, "The Wish", starts it off as a gorgeously-melodic, emotional ballad before working its way through "The Prayer" & "The Reflection" sections--Buckingham's reach did exceed his grasp on these last 2 which slip over into obnoxiousness.Despite the flaws, this is an overall brilliant, fully-realized, mind-blowing album, and if you're curious/ confused as to why Buckingham has such a huge reputation, this is the ideal album to get, because he truly lives up to his reputation on this wild masterpiece.
