Stereo Review's review of Law & Order, Feb 1982

[Les]

The writer says some things that will not endear him to everyone, but this is a great Law & Order review. I've been interested in finding this one for a while and just got it today.
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Stereo Review, February 1982, Volume 47, No. 2

Best of the Month - Stereo Review’s Selection of Recordings of Special Merit

Lindsey Buckingham’s Subversive “Law and Order”
by Steve Simels

Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac’s lead guitarist and the man singlehandedly responsible for turning that ineffectual troupe of farm-club English blues musicians into one of the two or three biggest record sellers in the Western world, has done a remarkable thing on his first Asylum album, “Law and Order.” Thumbing his nose at conventional wisdom, Buckingham has committed to vinyl a collection of songs (and fragments of songs) that, in the context of a record business made acutely uncomfortable these days by anything to the left of Kenny Rogers, amount to nothing less than a contemporary version of Walt Whitman’s barbaric yawp (that’s in Leaves of Grass, just in case your undergraduate days are too far behind you). Amazingly, however, because he has such strong pop instincts and because he has such impeccable commercial credentials, Buckingham can have it both ways. He can record music that is far more subversive (and a hell of a lot more fun) than anything the Sex Pistols ever dreamed of and know that it will get played on the radio anyway.

Describing just how Buckingham turns this trick in “Law and Order” is not particularly easy, as you might have guessed. Though it is exceedingly well crafted, it is not slick, it is not designed to spawn a hit single to be sung at weddings, bar mitzvahs, or weenie roasts. It is quirky, occasionally whimsical, often pretty, always original and highly personal – all more or less at the same time. And while it may at first appear as lightweight as any other topical tinsel, there are heavy subtexts lurking beneath the surface glitter. That all this should be the work of a comfortably rich member of the mainstream rock Establishment would be nothing short of astonishing were it not for Fleetwood Mac’s earlier “Tusk,” on which Buckingham was the dominant force. This, in many ways, is the sequel to that much underrated effort, and we should have seen it coming.

What Buckingham has produced in this new album is what Pete Townshend once called “the usual gynormous ego-trip,” which is to say, among other things, that with a couple of minor exceptions he played every single note here. That is not, in itself, any big deal. Lots of people (Townshend, for example) have made very good records that way, and lots of people (Todd Rundgren, anyone?) have made very dull ones. Where Buckingham differs from most of those who have gone the one-man-band route is that he isn’t trying to fool you into thinking you’re listening to five people; this stuff wears its artifice on its sleeve. He wants to make interesting noises, not simulate someone’s idea of a rock band, and that gives the whole thing the subtle – and endearing – cast of crackpottery.

The songs, lyrically sketchy and structurally simple, are deliberate means to an end, vehicles for Buckingham’s goal of confounding our expectations of what pop music should sound like. Their creative juices come from the unconventional arrangements and oddball mixing decisions, from the oddly placed drums, from tinkling toy pianos, from the hyper-emotional singing, from the acoustic instruments that pop up where you expected electric ones, and so forth. Some of them are clearly tongue in cheek, and some may be deadly serious – it’s hard to tell. Trouble, for example, is an extremely attractive, wistful little song that, done straight, would not have been out of place on “Rumours.” Here, however, Buckingham’s absurdly breathy vocals and overdubbed chipmunk chorus make it sound strangely paranoid; he’s probably kidding somebody, but it’s an open question whether it’s himself, Fleetwood Mac, or us. The whole album is like that , including, as a bonus, the strangest-ever version of September Song; Walter Huston is turning in his grave.

In rock-absolutist terms, of course, “Law and Order” is a frivolous piece of work: no great issues are addressed, no appeals are made to heart or to conscience, no fabulous new lifestyle vistas are opened. But it’s an important record nonetheless because it challenges the prevailing pop climate in ways rock’s avant-garde is unwilling or unable to: it communicates actual feelings the average listener can relate to. Yes, it demands that you meet it halfway, but it doesn’t assume that you are one of the blessed converted. I think it’s an extremely entertaining record, and a very brave one as well. Would you like to take any bets on how this sublime whoopee cushion of a disc will sell relative to Stevie Nicks' recent vial of vinyl valium?

[wondergirl9847]

Originally Posted by Les

Stevie Nicks' recent vial of vinyl valium?

Ouch!

That's what Lindsey wants...to make non-conventional music. Lindsey music...no other brand.

Thanks for posting, Les.

[amber]

"Stevie Nicks' recent vial of vinyl valium?"


LINDSEY!!!! ROCK!!!
That was a good review, thanks for posting. And i think BD was a bit of a vial of vinyl valium. Cept, Edge, of course, which is the best song evah. I know, I know, the album is great, etc.

[shackin'up]

That's the ONLY positive review I've ever read of this album. And VERY well articulated.

But bella donna still is a masterpiece, too. But in a totally different, more predictible way.

And now I'm off to blast out mary lee jones over headphones.

[Les]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

That's the ONLY positive review I've ever read of this album.

Really? Take a look through the Blue Letter Archives. Law & Order got several very good reviews: The LA Times, Philly Daily News, Washington Post, Rolling Stone. In fact, the Rolling Stone review is a favorite.

[David]

Steve Simels is -- or was -- a cool critic. He was 2nd-string to Noel Coppage in Stereo Review during those years. Noel reviewed (favorably) "Tusk" & Simels reviewed "Rumours," "Law & Order" & even "Bella Donna." Simels was not particularly fond of Nicks (in his review of her first album, he said she had a voice that was as no-nonsense as country belter Brenda Lee, but that her silly lyrics & themes & her personality made her a mooncalf).

In one of the reviews -- I think it was "Bella Donna" -- there was a nice little pic of Stevie onstage in her velour GYOW jacket & top hat during the Tusk Tour.

Thanks for tracking these long-lost wonders down, Les. Uh . . . keep going!!

[hayley]

Wow, what a great review for my absolute favorite of Lindsey's solo work. I've always found Out of the Cradle completely frivolous, Go Insane less so but still aggravating- and have always loved the simplicity, quirkiness, and fun of Law and Order. Always nice to read a review by someone who gets it.

Thanks as always for posting these gems, Les.

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by Les

Really? Take a look through the Blue Letter Archives. Law & Order got several very good reviews: The LA Times, Philly Daily News, Washington Post, Rolling Stone. In fact, the Rolling Stone review is a favorite.

Thanks Les,

I read the reviews back then, when the album came out. Internet and Penguin did not exist at that time. So they were only dutch reviews. When I read those I felt that I was the only human being alive that loved this album

Thanks for the heads up: off to the blue letter archives!

gerald

[Gazza]

This remains my least favourite of Lindsey's solo work, although I still like it.

Go Insane has now replaced Out Of The Cradle at the top. I love the short review at Amazon that begins...

Lindsey's second solo leaves one curious about the state of his mental health.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Gazza

This remains my least favourite of Lindsey's solo work, although I still like it.

Go Insane has now replaced Out Of The Cradle at the top. I love the short review at Amazon that begins...

haha! !

[Les]

I was looking through my PC files and was surprised to see that I also have the Stereo Review review of Go Insane. I didn't even remember I had this. I don't have the author's name, but I'm guessing it might be Simels again based on how he writes.

Stereo Review, November 1984

Best of the Month

Lindsey Buckingham’s Go Insane
by Steve Simels (?)

Lindsey Buckingham’s latest solo album, “Go Insane,” is even more over-the-top than his wonderful “Law and Order” of 1982. The new one is a spectacular, eccentric tribute to the potential of the modern recording studio and to Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s brilliantly innovative Sixties production style. Working again as a one-man band, Buckingham has tinkered up a set of alternately funny and scary little numbers that mostly derive from rock of the most basic sort but (as in his “I Want You,” a “Sweet Jane” rip-off that still sounds like nothing ever heard by the ears of Western Man) are all just askew enough to be profoundly and aesthetically disorienting. There’s nary an opportunity missed here to confound the listener. For the price of admission you get insanely inappropriate instrumental segues, preposterous symphonic percussion, tacky Baroque-sounding keyboards (“Bang the Drum,” my personal favorite), bizarre vocal effects (the chorus of drunken chipmunks on “Go Insane”), even stinging neopsychedelic sitar-like lines (“Play in the Rain”) that could have been lifted from something by the 13th Floor Elevators. And that’s just for openers.

Buckingham isn’t fooling around, really; there’s a genuinely visionary quality to all this, and you get a real sense of a creator trying to cut through the miasma of complacency, boredom, and copy-catism that suffuses most contemporary pop. This is an element of Buckingham’s musical personality that surfaces in his work with Fleetwood Mac only fitfully, and it’s a delight to see him give it free rein again.

[Gabrielle]

Thanks for posting these reviews. I've just been waiting to get approved over here so that I can inundate myself more with FM/Lindsey info and talk. I'm new everyone and look forward to talking with all of you. As for the reviews, good to know the writer has impeccable taste in music! I'd love to hear what he says about Out of the Cradle.

[wondergirl9847]

Welcome to the Ledge, Gabrielle!

[Gabrielle]

Thanks! This is a great board.

[Les]

Originally Posted by Gabrielle

I'd love to hear what he says about Out of the Cradle.

The Cradle review was done by a different writer, but it's also a very good review. From the Blue Letter Archives:

Stereo Review's review of Cradle


Stereo Review, Volume 57, Number 8, August, 1992

Sound Recording Reviews: Out of the Cradle
By Ron Givens
Reviewer's Grade: A

"Out of the Cradle" is the best Fleetwood Mac album in years. Sure, it's attributed to Lindsey Buckingham, but listening to it on a really good sound system not only approaches a religious experience but reveals a larger musical truth: Lindsey Buckingham was the pure-pop genius behind the most successful incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, from the "Fleetwood Mac" album to "Tango in the Night."

Of course, Fleetwood Mac wasn't a one-man band. Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie all made important contributions to the group's sophisticated musical mix. But Buckingham gave it its gorgeous, ersatz-symphonic sound, particularly as his magical touch became more dominant in the studio. You can hear the ear-popping similarities between the Mac and his solo sound more clearly than ever in this album, Buckingham's third on his own and his first since leaving Fleetwood Mac. Just as Keith Richards's first solo album, "Talk Is Cheap," proved that his scruffy guitar was the heart of the Rolling Stones, "Out of the Cradle" shows how essential Lindsey Buckingham's glossy-but-edgy arrangements were to the Big Mac attack.

"Don't Look Down" begins this audio showcase with a crisp, pseudo-classical, acoustic-guitar intro that collapses into a tumble of notes before the actual song kicks in with a well-oiled, bossa-flavored beat. Buckingham croons along breezily on the verses and is joined on the choruses by a lush, one-man choir (himself, overdubbed). The effect as the voices break the word "down" into a series of punchy, angelic syllables - "dow-ow-ow-ow" - would do Brian Wilson proud. These vocal gymnastics are a production theme, as Buckingham isn't afraid to process his voice for dramatic effect, squeezing it into a neurotic falsetto in "Wrong" and deepening it into a robotic basso in "This Is the Time." That wizardry is tame, however, compared to what he does with string instruments: Acoustic guitars become metallic, electric guitars go molten, and he plucks something to get the sound of harpsi-chords, balalaikas, bouzoukis, and music boxes.

All of this imagination is harnessed to richly melodic pop tunes that effortlessly unspool with soaring clarity and vivid atmosphere. "Street of Dreams" and "Surrender the Rain," consecutive songs in the middle of the album, are so vividly evocative that they almost become cinematic; no videos needed here, you can make them up in your mind. Buckingham's musical talents are so strong and varied that you almost don't notice that occasionally his lyrics are somewhat lacking - a little platitudinous here, a little new-agey there. But on the subject of basic human feeling - love, heartbreak, loneliness, contentment - his thoughts and sounds merge masterfully. The album's title refers to the Walt Whitman poem "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking." If we're very lucky, Lindsey Buckingham, now out of the Fleetwood Mac cradle, will rock endlessly - and just this well.