Go Insane is the second solo studio album by American rock musician Lindsey Buckingham, then the lead guitarist and male lead vocalist of Fleetwood Mac. The album was released on July 30, 1984, by Elektra Records and Warner Music Group, while Fleetwood Mac was on a hiatus between albums. It peaked at No. 45 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Two promotional music videos were shot for the album. These include "Go Insane" and "Slow Dancing". Buckingham played all of the instruments on the album except for on "I Want You" and "Go Insane."
The album was dedicated to Buckingham's former girlfriend, Carol Ann Harris, with whom he had just ended a relationship.[2] Harris commented that "Some of it makes me angry...sad. A lot of it is upsetting. But I think there’s a lot of love there. It’s hard for me to listen to it."[3]
Background
Buckingham began Go Insane on a 24 track machine in his garage, where he assembled a series of rough demos. He then temporarily shelved these recordings and waited for Richard Dashut, who had produced Buckingham's 1981 debut album, Law and Order, to complete work on Mick Fleetwood's I'm Not Me album. However, the I'm Not Me sessions lasted longer than anticipated, and Dashut declined Buckingham's offer, citing burnout. As such, Buckingham turned to Roy Thomas Baker, who at the time was the senior VP of worldwide production at Elektra Records. Baker was occupied with production work in England, so Buckingham flew overseas to send Baker the tapes himself. Of the dozen songs Buckingam showed to Baker, eight were entirely scrapped. The only four songs that eventually appeared on the final album were the title track, "Play in the Rain", "I Want You", and "I Must Go". Baker then paired Buckingham with Gordon Fordyce to finish the album.[4]
Unlike Buckingham's previous studio album Law and Order, Go Insane did not include any acoustic drumming. Instead, he programmed the drums on a LinnDrum drum machine and Fairlight CMI sampling synthesizer. Buckingham obtained the instruments in the interim between Law and Order and Go Insane.[5] He primarily used the Linndrum to establish a metronomic beat and played the Fairlight by hand to overdub additional percussive elements. "I certainly can't play drums as well as a Linn can. If I wanted to play something myself, it was just as easy to do it on the Fairlight 'cause the sounds are already there and you don't have to set up a whole kit. Not only that, being able to play drums with two fingers cuts down considerably on the fatigue factor."[6] Buckingham started most of the songs with a programmed drum track and only built upon them once he developed more defined idea of what the finished product would be.[7]
Around halfway through the sessions, Buckingham transferred production work from his home to Cherokee Studios, where most of the lead vocals were recorded. During this time, Buckingham was running low on tracks, so he transferred his material to a Stephens 40-track machine that Roy Thomas Baker leased.[7]
While Buckingham was pleased with the final results of Go Insane, deeming it superior to his first solo album, Law and Order, he remarked that "At times the songs are too dense and people have claimed, with a certain degree of relevance, that the arrangements are too busy. I used the Fairlight Computer on this one and it offers too many musical variations at the touch of a button, which may explain some of the LP’s more glaring faults."[8]
Songs
"I Want You" opens with the sound of alarm bells from a Fairlight CMI. In an interview with Jim Ladd, Buckingham said that he wanted the song to "sound like a bunch of sixteen year-olds in a garage, even to the point where the sound is bordering on being substandard".[9] The title track and "Slow Dancing" were lifted from the album as singles. The former became Buckingham's second top 40 hit in the US.[10]
Buckingham noted that "I Must Go" was about ending a relationship. He stated that that the verses of the song were intended to build up tension while the chorus signified the release of that energy.[7] "Play in the Rain" is a seven minute musique concrète composition split into two parts: one on the end of side one and another on the beginning of side two.[11] On the vinyl version, there is a "locked groove" at the end of side one on the song "Play in the Rain". This allowed the closing section of the song to play through the lead-out groove until the needle reaches the continuous groove near the label of the record.[citation needed] To achieve the sound of a sitar on "Play in the Rain", Buckingham detuned his Stratocaster "until the strings were as loose and pliant as a real sitar".[6]
Inspired by the work of Laurie Anderson, Buckingham sought to make his voice resemble an instrument on "Bang the Drum". To accomplish this, he broke up the lyrics into fragments and sang them individually so that each syllable would alternate from channel to channel.[6] Other songs on the album such as "I Want You" used similar production techniques for the vocals.[9] Buckingham also played two different parts on the Fairlight CMI's harmonium/accordion setting; one was straight eighth notes while the other was gated to create "a steady throbbing effect". Each of these parts were then played three different times in an effort to smooth out sonic discrepancies between the tracks.[6] "D.W. Suite" was dedicated to Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, who had died the December before the album was released.[12] The song is divided into three different sections, one of which features an interpolation of "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", a Scottish folk song.[13] A nineteenth century lap harp was used on "D.W. Suite"; the instrument was gifted to Buckingham by Mick Fleetwood during the Mirage sessions for the song "Empire State".[6]
Go Insane was released on July 30, 1984, and entered Billboard's U.S. album chart on September 1, reaching No. 45. The album received mixed to positive reviews. William Ruhlmann of AllMusic believed that the album prioritized "studio wizardry" over songcraft with the exception of "D.W. Suite".[14]People magazine said that the record was "studded with power pop gems" reminiscent of Buckingham's work with Fleetwood Mac.[17]Rolling Stone believed that the album was Buckingham's "least commercial work, but also his most daring and savory." They further singled out "Bang the Drum" as the album's best song and noted the influence of David Byrne and Brian Wilson within the album's production and music.[15]
Music videos were made for the title track and "Slow Dancing", both of which were shot in England.[18] Buckingham noted that the ideas for these videos "were far more complex in terms of the number of shots, in terms of the rhythm of the editing, in terms of the use of effects... I thought that in some ways the video form seemed to align itself better to my sensibilities, which were somewhat off to the left, potentially anyway, than it would for Fleetwood Mac."[19] In 1985, Buckingham received seven nominations in the MTV Video Music Awards from his Go Insane album; four were for the title track and three were for "Slow Dancing".[20]
Buckingham considered touring to support the album, but explained that some logistical problems rendered it difficult to accomplish this. "I would like to take something on the road that was different. But I'm not gonna go overboard. You need enough people up there, and I'm probably rationalizing because I just can't afford it. There's nothing you could do on this album that could be done with a standard four-piece combo anyway. But at some point, I think I've got a lot of spastic energy onstage that I think I could use to my own good ends."[21] He ultimately decided against touring, which he partially attributed to studio obligations with Fleetwood Mac, although he did tour in support of his third solo album, Out of the Cradle, in 1992.[19]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Lindsey Buckingham, except where noted
^Molanphy, Chris (January 14, 2023). "Thinking About Tomorrow Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast). Slate. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
