Customer Reviews

Law & Order

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I fished this out of the cutout rack because of the radio song ('Trouble'). I had to listen to it a few times before it made sense. But every year I like it better. Alternatively weepy and acerbic, just about every track packs some kind of punch. Wouldn't Paul McCartney have loved to have written 'Shadow of the West'? Buckingham played most of the parts and made ample but effective use of studio gimmickry. And he's a genuine wizard of six string instruments. Songs like 'Mary Lee Jones' and 'That's How We Do it in LA' are goofy and edgy at the same time. I listened to his later records but didn't encounter quite the same creativity that led to this gem.

If you took all the Buckingham tracks off of the Fleetwood Mac masterpiece "Tusk" and assembled them onto one solo album, the resulting project would not be too far away from "Law and Order". This album is the first time we get to hear Buckingham outside the constraints of the Fleetwood Mac machine. Spare and simple, all the tracks explode with incredible energy and individuality. Except for a few, Lindsey plays all the instruments and is responsible for all the vocals with the exception of a few nice back up contributions from Christine McVie. "Law and Order" finally made fans realize just how responsible the Buckingham "sound" was for Fleetwood Mac's success. Much of what many thought was Stevie Nicks's harmonies was infact layers of Lindsey Buckingham's vocals. Highlights include "Bwana"( a tale of bandmate Mick Fleetwood's trip to Ghana to record with drum musicians) "Trouble" with gorgeous acoustic guitar solo, and Johnny Stew.

Law and Order is a very inappropriate title for this album. It is a mixed bag of experimental sounds that broke just about every musical "law" in its day and probably is still too "out there" for even today's average listener. Every song has some surprise or hook that grabs attention. Voices (Lindsey has many to choose from) range from soft and sweet to wacky and cartoonish. I first bought this album in 1987 (six years after release, but my first year as a Fleetwood Mac fan) and after 15 years of listening to it, I'm still not used to it.

That covers the oddness of this album. Now for the good part: the songs are great. Lindsey's guitar work is awesome, as always. There is an energetic, impish quality to the entire album, even the slow soft songs. "Trouble" is truly a classic track that could easily have been a huge hit if it were on a Fleetwood Mac album. The guitar solo at the end is a blistering, finger picking prelude to what he would eventually focus much of his work towards.

The one issue here for a music fan who is trying to decide whether or not they would like this album is this: How experimental can music go before it puts you off? How playful can a musician get before you are disturbed by his music? If you can put up with it just a little, there will be at least a few songs here that you will enjoy. If you don't think it would bother you at all, this album will spend a whole lot of time in your cd player.

Released from the confines of Fleetwood Mac and collaboration with Stevie Nicks for the first time, Buckingham was free to explore his eclectic musical influences, and explore he did. He mixes original material with classic cover versions, and while the comedy vocals on September Song and the kazoo solo on Bwana may not be to everyone's taste, his sense of fun really comes through on this album.

Listening to songs like Shadows of the West, Trouble, and A Satisfied Mind, you can hear the progression of ideas that began with Tusk, and later developed fully on Out of the Cradle. The two albums sit happily side by side, although they were separated by more than ten years. Once again he lets rip on his guitar, producing gems like Mary Lee Jones, Johnny Stew and the positively jaunty Love From Here, Love From There.

Overall, this album is a highly enjoyable departure from the more collaborative process of Fleetwood Mac, and reveals the kind of musician Buckingham might have been had he not been tempered, or perhaps stifled, by the band.

Okay, so I admit the reason I rate this a four star album is for one cut...Trouble. For me that one song is worth the price of the CD. I could play it over and over and never tire of it. Granted it has special memories for me (it came out when I was in college), but there is something about the song...Lindsey's voice, the beat, the instrumentation, all of it combines to create one of those songs that I haven't forgotten in all of these years. Everyone has a few of "those kind of songs" hanging around; if it grabs you, that's it; you're hooked, and I'm hooked on Trouble. The rest of the album has a few cool songs and some not so cool. But it was a brave effort on Lindsey's part and I salute him for it. And like I say, Trouble is worth the price.

I'm a Lindsay fan when he's with Fleetwood Mac: I think he keeps the "teeth" in their sound (along with Fleetwood's drumming) that helps them stay away from drifting into sappy adult contemporary pop they'd otherwise find themselves swamped in. His experimentalism was a big part of what made their comeback album SAY YOU WILL pretty decent.

Having now heard all the band output back to the early days, I've been borrowing solo CDs from the library and this was one of the first because of the inclusion of "Trouble" which I remembered fondly from the 80s. I can't say I'm not a bit underwhelmed at this disc as a whole.

The artistic reaching is definitely here (nearly all instruments are played by Lindsay and tricks like the dischordant jam that ends "Mary Lee Jones" or the laughing in the instrumental fade of "I'll Tell You Now" still turn up) but the songs themselves aren't strong enough.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Trouble" was the hit back when and it still sounds decent, although I'm struck now with how little there is to it lyrically..2 short verses and chorus ad infinitum. It isn't wearing as well with time as Lindsay's Mac hits. "It was I" is a cover of an obscure 50s track from Skip and Flip. It's a nice tune but I don't really care for the "little kid" harmony from Carol Harris."That's How We Do it in L.A." was too stripped back to ever be a hit but that's Top 40's loss. Buckingham yelps out a wonderfully biting jab. ("You'll win prizes if you stay...") It's pretty ironic that at the height Of Buckingham's largesse he decided to cover Porter Wagoner's paean to simple living ("A Satisfied Mind"). Despite the aesthetic problem of adapting the working class hymn to laid back California pop, it works pretty well.

LOWS:
"Johnny Stew" wastes the best guitar riff here..and a nice production..on throwaway lyrics in tribute to John Stewart [ex-Kingston Trio. The pair teamed up on Stewart's 80s hit "Gold".]("Johnny,Johnny,Johnny/Everybody's talking about the amazing Johnny Stew"). "September Song" is a boring retread of a classic Tin Pan Alley standard as Lindsay offers a strained vocal over a shattered musicbox backing.

BOTTOM LINE:
Diehard Buckingham fans and Mac completists will probably have to have this, but I find later solo CDs more interesting from him (OUT OF THE CRADLE particularly has some tasty stuff). Despite occasional edginess, this is mostly very subdued fare.

The bad news for those who only want "Trouble" is that it only appears on one other CD, a lackluster grouping of "FM hits" (ASIN B00008F0CE). Isn't it about time for a release of a well selected single disc anthology for Stevie's ex?

2 1/2 stars

Three of the five members of Fleetwood Mac from their chart-topping period--Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Christine McVie--have had successful careers on their own, most of all Nicks, unjustly. But I suspect Buckingham has the most talent. Case in point, "Law and Order," his debut, which dives off from the aggressive pseudomacho new wave experimentation of Buckingham's "Tusk" compositions, one track after another rife with colour, quirk, and energy, drowning in studio wizardry. If nowhere else, Buckingham is a genius in the studio: these eleven tracks are impeccably produced, so much so that it would cheapen the record if the songs weren't so good. Not that there's anything brilliant about the songs, really, not even the smooth-on-the-ears, heavy-on-the-heart "Trouble," which pierced the Top Ten (#9) in '81 (how about that?). They're just good songs with great production. In this case, that's plenty.

Lindsey,

Thanks for a lifetime of wonderful music. When I heard ''Trouble'' again I had the opportunity to dance with my beautiful three year old daughter and share a very magical moment with her. God bless you and your family and thanks for sharing your gift with us.

Ted

No one can ever accuse Lindsey Buckingham of playing it safe. For his first solo album apart from super-group Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham decided to continue the experimental sound that he began on 1979's TUSK. Instead of crafting a routine pop/rock effort that surely would have guaranteed commercial success, Buckingham chose to continue his pursuit of the testing the limits of the conventional rock sound. This results in a wildly eclectic, but fascinating, recording.

The bulk of LAW AND ORDER is given over to the skewed take on fifties rock n' roll that made up the bulk of TUSK. The breakneck tracks "Bwana" and "Mary Lee Jones" burst forth with a madcap energy that would have traumatized even Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry, while "I'll Tell You Now" and "Love from Here, Love from There" are harmonious, choral-driven love anthems that would make the Beach Boys proud. There is a carnal aggression behind "That's How We Do It in L.A." and "Johnny Stew," both of which mix nervy, warped instrumentation with a wicked sense of ironic humor. In between such aural chaos contains major pop gems like the haunting smash hit "Trouble" (#9 Pop, #12 Mainstream Rock) and the absolutely gorgeous "Shadows of the West."

All of Buckingham's original material is first-rate, although his success with cover songs is a mixed bag. Buckingham's helium voiced, paranoid cover of Skip & Flip's early-sixties' doo-wop hit "It Was I" is loopy fun, where all of the oddball production gimmicks combine to create a giddy masterpiece. Unfortunately, the covers of the Maxwell Anderson/Kurt Weill Tin Pan Alley standard "September Song" and Porter Wagner's country hit "Satisfied Mind" sound clanky and awkward under Buckingham's cluttered production, leaving them sounding more like a string of production tricks rather than actual songs. This is forgivable, however, given that it only occurs twice.

Although LAW AND ORDER was well-received by most music critics when originally released, it failed to match Stevie Nicks' concurrent solo release BELLA DONNA in sales and popularity. Still, LAW AND ORDER peaked at a respectable #32 on Billboard's Hot 200 and further solidified Buckingham's position as the current king of avant-garde rock. The disc is brave, bold, and daring, and will be best appreciated by more adventurous listeners. All the album's sum may be a little off, it's parts are often brilliant.

When Lindsey Buckingham decided to give Fleetwood Mac a break in 1980, he started work on his 1st ever solo album "Law And Order" #32 in 1981, this album had all the trademarks of "Tusk", "Law And Order" would go gold. Quirky,Nervous energy, western and sentimental music abounds inside this disc. You get his only top 10 hit "Trouble" #9, 3 remakes in "September Song", "It Was You" his 2nd single and "Satisfied Mind" this version is a great take. Also you get "Mary Lee Jones" kind of a Kingston Trio song with a wild guitar finish, the nervous energy of "Johnny Stew", the western feel of "Shadow Of The West" with harmonies by Christine McVie, the new wavy sounds of "That's How We Do It In L.A.",with a mysterious background vocal that's sounds like **@##! up! The 40's feel of "Love From Here, Love From There" and a 50's vibe on "I'll Tell You Now" this one is smooth music. Lindsey has produced 6 solid solo records since 1981, but "Law And Order", remains his most quirky. I've listened to this album for 30 years now, and never get tired of it. Also a great cover of a young 31 year old Lindsey Buckingham.