BY JAY ROBERTS (SPECIAL TO LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE)

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s that I have acquired through Purchase Street Records in New Bedford, MA.

The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from the 1980’s through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums.

These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

Lindsey Buckingham’s Go Insane (1984)

When this album was originally released, I loved the title track. But in all honesty, I don’t think I’ve actually heard the song in the proceeding three decades. You can chalk this entire album up to the notion that sometimes feeling nostalgic or indulging yourself in it comes back and bites you in the butt rather than remind you of good times long past.

I’m not one that looks to go negative in a review or hope to be entirely positive. I just want to give my opinion on what I hear for the good or the bad. But since reviews should consist of more than “This Sucks!” here goes…

I’m not entirely sure what the point of the album was for Buckingham. The title track doesn’t live up to my memory of it at all. The vocals are entirely overproduced which leads them to seem either buried in the overall mix or treated as an afterthought throughout.

The “song” called “Play In The Rain” is the last song on the first side of the album and carries over to be the first song on side two. The only problem is that the track comes off more as a conceptual and/or experimental exercise rather than a real song. It’s a mostly existential wankfest. And that’s probably the kindest thing I can say about pretty much everything on this release. It is like the ability to write a quality song somehow deserted Buckingham here. The fact that I actually liked the title track when it was first release is kind of embarrassing now that I’ve looked back at it.

Even the most interesting song, “Loving Cup”, is ruined by the vocal production. I think if I ended up listening to this album again, I just might live up to its title and actually “go insane” for real.