Go Insane

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 final the 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.[2]

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 noted that he obtained the instruments in the interim between Law and Order and Go Insane.[3] 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."[4]

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.[5] "D.W. Suite" was written for Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, who had died the December before the album was released.[6] A portion of "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", a Scottish folk song, was interpolated in "D.W. Suite".[7] "Play in the Rain" is a seven minute song split into two parts: one on the end of the first side and one on the beginning of the second side. 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.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]

Go Insane was released on July 30, 1984, and entered Billboard's U.S. album chart on September 1, reaching No. 45. The album has received positive reviews.

Musicians

• Lindsey Buckingham – vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, Fairlight CMI, pump organ (8), LinnDrum, percussion, lap harp (9)
• Gordon Fordyce – keyboards (1), cowbell (1), howling (5)
• Bryant Simpson – bass (2)

Production and artwork

• Roy Thomas Baker – executive producer
• Lindsey Buckingham – producer, recording
• Gordon Fordyce – producer, recording
• John Boghosian – recording assistant
• George Marino – mastering
• Sterling Sound (New York City, New York) – mastering location
• Vigon Seireeni – art direction
• Matthew Rolston – photography
• Michael Brokaw – management

• Go Insane at Discogs (list of releases)