Out of the Cradle

Six months after his departure from Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham began work on Out of the Cradle in his home studio.[9][10] Richard Dashut, who worked with Buckingham on many Fleetwood Mac albums, helped co-produce and co-write much of the material on Out of the Cradle.[11] Buckingham sometimes spent 10 to 11 hours in the studio either alone or with Dashut.[10] One song, "Street of Dreams", had elements that date back to the mid-eighties. The middle section was written around 1985 while the verses were completed six years later. Buckingham stated that other songs such as "Soul Drifter" took far less time to write, and noted that the song "was kind of blocked out and completed, words wise, before ever committing it to tape. It was done with a Tin-Pan Alley sensibility in mind".[12]

Out of the Cradle contains multiple instrumental introductions to songs and two covers: "All My Sorrows" and "This Nearly Was Mine", the latter of which was a personal favorite of Buckingham's father. Buckingham took some liberties with "All My Sorrows" by changing the chords and the melody, although the lyrics were retained.[12]

The Los Angeles Times wrote that "it’s impossible to miss the meaning of Out of the Cradle: the primacy of the guitar as an expressive instrument."[4] The Rolling Stone Album Guide thought that "one catchy song after song, the sonic details flesh out the deceptively simple melodies."[6] The Washington Post declared: "The album's stories are told with music, and only Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and a handful of others have made rock-and-roll as rich and powerful as this."[9] Of "Say We'll Meet Again", Magnet wrote that "Buckingham’s Beach Boys/Les Paul & Mary Ford fascination manifests itself on this spare and breezy ballad, which closes Out Of The Cradle in most gentle fashion."[13] Allmusic wrote that along with Michael Nesmith's Tropical Campfires, Out of the Cradle "may be one of the finest and most underrated albums of the 1990s."[14]

All tracks written by Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut except where noted.

Main Performer

• Lindsey Buckingham – vocals, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, bass, drums, percussion, drum and percussion programming

Additional personnel

• Mitchell Froom – organ (14)
• Larry Klein – bass (3, 4, 8, 12)
• Buell Neidlinger – bass (5, 10)
• Alex Acuña – percussion (2, 4, 5, 9, 12)

• Lindsey Buckingham – producer, recording, Polaroid art
• Richard Dashut – producer, recording, Polaroid art
• Greg Droman – recording
• Kevin Killen – recording
• Eric Rudd – recording assistant
• Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
• Lori Fumar – mix assistant
• Talley Sherwood – mix assistant
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Masterdisk (New York City, New York) – mastering location
• Andy Engel – package design
• Greg Gorman – photography
• Ron Slenzak – photography
• Guzman – photography
• Walter Egan – woodcuts
• Michael Brokaw Management – management

The album was released on Cassette, CD and in some countries on Vinyl LP.

Four promotional music videos were shot for Out of the Cradle: "Wrong", "Countdown", "Soul Drifter", and "Don't Look Down". As of 2019, Lindsey Buckingham has released all four of these videos to his official YouTube Channel. [15][16][17][18]