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.