Out of the Cradle

Upon his departure from Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham refrained from making music for six months. After this period, he returned to his home studio in Los Angeles, where he occasionally spent ten to eleven hours a day working on songs.{{Cite web |date=June 17, 1992|title=Long Beach Press-Telegram (06/17/1992), This Mac is Back...Out of the Cradle |url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=113&c=9 |access-date=July 7, 2023 |archive-date=December 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230162015/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=113&c=9 |url-status=dead}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rhino.com/article/deep-dive-lindsey-buckingham-out-of-the-cradle-0|title=Deep Dive: Lindsey Buckingham, OUT OF THE CRADLE Rhino|website=www.rhino.com|access-date=2020-01-31}} Dashut served as a "sounding board" for Buckingham during the making of Out of the Cradle and offered input on how to approach some of the songs. Buckingham added that Dashut was "great with broad strokes and seeing the big picture" and said that he "tend[ed] to get lost in small details, so it's good to have him around."{{Cite web |last=Trost |first=Isaiah |last2=Tolinski |first2=Brad |date=September 1992 |title=Guitar World (09/1992), The Cradle Will Rock |url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=116&c=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230161430/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=116&c=9 |archive-date=December 30, 2015 |access-date=February 21, 2024 |website=The Blue Letter Archives}}

When making Out of the Cradle, Buckingham decided to pivot away from synthesizers in favor of guitars.{{Cite web |last=Holdship |first=Bill |date=May 1992 |title=BAM Magazine, Number 384 (05/1992), Out of the Cradle...And Into The Blue |url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=92&c=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230162846/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=92&c=9 |archive-date=December 30, 2015 |access-date=January 13, 2024 |website=The Blue Letter Archives}} Buckingham specifically gravitated towards acoustic guitars on Out of the Cradle, particularly nylon-string guitars to make some of his denser compositions sound lighter, although he did utilize electric guitars when the song required it. All of the instruments were recorded directly into the mixing console in mono as opposed to stereo. Gated sounds and other audio effects were generally avoided during the recording process, although Buckingham did double and triple some parts to achieve a "squashed" sound.

One song, "Street of Dreams", had elements that date back to the mid-eighties. The middle section was written around 1985 and the verses were completed six years later. Buckingham said 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".{{Cite web |date=1997 |title=Songwriters On Songwriting, Expanded Edition (1997), (Book Excerpt) |url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=145&c=9 |access-date=July 7, 2023 |website=The Blue Letter Archives |archive-date=December 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230161910/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=145&c=9 |url-status=dead}} Some of the rhythm tracks on the album were programmed on a drum machine, which Buckingham "tried to keep as human and sloppy as possible."

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 his rendition of "All My Sorrows" by changing the chords and the melody, although the lyrics were retained. On "You Do Or You Don't", an original composition, Buckingham quoted a melodic line from "Theme From A Summer Place" as it matched the emotional tone that he envisioned.

Buckingham said that the album title, which referred to Walt Whitman's 1874 poem "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking", related both to his departure from Fleetwood Mac and "the child still rocking around inside of us after we become adults". For some of the lyrics, Buckingham took inspiration from Whitman's poems and the literary work of Dylan Thomas.{{Cite web|last=White|first=Timothy|date=May 23, 1992 |title=Out of the Cradle (Billboard) Lindsey Rocks the Cradle |url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=6858&c=9|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230161725/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=6858&c=9|archive-date=December 30, 2015 |access-date=October 8, 2023 |website=The Blue Letter Archives}} He told BAM magazine that he wanted the album to challenge listeners while still remaining accessible.

Walter Egan created the album's woodcuts, which he gifted to Buckingham as a Christmas present prior to the assembling of the album's packaging.{{Cite web |title=Walter Egan, October 13 - 26, 1999: Section 1 |url=http://fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/walteregan_qa1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313042253/http://fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/walteregan_qa1.htm|archive-date=March 13, 2016 |access-date=January 25, 2024 |website=The Penguin}} Some of Buckingham's family photos were also included in the liner notes. The photo of Buckingham with various recording gear and a black velvet shrine of Elvis Presley was taken at his home recording studio.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys_mL7bYN2A&list=FL6I68YU_gCCnh-QoFo9eUVw |title=Lindsey Buckingham - radio interview by Johnnie Walker, 27th June 1992|date=June 21, 2021 |medium=Interview |language=en-US |access-date=March 23, 2025 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Ys_mL7bYN2A |archive-date=23 March 2025 |url-status=live |via=YouTube |people=Walker, Johnny; Lindsey Buckingham}}{{cbignore}}{{Reference page|location=6:32–6:43}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGcjAaPCFUU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/YGcjAaPCFUU |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=Lindsey Buckingham - Soul Drifter (Official Music Video)|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1jLiw_Ih9U |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/Y1jLiw_Ih9U |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=Lindsey Buckingham - Countdown (Official Music Video)|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKcsqsOyRxQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/RKcsqsOyRxQ |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=Lindsey Buckingham - Don't Look Down (Official Music Video)|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-xZDk_zzrk |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/u-xZDk_zzrk |archive-date=December 15, 2021|url-status=live|title=Lindsey Buckingham - Wrong (Official Music Video)|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}

In support of the album, Buckingham embarked on his first solo tour.{{Cite web |last=Boehm |first=Mike |date=1992-12-10 |title=LIFE AFTER MAC : At the Coach House, Lindsey Buckingham Will Be Playing His First Concert Since His Old Band Broke Up |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-10-ol-2617-story.html |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=L.A. Times}} Portions of the debut concert in Los Angeles were released on the live album Never Going Back Again in 2023 on Spotify.

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." The Rolling Stone Album Guide said that "one catchy song after song, the sonic details flesh out the deceptively simple melodies." 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."{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1992/06/21/fleetwood-mac-alumni-on-their-own/728d48fe-f851-4465-9fbe-d129358b9444/|title=Fleetwood Mac Alumni, On Their Own|first=Geoffrey|last=Himes|date=June 21, 1992|work=Washington Post}} 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."{{Cite web|url=https://magnetmagazine.com/2011/09/15/magnet-makes-a-lindsey-buckingham-mix-tape/|title=MAGNET Makes A Lindsey Buckingham Mix Tape|date=September 15, 2011}} 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."{{Citation |title=Michael Nesmith - Tropical Campfires|website=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/tropical-campfires-mw0000616274 |access-date=May 19, 2023 |language=en}}

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

{{Track listing

|title1 = Instrumental Introduction To:

|note1 = Buckingham

|length1 = 0:25

|title2 = Don't Look Down

|note2 = Buckingham

|length2 = 2:47

|title3 = Wrong

|length3 = 4:19

|title4 = Countdown

|note4 = Buckingham

|length4 = 3:21

|title5 = All My Sorrows

|note5 = The Kingston Trio

|length5 = 4:01

|title6 = Soul Drifter

|note6 = Buckingham

|length6 = 3:27

|title7 = Instrumental Introduction To

|length7 = 0:41

|title8 = This Is the Time

|length8 = 4:49

|title9 = You Do or You Don't

|length9 = 3:37

|title10 = Street of Dreams

|length10 = 4:28

|title11 = Spoken Introduction To

|length11 = 0:46

|title12 = Surrender the Rain

|length12 = 3:36

|title13 = Doing What I Can

|note13 = Buckingham

|length13 = 4:05

|title14 = Turn It On

|length14 = 3:50

|title15 = This Nearly Was Mine

|note15 = Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein

|length15 = 1:36

|title16 = Say We'll Meet Again

|note16 = Buckingham, Robert Aguirre

|length16 = 2:28

}}

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)

Production

• 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

{{reflist}}

{{Lindsey Buckingham}}

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Category:Lindsey Buckingham albums

Category:1992 albums

Category:Albums produced by Richard Dashut

Category:Albums produced by Lindsey Buckingham

Category:Reprise Records albums

Category:Song recordings produced by Richard Dashut

Category:Albums recorded in a home studio