Lindsey Buckingham: C o' D?

They should put out an album called Campell Finn and recreate the Buckingham Nicks cover photo and font.

clearly Lindsay could get along with everyone but Stevie, as there was that 2017 record that by all rights is a Fleetwood Mac record but they couldn't call it that cuz Nicks wasn't involved…

It's hard to really feel like there are good guys and bad guys here, just a bunch of rich weirdos (not as rich as they'd like, I guess) with different priorities. I don't begrudge Stevie being at a point where she's like, "Let's just go out and play the songs people love and get their adulation and money." Or Lindsey still wanting to create new stuff. I can understand both of those POVs.

Team Both Sides.

I've looked at Mac from both sides now

I used to think all these rock stars would age out of their stupid grudges - if Axl Rose can do it, surely anybody can, right? But I guess there’s something in the water in Laurel Canyon that turns everyone into 16 year olds, emotionally, forever. I still think in FM and CSNY’s case things have basically shaken out to separate the children from the adults, even if we’re speaking in relative terms - whether it’s 3 or 4 against 1, the lone guy is definitely the child and the asshole. As much as Lindsey was the architect of the FM sound, we already know he’s an abuser - I really don’t think Stevie has to explain why she never wants to work with him again, but if these tantrums keep playing out in public she might.

With CSNY I always thought Stills was the asshole. Just like with the Eagles I thought Don was king prick. I was wrong. But again you have to add “relatively speaking” with these fucking people.

'scream' is incredible #teamlindsey

Stevie Nicks was nervous. It was 1973, and the then-25-year-old singer and her guitarist boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham were posing for the cover of their first album, “Buckingham Nicks.”

Their record label had asked the duo to look “sexy,” and the bookish Nicks was already feeling self-conscious when the photographer told her to remove her diaphanous white blouse.

She didn’t want to do it. Buckingham lost it.stevie

“Don’t be a f–king child,” the then-24-year-old guitarist snapped. “This is art!”

Nicks and Buckingham met in high school in San Mateo, Calif. They were in a band called Fritz when they decided to move to Los Angeles and launch a career as a duo in 1971.

Yet while Nicks hustled to make rent, cleaning houses and waiting tables, Buckingham, who said he couldn’t work because he had to devote himself to music full-time, would spend most of the day smoking hash with his friends.One time, during a heated argument in front of the band in 1987, Buckingham, the book says, “manhandled Stevie, slapped her face and bent her backward over the hood of his car. He put his fingers around her neck and started to choke her.”

yeah, that 1987 incident was talked about at the time; it's insane how much perfidy we excused for the sake of Solitary Male Genius.

I like the music obv but him comparing her to Trump was so infuriating in context

stevie released as statement

https://www.nme.com/news/music/stevie-nicks-makes-first-public-statement-on-lindsey-buckinghams-exit-from-fleetwood-mac-3041963

“Following an exceedingly difficult time with Lindsey at MusiCares in New York, in 2018, I decided for myself that I was no longer willing to work with him. I could publicly reflect on the many reasons why, and perhaps I will do that someday in a memoir, but suffice it to say we could start in 1968 and work up to 2018 with a litany of very precise reasons why I will not work with him.

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“To be exceedingly clear, I did not have him fired, I did not ask for him to be fired, I did not demand he be fired. Frankly, I fired myself. I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my well-being. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it.

“I have championed independence my whole life, and I believe every human being should have the absolute freedom to set their boundaries of what they can and cannot work with. And after many lengthy group discussions, Fleetwood Mac, a band whose legacy is rooted in evolution and change, found a new path forward with two hugely talented new members.

“Further to that, as for a comment on “family”—I was thrilled for Lindsey when he had children, but I wasn’t interested in making those same life choices. Those are my decisions that I get to make for myself. I’m proud of the life choices I’ve made, and it seems a shame for him to pass judgment on anyone who makes a choice to live their life on their own terms, even if it looks differently from what his life choices have been.”

Really great review for Pitchfork, Alfred --

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lindsey-buckingham-lindsey-buckingham/

Thanks!

really enjoyed that, made me want to check out the album

Yeah, a good 'un. He can be tricky to write about on his own terms, but you pulled it off.

A pain in the ass too, for I didn't wanna concentrate on The Drama.

“In the blissful exile of the recording studio, Lindsey Buckingham dreams of a dozen music boxes tinkling beautifully in various keys without cease.”Wow! @SotoAlfred is new to me but now has my attention. Throwing heat on @pitchfork. https://t.co/Yn24DSP3yS

— Michael Chabon (@michaelchabon) September 14, 2021

great review, deserves the accolades

cool

stevie effectively giving an ultimatum after whatever happened between them at musicares makes way more sense than any of the other narratives that had previously been thrown around

Pretty awesome - outstanding job Alfred!

thanks all!

I've noticed that cheap concert tickets have been surprisingly easy to come by in NYC. It must be COVID that's impacting the demand but I took a risk on Buckingham's show tonight as the side areas were pretty empty and I found a pair on the outer edge that someone wanted to unload for about half their face value after fees. Excellent, excellent show, I've never seen a performer of this level more happy and grateful to be on a stage. Only downside was hearing some misogynist douchebag yelling an insult about Stevie Nicks.

haha "swan song" has breakbeats!

something really funny about him getting into late 90s drum loops 25 years late

"Power Down" is my jam.

Marc Maron interview with him: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1248-lindsey-buckingham?fbclid=IwAR3BOMbdMsY4IDy6fm11Z0Wrr33M1w3oPYYA68ForYAtHPfeQFieyLQyuqY

Snarky remarks on the Kirwan-Welch period, what he calls "the non-sequitur" years.

i.e the best ever

I concur with everyone, great album, first half in particular. On first listen I thought it might be feel like there were FM ghosts on it, that I'd want to hear these songs played by them, but that didn't wind up being the case.

he's got every play in the manipulative abuser handbook down pat

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/lindsey-buckingham-suggests-stevie-nicks-still-in-love-with-him-fleetwood-mac-191258119.html

“I Don’t Mind” is pretty undeniable. It’s also pretty clearly a track he wrote for FM – the background vocal oohs and flutters are tailor-made for Nicks and McVie.

As for him getting the boot from FM, my theory has been that Nicks came to the realization post-MeToo that she shouldn’t live with an unrepentant abuser in her life any longer, no matter how good the music they make together is. Her recent statement pretty much does nothing to dispel that theory.

Based on re-reading this thread and Alfred’s appreciation for it, I listened to Out of the Cradle this am and was … not super moved by it. For one, despite being 48 minutes it feels like 70, with all the interludes and whatnot. A lot of the tracks sort of bleed together as well – with fuzzy, aggressively fingerpicked guitars, similar tempos and a very early 90’s production polish. It feels like a record that took five years to finish. All that said, I think it’s a decent record – but it lacks the hooks and production zigzags of a Go Insane.

A few other things:

1) The “Lindsey only goes back to FM bc he is unjustly ignored as a solo artist” argument feels wrong footed. Despite the fact that most of his records aren’t particularly commercial (see above), he’s had a handful of hits (“Trouble,” “Go Insane”) and doesn’t seem to lack for label support. Per the “his best solo stuff seems to have Mick on it” comment above, it does feel like his best solo material would have made great Mac tracks – from the whole first side of Go Insane to “I Don’t Mind” on his self-titled this year.

2) To that point, the Buckingham McVie record has some pretty fun FM moments on it – “Sleeping Around the Corner” is fucking great (the fuzz bass from John is great). The documentary about the making of it is kind of hilarious bullshit in light of Lindsey getting canned a year later. Anyway, they probably should have just made this a FM record without Stevie and called it Say You Won’t.

3) Some of the commentary upthread about Stevie not wanting to record new music seems critical. I am pretty on record as saying Lindsey seems like a horrible person (kudos to Alfred for tucking in the abuse stuff to his review in Pitchfork). But when you get beyond what a bunch of overgrown children all of the members are, Stevie’s series of actions toward Lindsey really does feel consistent with that of an abuse survivor: feelings of codependency (relying on him—or other collaborators—for arranging her work), a guilty sense of comfort within the confines of abuse (touring and recording together because it pays the bills described upthread), a last straw that brings all those feelings to a head (being mocked while she spoke at an awards show). It’s hard for me to see it any other way.

finally listened and new album is impressive

though there's definitely backing vocals (autotuned?) stuff where it's clear it should have been fleetwood mac songs and those parts were meant for stevie or christine

I don’t believe the background vox are so much “autotuned” as sampled, manipulated and sequenced into little melodies. He’s been doing this on most of his records since the mid-80s – and it’s probably most heavily featured on Tango In the Night, where I gather everybody (okay, mostly Stevie) was so drugged out it was the only way he could get them on the record.

it should have been fleetwood mac songs and those parts were meant for stevie or christine

But wasn't this record completed (as a solo album) before he was kicked out of the band? I'm sure he feels he can do Fleetwood Mac on his own anyway(except maybe for the drumming).

But wasn't this record completed (as a solo album) before he was kicked out of the band? I'm sure he feels he can do Fleetwood Mac on his own anyway(except maybe for the drumming).

That's what I heard. I went through his solo records and I would go with Out of the Cradle and the new self-titled album as his two best and most fully-realized albums. More than the others, they both sound like they could've been Fleetwood Mac albums, or at least a "modern" continuation of the 1975 Fleetwood Mac LP and Rumours. I wouldn't say that's why they're the best - there's quite a few solo cuts that I like which don't sound like that - but it does make them more accessible as a whole, and it's possible making something more accessible means making something more cohesive and even from end-to-end.

Yeah, this album has supposedly been done for 4 years. I want to say his songs from his original unreleased "Gift of Screws" were more or less identical to the ones from that album that ended up on "Say You Will."

Yeah, it looks like (afaict) four tracks from the then-unreleased "Gift of Screws" ended up on "Say You Will" more or less unchanged, and two or three were released on that album with "additional overdubs."

Josh, what do you think of the original Gift of Screws? Great lost album or at least Buckingham's best?

I'll be honest, I've never really listened to it too much, not as an album, mostly because just about everything associated with it ended up on another album anyway, more or less.

He finished this album in 2017.

I don’t believe the background vox are so much “autotuned” as sampled, manipulated and sequenced into little melodies.

Otm. He's a master at this.

pic.twitter.com/6BM5o0vy2F

— SNL Hosts Introducing the Musical Guest (@snlhostsintro) October 10, 2021

COBURN!

L Buckz a lil keyed up…

https://videopress.com/v/nyhChSvF

like neil young in crazy horse mode but the backing band is actually tight.

That performance reminds me that "Trouble" is built on the same two-chord progression and the same tempo as "Dreams". This can't have escaped him, I wonder if it was an intentional statement: "See what I can do with this pattern!"

Yeah, or "See what I can do with this cocaine!"

Better quality:

https://vimeo.com/442118162

Plus even bigger coke energy:

https://vimeo.com/442118899

xxpost They're not the same chords at all, though, are they?