Chris Heim
March 12, 1993
CHICAGO TRIBUNE

In the pop world, four years is a long time. The attention span of the audience is short and the staying power of the talent, like the musical ephemera it produces, is shorter still. So it must have made many a corporate suit sweaty (happy thought) contemplating how the return of Lindsey Buckingham would be received.

It had been four years (eight if you go back to his last solo album) since Buckingham had been in the pop arena.

Buckingham came to prominence as part of the most successful incarnation of Fleetwood Mac. The band, which started as a British blues-rock group (heavily influenced by the greats of Chicago blues) and went through a semi-successful psychedelic/”Oh Well” phase around 1970, was on the verge of collapse when the California pop duo of Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were recruited. A string of artfully crafted hits (“Rhiannon,” “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Say You Love Me” and that popular campaign theme, “Don’t Stop”) followed, along with multimillion sales for the “Fleetwood Mac” and “Rumours” albums.

Buckingham left/was dismissed from Mac in 1987 when he declined to go on tour (two players, Rick Vito and Billy Burnette, were required to fill his shoes). And though he did return to help with the “Tango in the Night” album and make a brief cameo appearance onstage with Mac in 1990, Buckingham was largely invisible until last summer, when he emerged from his home studio with a new solo album called “Out of the Cradle.”

This was to be the acid test for Buckingham. Could the man who many said was the real genius behind Mac’s pop gems deliver more rock jewels? Despite working almost entirely on his own and spending some two to three years on the project, Buckingham delivered one of his (or even Mac’s) most lively, consistent and accomplished albums. His music sparkles with bright, insistent pop hooks and an endless stream of shiny sounds. Listening to “Cradle” is like opening a jewel box or looking out at a star-filled night sky. Twinkling back is a multitude of lights (sounds, tones, instruments), densely packed yet brightly and discretely shining.

In December, Buckingham took the stage for the first time as a solo artist in a showcase California date that won critical raves. He has now launched his first solo tour with a 10-piece band (five guitarists, three percussionists, a bassist and a keyboardist), and his performances are expected to offer a mix of solo material and Mac favorites, solo playing and band numbers. Lindsey Buckingham appears Thursday at Park West.