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Lindsey Buckingham, Release Info, Reviews, Solo Activity

Lindsey Buckingham – Three Under The Skin Reviews

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
“Under the Skin”
Friday, October 6, 2006
Washington Post

“WHEN THE STAGE IS DEAD and empty,” Lindsey Buckingham asks on his new album, “. . . what’s it all about, sitting there on your own?” For the man who led Fleetwood Mac to some of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest commercial and artistic triumphs, the stage has been empty for a long time.

Before this year, he had released just one solo album, one Mac-reunion live album and one Mac-reunion studio album. What was he doing on his own all those years? Well, for one thing, he was making the homemade demos that became the weird, often flawed, often exhilarating solo album “Under the Skin.”

It resembles neither the classic Fleetwood Mac albums nor anything on the radio today. It is a stripped-down production in which Buckingham plays one or two guitars against maybe a rhythm loop and his own whispery high tenor. The lyrics, which often suggest bad high school poetry, are no more than hints about the real drama that lies in the music. But that music is often magnificent, even in the claustrophobic confines of this one-man band. Like his hero Brian Wilson, Buckingham has a knack for composing captivating melodies that he can then harmonize to suggest expansive hopes or crushing frustration.

When he asks, “What’s it all about?” on the song “Show You How,” his wife answers by telling him to slow down, but she does so in a syncopated, ricocheting melody that is more dizzying than calming. The title track is an intoxicating tug-of-war between the swooning vocals and the layered strumming guitars. He similarly stretches the harmonies on two obscurities from the ’60s: the Rolling Stones’ “I Am Waiting” and Donovan’s “Try for the Sun.”

Buckingham handles every instrument and vocal himself except on two tracks, when he is joined by his old bandmates Mick Fleetwood and/or John McVie. On one of those tracks, “Down on Rodeo,” he seems to muse on his old band: “We never took quite enough chances / We never had quite enough time.” On this album, Buckingham has taken some chances and has certainly taken his time.

— Geoffrey Himes

Appearing Monday at the State Theatre.

– –

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
“Under the Skin”
By George Lang
The Oklahoman
Oct 6th, 2006

Whenever I talk or write about Lindsey Buckingham, it always requires too much explanation that borders on apology. Fleetwood Mac’ s retroactive cool quotient took an upswing thanks to Midlake’s recent musical homage, “The Trials of Van Occupanther,” but Fleetwood Mac’s hipness factor generally hovers at the level of khakis and sedans. Consequently, Buckingham’s reputation as one of popular music’s most peculiar and fascinating talents suffered when in fact he belongs on rock ‘n’ roll’s Mount Olympus.

“Reading the paper, saw a review / Said I was a visionary, but nobody knew. Now, that’s been a problem,” Buckingham sings on “Not Too Late,” the first track on his first solo disc in 14 years, “Under the Skin.” This kind of self-referential ego exploration might seem distasteful coming from other quarters, but Buckingham earned the right to wonder about this long ago. Part of the problem is the specter of his former band.

Under Buckingham’s leadership, Fleetwood Mac made complicated music that went down easy. When he joined the group in 1975, the former blues band that had been trying to find a new direction started enjoying giant commercial hits such as “Rhiannon,” “Dreams” and “Go Your Own Way,” but this was not typical soft rock. Listen intently to any of Mac’s hits from 1975-87, and chord progressions, counter-melodies, bass lines and production touches leap out that barely make sense. “Go Your Own Way” is especially squirrelly for such a huge hit: The rhythm and melody seem to be fighting with each other, and given the context of the song and 1977’s “Rumours” album as a whole, that might have been the point.

As chief arranger for the group, Buckingham took fairly conventional song structures and wove counter-intuitive modalities into them. Stevie Nicks’ “Sara,” from 1979’s “Tusk,” has a pretty basic doo-wop melody for its chorus, but then Buckingham would snake some chords around it that were beautiful but off-the-charts eccentric. Buckingham seems to hear music differently than most of his peers, and that’s obvious on “Under the Skin.”

Since his last solo disc, 1992’s “Out of the Cradle,” Buckingham has supercharged the finger-picking style he employed on earlier songs such as “Never Going Back Again” — he plays unfiltered acoustic with flamenco-like speed, intricacy and fluidity on “Shut Us Down,” “Not Too Late” and his brilliant reinterpretation of Donovan’s “To Try for the Sun.” Those suspecting Buckingham of overdubbing should check YouTube for the rendition of “Here Comes the Sun” he played after George Harrison’s death. Purists might not like it, but his full capability is on display.

But what was so frustrating for Buckingham fans was the popular perception that he was simply Fleetwood Mac’s weirdest member not wearing lace shawls or bugging out his eyes behind a drum kit. When he left the band in 1987, the band had to hire two fairly great session musicians to do his job. But proficiency is not the same as invention, and Fleetwood Mac quickly fell apart. Nicks fans always thought their favorite witch was the indispensable one, but arguably, the band needed all three of its principals to sound like Fleetwood Mac: the semi-reunion, 2003’s “Say You Will,” sounded tense and shrill without the warmth of Christine McVie’s vocals to balance out the sharpness of Buckingham and Nicks.

Now that Fleetwood Mac seems to be history, it appears Buckingham has finally settled into a solo career where credit is clear and the full extent of his creativity can flourish without concerns about paying someone’s mortgage. But “Under the Skin” isn’t simply Buckingham’s attempt to recalibrate his standing in rock history — he can still make music that sounds like sunshine. On the awe-inspiring closer, “Flying Down Juniper,” he creates a piece of guileless California pop that rivals any of his most recognizable past confections.

The paper was right: Buckingham is a visionary. Perhaps now, everyone will finally know.

– –
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
“Under the Skin”

Never one to rush his work, Lindsey Buckingham made sure Under the Skin was worth the wait.

By SEAN DALY
October 6, 2006
St. Petersburg Times

In between albums, fights, sex, drug binges and more fights with his bandmates in Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham has released just four solo albums in 25 years.

It’d be fun to blame former flame Stevie Nicks and her witchy spells for his stretches of solo silence. But the truth is that Buckingham is an intense studio perfectionist.

With the Mac, he’s meticulous behind the soundboard. On his own, however, the 57-year-old L.A. fixture is a freak, a beyond-ambitious artist who sweats over every acoustic pluck and dramatically layered vocal.

Parallels to Beach Boy Brian Wilson? You betcha. There’s always been a dark lining to Buckingham’s complex Golden State sunsets, especially on the new Under the Skin, an album that manages to sound both very familiar (the lush, sunset harmonies of Down on Rodeo) and extremely odd (the frantic-pluck paranoia of baroque opener Not Too Late). It’s not always easy listening, but it’s never boring.

Buckingham created most of the disc using nothing more than his voice and his guitar, one man layering and layering himself until he sounds like a chorus of world-weary thousands all trapped in a lonely, echoey room.

You won’t find catchy, quirky hits a la Go Insane, Trouble or Holiday Road on this 11-track rumination about love and aging in La-La Land. And if you’re waiting for the guitar man to shred out a searing solo, there’s no air guitar opportunities here, either.

But Under the Skin has much to like and plenty to wow at. On first single Show You How, Buckingham’s backing vocals on the chorus dart like dive-bombing birds. Playing what sounds like a lute, he turns the Rolling Stones’ I Am Waiting into a creepy-cool medieval meditation perfect for halftime at a joust.

And on album closer Flying Down Juniper, this father of three young tykes sets aside his neuroses and soundtracks his children playing silly games. The result is contentment rather than sap, a big-brained rock star trying to process, and enjoy, life as just a regular guy.

* * *

Lindsey Buckingham
Under the Skin
Reprise
GRADE: B

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Lindsey Buckingham, Release Info, Reviews, Solo Activity, Tour Info

Lindsey Buckingham – Under The Skin – More Reviews

Lindsey Buckingham: Under the Skin
(Reprise)
The Guardian (UK)
Mat Snow
Friday September 29, 2006

Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac’s dominant songwriter for 32 years, is a pop genius: his sunny harmonies pull you one way while an undercurrent of anguish tugs you the other. His extra-curricular work has always been intriguing, and this fourth solo album is a small masterpiece of tightly balanced musical contrasts. Buckingham’s filigreed melodies echo such heroes of his youth as the Byrds and Donovan; in a voice more echo-drenched and multi-tracked than any since John Lennon’s, he tremulously exhales such lines as “My children look away, they don’t know what to say,” only to burst into the yearning rapture of “It’s not too late.” As spacious as Buckingham’s native California yet as fraught with unease, this is another gripping postcard from the edge of paradise.

—

Lindsey Buckingham
Under the Skin
Reprise
The Times (UK)
September 29, 2006
Pop

The Fleetwood Mac guitarist’s stripped-down acoustic album is luxuriant rather than austere. Sparse arrangements boast lush harmonies, while the imaginative production drapes Buckingham’s whine in eerie reverb. It works, though. High spots include the frenetic fingerpicking of Not too Late, the sunny Show You How and the howling Flying Down Juniper, evocative of Fred Neil and Tim Buckley.

—

STEVE JELBERT
Lindsey Buckingham
Under the Skin (Reprise) £12.99

The Observer
Sunday October 1, 2006

If Fleetwood Mac are a guilty pleasure, enjoying a solo album by their former guitarist should be a heinous crime. But there’s little MOR bombast on Lindsey Buckingham’s fourth solo record; these are dusty redemption songs which draw on the sparest of elements. ‘Show You How’ summons and sustains a groove with little more than a guitar and cleverly layered vocals. And ‘Under the Skin’ builds on a simple, strummed motif with Buckingham’s voice shimmering beautifully like a heat-haze. When he does at last display his knack for the heroic chorus, he unleashes another aspect of a singular musical talent.

—
Ally Carnwath
Entertainment Weekly
October 6, 2006
Issue 900

Section: THE REVIEWS: MUSIC ‘Skin’ Tight

CHRIS WILLMAN

A gloriously unhinged return from Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham .

Lindsey Buckingham Under the Skin (Reprise) Rock

In the opening minutes of Under the Skin, Lindsey Buckingham sings of “visions always deferred,” alluding to 14 years passing since his last solo album. He’s griped that every time he gets one under way, Fleetwood Mac bandmates rope him into another reunion, cannibalizing his song stockpile. So if these songs lean toward his eccentric side, maybe that was intended as an early defensive measure against any further Mac attacks.

Skin is high-concept in that it’s theoretically stripped-down, consisting almost entirely of Buckingham’s voice and acoustic guitar. But he’s too much the Brian Wilson-worshipping studio maestro not to multitrack that voice into nearly choral rounds of oddly punctuated pop harmonies, and he’ll certainly use the marvels of engineering to make those nylon strings sound deliriously big. It might be acoustic, but the last thing you’d call it is unplugged.

Unhinged? Sure. Some lyrics recall his most neurotic LP, 1984’s aptly titled Go Insane; other times, he’s a newly placid family man, or trying (“a madman… looking for paradise”). But on this album, quieter means less gentle: His fingerpicking is impossibly frantic in its nervous virtuosity, and each near-whisper is miked to sound like a scream. It’s the spartan-yet-gonzo sound of a guy remembering he can go his own way. B+

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LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Nashville Scene
Saturday 7th Oct 2006 live at The Ryman Auditorium

Our Critics Picks:

Lindsey Buckingham is at once a driving force behind one of the most successful commercial enterprises in rock music and an idiosyncratic cult artist. As a singer, songwriter and producer in Fleetwood Mac for most of the last 32 years, he wrote classics like “Go Your Own Way” and “Second Hand News,” while helping to shape the songs of bandmates Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie into irresistible ear candy. But the eccentricity of his work on Mac albums like Tusk and Say You Will only hints at the singularity of vision heard on his first solo album in 14 years. On Under the Skin, Buckingham buttresses his reputation as a pop visionary by orchestrating very basic elements—mainly voice, acoustic guitar and percussion—to create a textured sonic picture unlike any he could have painted at his day job. Casual fans—i.e., you own Rumours but not Tusk—might want to wait this one out: Buckingham is planning a more rock-oriented album and tour next year, followed by a Fleetwood Mac road trip in 2008.
CHRIS NEAL

Reviews, Stevie Nicks, Tour Info

Stevie Nicks and Vanessa Carlton, Borgato Casino Pre Show, June 2005

Stevie Nicks with Vanessa Carlton

June 24, 2005
By ROBERT DiGIACOMO
For At The Shore, (609) 272-7017

Stevie Nicks’ latest concert is even `more witchy’ than some of her previous tours.

Nicks shows off `dark side’

Nicks’ “Gold Dust Tour,” making a stop at Borgata on June 30 and July 1, will have a touch of Vegas flash, thanks to the unlikely influence of Celine Dion and Elton John.

The Fleetwood Mac frontwoman originally designed her latest solo concert for a four-night stand in May at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, the 4,100-seat theater where Dion and John each perform on a massive 110-foot-wide stage.

“We watched Celine Dion — we don’t have 50 dancers. We watched Elton John — we don’t have 50 years of film … Elton filmed everything he did,” Nicks recalls of her first visits to the theater. “We said, `What in the world are we going to do?'”

The singer/songwriter and her team developed elaborate visuals, including images from one of her favorite films, Jean Cocteau’s 1946 version of “Beauty and the Beast,” and her favorite artists, Sulamith Wülfing (for whom she named one of her beloved Yorkshire terriers), to create a “dark” show that’s even “more witchy” than previous efforts.

“The show we’ve come out with now is pretty amazing because of all that extra thought that went into putting it all together,” Nicks says. “If we hadn’t had the Vegas show, it would have been good, but it wouldn’t have been like this.”

Having warmed up with the Vegas gig, Nicks moved into a tour with Don Henley, with whom she recorded “Leather and Lace” on her 1981 solo debut, “Bella Donna.” The two played sets of their own material and performed several duets.

“I sang `Hotel California’ (and I thought) I lived through that,” says Nicks, who kicked off the joint tour on June 3 in Philadelphia. “Don and I went out when he was recording `Hotel California’ at the end of the `Rumours’ recording. We lived those words in `Hotel California.’

“I’m up there singing, going, `Oh my God, here’s my life.’ I couldn’t help but be somewhat groupied out. I was a little stunned every night at the amazing gift to be able to sing that song every night with an Eagle.”

When the tour was shortened to 10 dates due to Henley’s commitments with the Eagles, Nicks decided to schedule her own summer outing; originally she planned to take most of this year off after wrapping a two-and-a-half-year, 135-date tour with Fleetwood Mac last fall.

“It’s always interesting to leave the Fleetwood Mac world and come back into my own world,” she says. “`Gold Dust Woman’ is different in my world, and so is `Dreams’ and so is `Rhiannon.’ I always feel with these songs that it’s been a blessing for me to be able to go back and forth.

“We always go back and start from the original version with Fleetwood Mac and my band. But they always come out slightly different.”

In addition to those staples and hits like “Edge of Seventeen,” “The Chain” and “Stand Back,” Nicks has added to her set list some little performed gems, including “Beauty and the Beast” and “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You.”

“I’ve taken the French movie `Beauty and the Beast’ from the ’40s, which is the reason I wrote the song — we put (footage) behind me,” Nicks says. “It’s just stunning. I can hardly keep from bursting into tears … it’s so poignant when I’m singing it.”

Joining Nicks for “Circle Dance,” a Bonnie Raitt cover, will be her opening act, up-and-coming singer/songwriter Vanessa Carlton, who’s touring behind her sophomore release, “Harmonium.”

“I’ve been friends with Vanessa for quite a while,” Nicks says. “Really, I think she’s one of the great ones. I want to take her on tour so I can put her in front of a lot of people, so people can see how great she is and remember that amazing first album.

“She’s a new artist … in this age of total chaos in the music business, if you don’t sell 10 million copies of your album, you’re just out of luck. It’s so hard. I want to do what I can to help her. I think she’s great. I think she’s one of those people who will still be around in 30 years when I’m dead. I want some of these women to not give up. We need them.”

Having survived numerous personal and career ups and downs, including drug addiction and sometimes turbulent relations with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks has been embraced by many female artists who followed her.

Her last solo album, 2001’s “Trouble in Shangri-La” featured contributions from Sheryl Crow, who produced some tracks, Macy Gray and Dixie Chick Natalie Maines, who subsequently covered “Landslide,” Nicks’ 1975 Fleetwood Mac hit.

“I’m thrilled that I can be some sort of an influence to these women,” Nicks says. “I hope I’ve been a good influence to them, so they’ll totally keep going.

“I think the music business is in terrible trouble. They don’t nurture artists. If you have a big hit record and a big hit single and you don’t follow it up, you are s–t out of luck.”

Nicks knows of what she speaks. Originally a duo with Lindsay Buckingham, her then-boyfriend, the two were dropped by their label after their 1973 debut didn’t sell well.

“Lindsay and I were dropped like a rock,” she recalls. “If it weren’t that we had a great producer who supported us full on for three years, we never would have made it.”

They joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975 and helped turn the band into one of the most successful groups of the 1970s and ’80s. The group’s Grammy-winning 1977 release, “Rumours,” sold 17 million copies, making it one of the best sellers of all time. Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Today, the group’s best-known line up, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Buckingham and Nicks (minus Christine McVie), is on hiatus, but still together. Nicks says the Mac probably will tour in 2007.

“We get all the rumors that Fleetwood Mac is going to break up,” Nicks says. “Fleetwood Mac is never going to break up. We have our problems. We go away from each other. We spend time with family and and friends and the problems go away, and you get back together and everyone’s excited.”

However, Christine McVie, has left the group, much to Nicks’ disappointment.

“In my wildest dreams, I would hope Christine would change her mind and come back,” she says. “If there’s anything I could do to change her mind, I would be in London to get her back.

“Unless she has a total mind meld and decides she’s ready to rock again, I don’t think she’s every going to come back.”

Once Nicks wraps her solo tour in September, she will come full circle to a favorite project: to make a film based on the books of Rhiannon, the mythical character who inspired one of her best known songs.

“This would be somewhere between `Braveheart’ and `The Lord of the Rings’ and `Star Wars,'” Nicks says. “It’s generations of gods and goddesses … it’s the stories the Welsh left behind — how to be in love, how to have kids, how not to fight your benefactors, how to run the world basically — told through the eyes of a fairy tale.

“I feel like it’s my spiritual path to do this. I wanted to do this in 1980. It was in my original contract with Atlantic Records. I was excited then as I am now. Then my whole solo career was busting. It had to be put on the back burner. I feel like it’s come to the surface in a big way.

“People might go, `Oh, I’m so sure.’ But when I get in my head I’m going to do something, I’m never not successful. I feel like when you’re as passionate about something like this as I am, you can make it happen.”

 

Stevie Nicks with Vanessa Carlton
WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, June 30, and 8 p.m. Friday, July 1
WHERE: Event Center at Borgata, Atlantic City
HOW MUCH: Tickets are $75, $95 and $125 and available at Borgata box office or Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420 or www.ticketmaster.com

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/entertainment/casinos/cas_inter.shtml
Reviews, Solo Activity, Stevie Nicks, Tour Info

Stevie Nicks – Summerfest Review, OnWisconsin.com July 2005

Nicks’ power isn’t fleeting – She makes most of her own show

summerfest05

By GEMMA TARLACH
OnWisconsin.com
July 4, 2005

Who needs Don Henley?

Stevie Nicks performs Monday night at the Marcus Amphitheater. The amphitheater was only half-full, but Nicks gave a full-scale performance in her Summerfest appearance.

Stevie Nicks, originally scheduled to co-headline a Summerfest show with her occasional duet partner, put on a heady “Leather and Lace” show all on her own Monday night at the Marcus Amphitheater. Alternating dreamy power ballads with utter rock-outs – including her first encore, a feisty run-through of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” -Nicks was more force of nature than mere front woman during a two-hour set. At a time when the women of pop music are too often stripper wannabes lip-synching to a song someone else wrote, Nicks’ classy and commanding presence felt like a revelation.

With her sleek blond hair and a succession of floaty, sparkly, mostly black outfits, Nicks’ appearance remained timeless, as did her voice. Her distinctive smoky alto was as powerful as ever, particularly on “Landslide,” final encore “Beauty and the Beast” and “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You,” a song Nicks dedicated to “all those kids who we’re going to help” after making a pitch to the audience to sign an online petition to end world poverty.

Nicks mixed signature hits from her time in Fleetwood Mac, such as “Rhiannon,” with unexpected gems that included a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “Circle Dance.”

But it was arguably the chunks of the set from her own successful solo career that packed the most power, including “Fall From Grace” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” with longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel standing in for Tom Petty on the vocal duel with Nicks.

Despite an amphitheater that was barely half-full, Nicks and her nine-piece backing band never lagged in their energy or seemed in a hurry to get back to the tour bus.

Before the encores, the band riffed on “Edge of 17” for several minutes as a gracious Nicks shook fans’ hands and kissed one little girl in the crowd.

Wouldn’t it be nice if that little girl went home realizing chicks can write their own songs and rock out well into their 50s?

Self-possessed beyond her years and downright charming, opening act Vanessa Carlton overcame some early breathiness on set opener “Ordinary Day” to wow the crowd with a half-hour collection of songs, including the new “This Time.” Alone on stage with her piano, Carlton proved she has much more substance to offer than her vanilla hit “Thousand Miles.” Among the highlights was “White Houses,” a thoughtful reflection on losing one’s virginity – and a song deemed too risqué for booty-loving MTV, an irony Carlton noted during her tart introduction of the song.

Reviews, Stevie Nicks, Tour Info

Stevie Nicks – Nostalgia Is A Good Thing, Cincinnati.Com, June 2005

For Stevie Nicks Nostalgia is a Good Thing

June 29, 2005
By Chris Varias
Cincinnati.Com

bildeStevie Nicks performed Tuesday night at Riverbend.

At this point in her career, it’s hard not to label Stevie Nicks a nostalgia rocker. This isn’t discrimination. It’s less a case of ageism (the fabled Fleetwood Mac alumna turned 57 last month) than one of no-big-hits-in-a-mighty-long-time-ism. There wasn’t one significant new song performed during her show at Riverbend Tuesday night, probably because she hasn’t recorded a significant song in at least 20 years.

However, as far as the crowd was concerned, the last two decades don’t matter, and nostalgia is a good thing. As long as Nicks’ 2005 singing voice resembles the 1975 version, and the old tunes deliver those bygone chills, she will continue to twirl her way into her fans’ hearts.

Backed by a seven-man band and two singers, Nicks belted her way through a 16-song set that focused on her solo career, with occasional nods to the Mac. The band was outstanding, stacked with lace session players like guitarist Waddy Wachtel and longtime Fleetwood Mac collaborators like multi-instrumentalist Brett Tuggle

The hit parade began with “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” her 1981 duet with Tom Petty. Wachtel helped out on vocals for Petty’s parts.

It was soon followed by the one-two Fleetwood Mac punch of “Dreams” and “Rhiannon.” Nicks played with each number’s phrasing a bit, but never to the point of getting in the way of the song. She knew better than to spoil what was for the crowd a moment of back-to-back, adult-contemporary, yesteryear magic.

The lesser-known “Sorcerer,” with its fanciful imagery, offered Nicks the opportunity to switch into witchy-woman mode, as the video screen flickered with medieval visions of crystals and skeletons and wizards and such.

The next song, “Stand Back,” began with a long percussion intro, which served as the moment for Nicks to fetch her black and gold shawl from backstage. She would need the shawl to accentuate her many twirls (unofficial count: 18 360-degree turns) during the song’s guitar solo and climactic ending.

Other highlights that measured up to repeated spinning included a version of “Gold Dust Woman,” with its tick-tock drum opening immediately setting off cheers; a true-to-the-original acoustic version of “Landslide”; an epic “Edge of Seventeen,” with a lengthy percussion piece starting things off and few great Wachtel guitar solos along the way.

Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” was an interesting choice for an encore song. “It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled,” she sang, which could be her way of telling the world she’s a nostalgia act and proud of it.

Singer-piano player Vanessa Carlton, a 24-year-old who sings as pretty as she plays, did a 30-minute solo opening set that included familiar songs like “A Thousand Miles” and “Ordinary Day” plus a few new and unreleased tunes.

Fanzines, Lindsey Buckingham, Release Info, Reviews, Solo Activity

Lindsey Buckingham – Eyes Of The World newsletter (issue two)

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Scroll down to view the pages of the second and final issue of the Lindsey Buckingham ‘Eyes Of The World’ newsletter that was published in August 2001

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Fanzines, Lindsey Buckingham, Reviews, Solo Activity

Lindsey Buckingham – Eyes Of The World newsletter (issue one)

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Scroll down to view the pages of the first issue of the Lindsey Buckingham ‘Eyes Of The World’ newsletter that was published in April 2001

Eyes-Of-The-World-April-2001

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Article Archive Pages, Lindsey Buckingham, Reviews, Solo Activity, Tour Info

Lindsey Buckingham Live Review | Billboard Magazine, Mar 1993

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Billboard, March 20, 1993
By Chris Morris.

Former Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham thrilled audiences during his first solo concert in Los Angeles, CA, last Feb 22, 1993. Fans were treated to Buckingham’s unique and animated live style. A surprise treat was the talent exuded by Buckingham’s nine backup musicians. Buckingham also gave in to requests for encores and displayed a talent for live performance that many believe is one of the best in the concert scene.

FLEETWOOD MAC’S one time axe-slinger/singer/songsmith enchanted an adoring crowd of fans at his first-ever solo show in L.A. proper Feb. 22. Forging a live style that dramatically re-created the opulent studio architecture of his records, Buckingham alternated between solo performances of breathtaking intimacy and full-blown band numbers that showed off the well-drilled skills of his nine backup musicians. Performing with always apparent delight, the highly animated Buckingham received a local hero’s welcome. He kicked off the evening with richly detailed acoustic versions of “Big Love,” the last major hit he penned for his former group, and “Go Insane,” the title track from his 1984 solo album.

Proclaiming his intention to “reclaim some sense of creativity for myself,” he then introduced his truly startling group. Featuring five guitarists, three percussionists, and six singing voices, the tentet was adept at recreating the densely layered vocal and instrumental overdubs that have made works like last year’s Reprise release, “Out Of The Cradle,” such engrossing rococo pleasures. Buckingham led the group through its stormy paces on memorable Mac oldies like “The Chain” and “Tusk” and solo-album numbers such as “Trouble” and “You Do Or You Don’t.” The concert hit a raging midshow peak with “I’m So Afraid,” in which Buckingham constructed one of his few extended solos with near-mathematical precision and heart-halting emotion. After this show-stopping display, Buckingham dropped the energy level again with a couple of solo turns, then shifted into high gear again (with the remark, “All these guitars–give me a break!”), rampaging through “Doing What I Can,” “This Is The Time” (in which all five guitarists traded furious fours) and the inevitable set-closer “Go Your Own Way.” Buckingham obliged the crowd with a pair of encores that included a spirited “Holiday Road” and a wrenching solo “Soul Drifter.”

No doubt about it: One of America’s best-known studio hermits has acquired the band and the on-stage attitude to deliver his eccentric, ornate pop music totally live. Buckingham’s show is one of the best on the boards at the moment.

Article A14038762

Archive News, Lindsey Buckingham, Reviews, Solo Activity

LIFE AFTER MAC : At the Coach House, Lindsey Buckingham Will Be Playing His First Concert Since His Old Band Broke Up | LA Times

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By Mike Boehm 

Lindsey Buckingham is scheduled to lose his virginity tonight at 8 in front of 500 people. He says he isn’t nervous.

Before defenders of the public virtue take alarm, it should be noted that Buckingham’s rite of passage, while it may involve some loud noises and sweating, will be purely musical.

At 42, Buckingham is no blushing bride in the world of rock ‘n’ roll. To the contrary, he is a tremendously savvy pop-rock craftsman whose contributions as a singer, songwriter, guitarist and, most crucially, as an arranger and recording studio auteurwere indispensable in transforming Fleetwood Mac from a dogged band of hard-luck barnstormers to a paragon of pop success. This is one guy who chased after musical fame and fortune and found out what it was like to go all the way.

However, he has never played a show in which he had to go all the way on his own. That will change at the Coach House tonight, when he will play the first concert of his life in which he’ll be leading a band by himself (he and the band will be back again Friday). Continue reading LIFE AFTER MAC : At the Coach House, Lindsey Buckingham Will Be Playing His First Concert Since His Old Band Broke Up | LA Times →

Lindsey Buckingham, Reviews

Buckingham plays way out of trouble |  The Canberra Times

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 By BEVAN HANNAN
The Canberra Time
1st Oct 1992

Out of the Cradle. (Phonogram)

FOR THE time it took Lindsey Buckingham to put out this release, the cynics said it should have been called Out of the Rocking Chair rather than Out of the Cradle.

After all, it has been more than four years since Buckingham left super group Fleetwood Mac, went into hiding in his personal studio and set about recording his third solo album.

Buckingham’s insistance on doing things his way — and only his way — was to ensure his guitar playing talents took a higher profile. And if there is one lingering doubt about the whole project, it is why didn’t he do it earlier?

On Out of the Cradle, Buckingham delves into some interesting instrumentals, including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s This Nearly Was Mine from the South Pacific theatre score. This is one of the more gentle acoustic caresses, but the crisp guitar sound ventures into a pounding rhythm reminiscent of Freddie Mercury and Queen in their heyday on This is the Time.

Continue reading Buckingham plays way out of trouble |  The Canberra Times →