Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugar Mouse
I was responding to folks on this forum saying that Lindsey was the talent of Fleetwood Mac and that's preposterous. By any standard, Lindsey Buckingham's solo career has been a near bust. He's had a few isolated good songs but that's about it. Listening to his Anthology reinforced that in my mind. Lindsey's talent is as a producer and arranger and guitarist but not as a songwriter. That's why his solo career never went anywhere despite being the "leader" of one of the biggest bands in the world. He's reliant on other songwriters to bring him the songs. That's why he was so much more successful in Fleetwood Mac ... because he had Christine and Stevie to write the songs and he would arrange and produce them until they sparkled. That's his gift. However, for folks on this forum to say that Lindsey was the talent of the band is so far from the truth it's pathetic. He was the production talent but Christine and Stevie were the songwriting talents. They needed each other. And that's why Stevie had a much more successful solo career than Lindsey. It's easier to find a producer once you have the great songs. It's much more difficult to write the songs if you're a great producer/arranger like Lindsey. That's why Stevie has sold about 11 million albums in her solo career and Lindsey nowhere close to that.
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I don't think that's at all why his solo career never took off lol. Lindsey's written plenty of great songs on his own and his stuff got the critical praise that came from that. But the thing is that especially when it came to his solo career, he liked making (for lack of a better word) 'weird' music. He had very different tastes in terms of sounds and production and it just wasn't the type of thing that really appealed to a lot of people. If it was because he doesn't actually write good songs, his stuff would not have half the praise it's gotten. But it just requires a certain taste to appreciate. Stevie sold tons of albums because she wrote great songs (at least on her first 2 solo albums that is) that were also produced in a very radio-friendly, appeals to the masses way. She was also very popular just in her own 'entity' as Stevie Nicks and that played a big part in it.