Gift of Screws Reviews

[michelej1]

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Top 10

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content...A5_Top_10.html

Thursday, October 23, 2008

1. Rodney Crowell, “Sex and Gasoline.” “The whole world runs on sex and gasoline,” or so says Crowell. This new CD has some of the finest songwriting from one of the world’s best at it. “The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design” and “Closer to Heaven” are two of his finest songs.

2. Bob Dylan, “Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006.” If you need any further proof that Dylan is the world’s greatest songwriter, pick this set up. Dylan’s outtakes are better than most other artists’ keepers.

3. Grateful Dead, “Rocking the Cradle Egypt 1976.” Two CDs featuring the best from the Dead’s historic shows from Egypt’s Great Pyramid. Included is a DVD of extremely rare concert footage plus home movies from the Grateful Dead.

4. Lucinda Williams, “Little Honey.” In love again and happy most of the time, Williams has one of her most positive and uplifting CDs to date. But don’t worry. There are still some classic Williams’ style folk/blues tracks full of heartache that we all love.

5. Jackson Browne, “Time the Conqueror.” Browne’s 13th studio album, and first in six years since “Naked Ride Home,” is a mix of classic Browne with his ’80s political side showing some. Highlights include the title track and “Going Down to Cuba.”

6. Little Feat and Friends, “Join the Band.” This CD is just what the title says and is just what this band deserves. It’s a laid-back recording with friends covering some of their classic song as well as a few others.

7. Buddy Guy, “Skin Deep.” This is Guy’s first album of original material in his incredible career and he had help from friends such as Eric Clapton, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks and Robert Randolph. However, the star of this disc is Guy’s fantastic guitar playing.

8. Lindsey Buckingham, “Gift of Screws.” An introspective rock ’n’ roll record from this former and, I guess, future member of Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham has never sounded better on the guitar. That and a great batch of tunes make it one of the year’s best discs.

9. Calexico, “Carried To Dust.” Known for its stark Southwestern soundscapes, this mysterious band from the West Coast has the most accessible of their eight releases to date. Its music is mesmerizing in the way that the first Cowboy Junkies was, but Calexico’s sound is all its own.

10. Michael Franti & Spearhead, “All Rebel Rockers.” Always outspoken, political and controversial and unafraid to speak his mind, Franti and band recorded this CD in Jamaica with the help of legendary producers Sly and Robbie.

[michelej1]

October 23, 2008, Vue Weekly (Edmonton)

http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=10054



ALBUM REVIEWS
New Sounds: Lindsey Buckingham
MARY CHRISTA O’KEEFE / marychrista@vueweekly.com

True rock star pioneers—artists who defined not only a sound or genre, but an entire type of career that may never be seen again—are reaching old age, but several of them kept creating, long past their shelf life of relevance for the youngsters who’re supposed to be rock’s fan base. It’s interesting to see the hits and misses, the struggles for continuing originality and the trapped-in-amber quality we all eventually have as an inevitable consequence of being born to a certain generation (this is why time treats misfits more kindly than the Zeitgeisty).

The best artists work with this, and instead of pretending they’re still 25 and relate to 25-year olds, aim to capture the betrayals of time and humanness with the same veracity they did when carving out new territory in the culture with their musical observations. They don’t fight their achievements or identity, but keep tuned into their practice, renegotiating their relationship to their life and art like eternal students, instead of succumbing to cosmetic injections of timeliness with bad ideas like trying to rap or hiring a teenage producer. Of course, when you’re rich, famous and completely indulged, you have to strive to see beyond your immediate horizons and be emotionally faithful to the idea of human struggle. Even towering talents such as Neil Young or Paul Simon find this an incredibly difficult feat to pull off in their like-it-or-not celebrity circumstances, and it remains a challenge no matter how tenuous or faraway the fame, and even, unkindly, when they’ve lost everything and are dead broke.

Thankfully, Lindsey Buckingham is not in desperate straights, but he’s still Lindsey Buckingham: ex-lover of Stevie Nicks, rock aesthete, sound definer of mid-‘70s to ‘80s AM radio stadium rock. Babies were conceived to his songs, egged on and in by his voice and guitar. And now he’s a respected old warhorse of rock, one who’s never disgraced himself too much to lose his status, whose songs have endured as classics, who has photos from Rolling Stone and People of him looking alternately preposterously hot and simply preposterous. But he’s also been out of his heyday spotlight—even counting his decent intermittent comebacks—long enough that if you asked a random person in their 30s if she knew offhand whether Buckingham was alive or dead, she’d have to think about it. And if you asked a 20-year old, unless she had a band that was borrowing from Fleetwood Mac, she probably wouldn’t know who you were talking about.

And now Buckingham returns with Gift of Screws, looking darn awesome for a man pushing 60—same hooded eyes, gaunt-ish architectural planes on his face and all his hair, if not all he had on certain Fleetwood Mac covers—and playing as well or better than ever.

Gift of Screws begins oddly, with a couple songs that are excellent, but almost so flamboyantly artful one frets that he’s trying to prove something—never a reliable path for record-making. The first two are almost Brian Eno-esque, the opener a tense, southwestern tumbleweed ramble with chilly electric highlights and guitarwork that sounds culturally alien, like a Japanese koto or something. (It may well be—Buckingham has credited instrumentation only when he wanted to credit a fellow musician.) The next track’s even more dazzling and deconstructed, with incredibly rapid fretwork pushed against an atmospheric work, simultaneously ethereal and sharp. These are followed by straight-up pop-hooked rockers finished with Buckingham’s characteristic dense and dry production, old-fashioned style hits, two of which—“The Right Place To Fade” and “Underground”—would’ve been amazing Fleetwood Mac songs. Which is not to denigrate them here—they’re flat-out great pop masterworks, well built and giddy with melody.

Buckingham achieves a balance that’ll not disappoint fans or longtime music appreciators, but likely won’t grab new ones. But that’s OK—it’s an achievement to not be derivative or self-parodic, and if Buckingham’s distinctive aesthetic choices aren’t in step with the cool kids or Rick Rubin crowd, he’s made something that sounds authentic, interesting and rather masterful. It’s a good journey, a thoughtful and honest one. V

[michelej1]

Philadelphia Daily News, October 28, 2008

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/feat...k_classic.html

Devotees of his work with Fleetwood Mac are gonna love Lindsey Buckingham's "Gift of Screws" (Reprise, A-). This may be his best solo project to date because it's not as obsessively fussed over as predecessors.

[michelej1]

Creative Loafing (Tampa)

http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyr...ent?oid=547220

Gift of Screws
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
(Reprise)

I can't say I expected this. Fleetwood Mac stalwart Lindsey Buckingham, age 59, has unleashed a solo album that exquisitely blends his instinct for pop songcraft and his long-time penchant for experimentalism. Much of the latter is due to the imaginative ways in which he employs guitar textures, building actual arrangements rather than chord sequences decorated by solos. For instance, "Time Precious Time" floats along over fleet-fingered, cascading arpeggios on acoustic guitar. Tapping his more conventional side, Buckingham plays solos -- hitting lots of high, sweet notes -- that provide stirring codas to several songs. And the songs are good -- some of them, rousing uptempo numbers like "Love Runs Deeper," "Right Place to Fade" and "Wait For You" (with its spunky shuffle beat), standing up to Rumours-era Mac. Buckingham's lead vocals are largely nondescript -- he's never been much of a singer -- but he exhibits the good production sense to layer them into lush sonic washes. If you'd begun to lose faith that any of the old hands could deliver a fresh, vibrant helping of hooky pop-rock, Gift of Screws is just the tonic. 4 stars —Eric Snider

[michelej1]

[Hmmm. With a maverick heart, Lindsey could have run in the last election]

Chicago Tribune, November 9, 2008, by Greg Kot

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...17,print.story

Lindsey Buckingham: "Gift of Screws" (Reprise)

The Fleetwood Mac auteur has been relatively prolific lately. After releasing only three solo albums over three decades, he has uncorked two in the last three years: The folk-based 2006 release "Under the Skin" and the harder-edged "Gift of Screws."

Buckingham brings an unhinged quality to his solo work missing from Mac's more polished productions, though "Did You Miss Me" could pass for a lost "Rumours" track. Otherwise, Buckingham steers clear of his most famous work, instead preferring to plumb themes of madness and betrayal, and to ask the musical question, "Did I sell my heart for the dreams in my head?"

His work as a solo artist provides an answer. This is music straight from a maverick heart, channeled through nimble guitar playing: the undulating "Time Precious Time," the mad tumble of "Bel Air Rain," the barbed-wire riffing of "Wait for You." Accompanied by the Mac rhythm section of Fleetwood and John McVie, Buckingham turns the title track into a garage stomper with a demented laugh. He sounds thrilled to be making music unencumbered by one of rock's biggest brand names.

[michelej1]

Southwest Florida, Herald Tribune, 9-18-08

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb...te=printpicart

Lindsey Buckingham

GIFT OF SCREWS

The Fleetwood Mac great’s voice is more strained than ever, but amazingly it doesn’t detract from the songs and his musicianship. Some of the tracks here would fit well on a Mac album. Check out: “Did You Miss Me,” “Time Precious Time.” Hear here: www.myspace.com/ lindseybuckingham. Grade: A-

[michelej1]

New Zealand Herald, November 15, 2008:

http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/mus.../?c_id=1501982

4 Stars

Buckingham was always the most musically interesting member of Fleetwood Mac, as he proved on the Tusk album of '79 when he edged up the energy and heeded what the punk/New Wave bands were up to.

So it's maybe no real surprise that two tracks on this, his fifth solo album, are produced by Rob Cavallo, known for his work with Green Day and My Chemical Romance.

There are elements of classic-Mac (Mick Fleetwood and John McVie appear on the fiddle-enhanced rocker Wait For You and the title track; Fleetwood on The Right Place to Fade) but what is here is mostly typically brittle material where Buckingham skews the melodies, adds staccato guitar and urgent rhythms to his material.

The more pop-rock tracks are actually the least successful (the title track is dull) and Love Runs Deeper sounds like it was crafted for stadiums in Middle America where Styx and Kansas are still revered.

But from the stabbing opener Great Day through the acoustic maelstrom and pained Time Precious Time (which harks back to Tusk), the acoustic energy of Bel Air Rain (about having no right to complain when life has treated you well) and on to the two closers - the melancholy pop of Underground and Treason - this album reminds us that Buckingham, still a glum and reflective lyricist, was always a bit different. In a good way.

Graham Reid

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by macpai

I found the cackle strangely soothing. Like "there's my buddy Lindsey." Warped or what??

I love the tune (bel air rain)... but still hate the ending... and i'm a huge fan of Not That Funny (Mirage 1982 tour live)

just too bland and weird all at once...

[michelej1]

The Jordan Times, 11-30-2008

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=12476

A good album but with cryptic meaning

By Jean-Claude Elias

HE WAS THE driving force behind super pop group Fleetwood Mac, but Lindsey Buckingham has been working solo for several years now. “Gift of Screws” is his latest - his sixth exactly - album and bears many of the distinctive traits that have contributed to the unique sound of Fleetwood Mac.

At 59, Buckingham displays amazing creative energy and vitality. Contrary to most songwriters of his generation, like for example Paul MacCartney or Elton John, who now tend to make music that is too soft, too quiet, too much behaved, Fleetwood Mac’s former front man seems as dynamic and inventive as at his beginning. This alone is an achievement.

The 10 new songs bear the sign of very elaborate recording, mixing and technical production. There are several layers of guitars of all kinds everywhere and countless special effects. At no point, however, the listener is given any impression of exaggerated artifacts - it’s all meaningful and cleverly put to good use.

The album opens with “Great Day” a track recorded with stunning guitar arpeggios, played on two or three different instruments, and quickly shifting from left to right in the stereo image.

It is so well done that one wonders if these parts were actually played by the musician himself or if he programmed them to be automatically performed by a synthesiser or some digital music making machine.

“Did You Miss Me”, “Wait for You” and “Love Runs Deeper” are perfect Fleetwood Mac pieces. Anyone who has known the band in its heyday in the late 1970s and in the 1980s will unmistakably make the comparison - the beat, the harmonies, the “smart pop” touch, it’s all here.

From song one to 10, there is no slowing down, Buckingham keeps it all running high and going strong. His guitar finger picking technique is his trademark; trained ears will recognise it instantly. It particularly shines in pieces like “Bel Air Rain” that also features a brilliant electric guitar solo part that even Carlos Santana or Eric Clapton would not deny.

The title track “Gift of Screws” is an upbeat, a loud number. Despite having the lyrics printed in the accompanying booklet, the meaning remains rather cryptic.

There are shouts and cries throughout the song, perfectly timed with the rhythm, synchronised with the beat. These give the song an atmosphere of madness, of anger that certainly was intended by Buckingham.

The savoir-faire of Buckingham, when it comes to acoustic sound treatment, is expressed in “Underground”, one of the finest tracks of the new album. It is a delicate, smart and superbly crafted ballad. Again, here we’re (gladly) taken back to the glorious days of Fleetwood Mac.

Overall “Gift of Screws” is one of the best albums I have listened to this year done by a “veteran” - no offence meant to Buckingham, I say it as a compliment.

It has stamina, invention and can favourably be compared to previous works by the artist, though it is not really on a par with his group’s seminal albums “Rumours” and “Tango in the Night”.

However, great the music and the songs of Lindsey Buckingham may be, “Gift of Screws” sounds too much like it belongs to the previous generation.

There is of course the benefit of the pristine quality of today’s recording and production, but the songwriting and the arrangements betray the spirit of the 1980s.

This makes “Gift of Screws” interesting for those who already are fans of Buckingham or Fleetwood Mac, and perhaps less interesting for those who are not.



30 November 2008

[MrBTH]

Gift of Screws is included in Q Magazines (UK) top 50 albums of the year in this months edition:

2008 #41
GIFT OF SCREWS
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Key Track: Love Runs Deeper
Average user rating: 5/5
Gift Of Screws contains some of the songs the Fleetwood Mac lynchpin had originally earmarked for the group, and as such his erstwhile bandmates are on hand to help out. While some tracks are classic Mac, Bel Air Rain and Great Day are spikier and built on atmosphere.

Not a bad bit of recognition from the most mainstream music magazine in the UK - although the bit about the songs being earmarked for FM is a tad mis-informed!

[michelej1]

Top 50 is great. Wonder if it will get a year end mention from Rolling Stone, like UTS did.

Michele

[macpai]

Via Entertainment Weekly:
8. Gift of Screws, Lindsey Buckingham

Sounds like the Fleetwood Mac of the mid-'70s to me, only better. The title track features a terrific submerged-guitar sound, but the standout is the lush and gorgeous ''Did You Miss Me.''

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by macpai

Sounds like the Fleetwood Mac of the mid-'70s to me, only better. The title track features a terrific submerged-guitar sound, but the standout is the lush and gorgeous ''Did You Miss Me.''

This is really great. I wish he'd write a story about it.

Michele

[michelej1]

From All About Jazz, By Mike Perciaccante

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=31265

On his sixth solo album, Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham continues his string of releases featuring slick, crisp, sophisticated wry lyrics. Unlike his last studio effort, the acoustic-based Under the Skin (Reprise 2006), Gift Of Screws features incendiary electric guitar layered over minor chords with many of the signature grooves that Buckingham (and Fleetwood Mac) built his reputation on.

Though not the balls-to-wall, electric, all-out rock record he promised would follow Under The Skin, Gift Of Screws is nonetheless a much edgier pop-rock CD. Based on the dark, introspective themes that permeate both recordings, it would appear that they were recorded during the same sessions or at least written during the same time period.


Buckingham is a musical sponge. He has absorbed the vibes and nuances of many different musical genres and has creatively mixed and meshed these influences into a musical sauce all his own. On Gift Of Screws, his inspirations are quite evident; his new wave, punky modern rock influences very much on display on the opener, "Great Day." The song loudly announces that Buckingham is still capable of rockin' out, with its incendiary fretwork and chugging drums.



The bluesy rocker "Wait for You" provides a glimpse of what might have been had this been a Fleetwood Mac project rather than a solo offering. With Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass, "Wait for You" has the feel and groove that would be at home on either an early or late-era Fleetwood Mac disc. It's a dense, multi-layered chewy chunk of roadhouse blues that immediately gets the feet tapping and the head bopping. "The Right Place to Fade" is another Fleetwood Mac-style song, with its strumming guitar, sing-along chorus and Fleetwood's powerhouse drumming. The disc closes with the gospel-influenced "Treason," which ruminates on love, loss and redemption.


Gift Of Screws is a solid release, albeit a short one with only 10 tracks. While not on par with Out of The Cradle (Reprise, 1992)—the zenith of his solo career that some laud as a masterpiece—Gift Of Screws powerfully announces that Buckingham is still a musical force.

[michelej1]

Pop Matters lists the best Singer-Songwriter Albums of 2008. GOS comes in #3, after Steve Wynn's Crossing Dragon Bridge (#2) and Martha Wainwright's I Know You're Married, but I've Got Feelings Too (#3):

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature...albums-of-2008

December 10, 2008

In Ron Hart’s review, he wrote that Lindsey Buckingham’s Gift of Screws sounds like “Fleetwood Mac without the chicks”, explaining that bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood join Buckingham on three of the album’s tracks. “The best of these,” wrote Hart, “is the album’s title cut, a propulsive rocker in the vein of the more kinetic moments of Fleetwood Mac’s 1972 masterpiece Bare Trees and the bluesy ‘Wait for Me’, both of which exhibit the musical synergy of McVie, Buckingham, and Fleetwood better than anything they have ever recorded together. Elsewhere, tracks like ‘The Right Place to Fade’ and ‘Did You Miss Me?’ will remind fans of material from Fleetwood Mac’s surprise 2003 comeback album Say You Will. Other songs here will remind you of Buckingham’s previous solo effort, 2006’s magnificent Under the Skin.” He revives the intricate guitar picking of that album on Gift of Screws tracks like “Time Precious Time” and “Bel Air Rain”. Hart concludes: “There might not be a more poignant protest anthem in these times of bogus bailouts than ‘Treason’, a shimmering acoustic lament that stands out as one of the finest moments of Buckingham’s already-storied career.”