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Old 10-25-2018, 07:08 PM
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Default Lindsey Buckingham Gets Anthologised By Rhino

starting a new thread for the reviews. there were couple i think put into some existing threads (the original anthology thread?), but seems that it may be easier to have all the reviews at a single place.





https://www.popmatters.com/lindsey-b...1#rebelltitem1

Lindsey Buckingham Gets Anthologised By Rhino

CHARLES DONOVAN 25 Oct 2018
Photo courtesy of Grandstand Media

Coinciding with Lindsey Buckingham's sudden exile from Fleetwood Mac comes this three-disc round-up, Solo Anthology: The Best of Lindsey Buckingham.

SOLO ANTHOLOGY: THE BEST OF LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Rhino / Warners

5 October 2018

Can't the members of Fleetwood Mac ever bury their differences and forge a lasting friendship? Even in their dotage, they fall out with each other at the most terrible junctures – on the eve of tours or just after the completion of albums. At one point, it seemed as if we might get another studio album from the classic lineup. It would have been the first since 1987's Tango in the Night. Christine McVie had finally come back into the fold. Before quitting, she had held down the fort during the troubled era of Behind the Mask (1990) and Time (1995), when first Lindsey Buckingham fled, followed by Stevie Nicks. After live reunion album, The Dance (1997), McVie retired to England, peeping out briefly to issue a so-so solo album in the early 2000s. It was left to Nicks and Buckingham to front the good-ish double-album, 2003's Say You Will. Then, no sooner was McVie back behind the piano and ready to record, Nicks proved reluctant to enter the studio. Consequently, a 2017 studio album came out under the band-name Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie, even though Mick Fleetwood and John McVie played on it.

Now it's Buckingham's turn to be out in the cold, and there are conflicting reports as to why. Slowly, the PR-buffed narrative about scheduling issues is giving way to one of malice, toxicity, ill will, and bad blood, of insurmountable dislike and antipathy, and Nicks giving the band a him-or-me ultimatum. A lawsuit looms while Fleetwood Mac tour with a lineup plumped out by musical everyman, Neil Finn, plus Heartbreaker, Mike Campbell. Oh dear. The sorry mess does, however, mean that Buckingham is suitably placed for touring behind and promoting this three-disc (six on vinyl) anthology and by all accounts, a solo album will follow.

Although their musical proficiency exceeds hers, it's never been easy for either Buckingham or McVie to mount solo careers that come close to the success of Nicks'. With Stevie Nicks, you're not just buying into the music, after all. There's the mystique, the oblique poetry with all its hocus-pocus and romance, the beauty, the drama, the shawls and winsome gypsy-witch apparel, the wind machines. You're buying into a whole concept. But, and I say this as someone tremendously fond of the '69-'74 McVie/Kirwan/Welch era, there can be no doubting or overestimating the role Buckingham had in pushing Fleetwood Mac into its blockbuster era, not just because of his contributions as a singer/songwriter/instrumentalist but also because the band consented, creatively at least, to be led by him as he took a greater and greater role in production.



Buckingham brought a fierce, slightly erotic, tightly coiled, and flamboyant energy to the band's sound and image and an instantly recognizable, intricate guitar style. It enhanced the other members. Overnight, Christine McVie's songwriting contributions were stronger, as if her talent was expanding to match Buckingham's. Her songs on the albums between Future Games (1970) and Heroes Are Hard to Find (1974) had certainly been amicable, but none of them had been a "You Make Loving Fun" or even a "Say You Love Me". It's extraordinary to think that the Rumours lineup made just five studio albums - the same number made by the Welch lineup in a small fraction of the time.

Neither the McVie nor the Buckingham persona can carry a solo album with the vigor of the Nicks persona; they've never been marketable video stars in quite the same way, but are more like musicians who became stars. Now, six albums into his solo career comes the first official Buckingham anthology (a promo-only retrospective was issued in the 1990s), its third disc comprising live cuts. This is an artist-approved collection, compiled by Buckingham himself (mercifully, nowhere on the package does the word 'curated' appear). The CD comes in a quadruple-fold presentation, with a front-cover collage that indicates just how different to Nicks he is. There's no glamour-shot of his face, but instead close-ups of instruments, recording equipment and mixing desks – this is someone for whom the recording studio is like a personal fiefdom-cum-science lab. There's a chilly masculinity about the artwork; it has the feel of an upmarket car parts advert or a men's magazine layout. It goes hand in hand with the rather prosaic, no-frills title.

Least favored of all his solo albums is, surprisingly, the debut, 1981's Law and Order, represented here by just one track, the gorgeous US Top Ten hit, "Trouble". It's one of Buckingham's most Mac-like songs which, in its mood and arrangement, was like a foreshadowing of "Gypsy". In fact, as much as "Trouble" was a foretaste of the Fleetwood Mac album that followed it (Mirage), so Buckingham's second album, Go Insane, and its title track (his second biggest hit), were a prefiguring of Tango In the Night. It's details like this that become apparent as the anthology unfolds, providing ample evidence to support the argument that Buckingham was the chief sonic architect of the band from which he's now been ejected.



It's fortunate indeed that he did land a few songs from his solo albums in the Hot 100 because otherwise he might be best known for "Holiday Road", the irritatingly ingratiating soundtrack song from National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), which uses a rather saccharine melodic phrase Buckingham eventually recycled, to far better effect, on the closing track of Tango in the Night, "You And I, Part II". Here, it appears in both studio and live renditions. It's a rare example of Buckingham's gift for 1950s and 1960s rock 'n' roll pastiche, refashioned with up-to-date production techniques (and his trademark vocal layering), getting the better of him and coming off glib. Something about its relentless cheeriness doesn't quite ring true; it's a rictus grin of a song. Better by far were the songs on Buckingham's second solo album, Go Insane, represented here by its two singles and a couple of album tracks. For "Slow Dancing", there was a video that attempted to get some of the Stevie Nicks action, utilizing wind-swept, Gothic imagery, lots of candles and a heavily styled, rather sensual-looking Buckingham.

Buckingham's post-Tango albums, Out of the Cradle, Under the Skin, Gift of Screws, and Seeds We Sow were all solid, critically-favored works. Cradle lends the anthology its first track, "Don't Look Down", which neatly introduces all the Buckingham trademarks, including the alternating of soft and bellowed vocals, the sharp, punchy rhythms, the guitar calisthenics, the air of tension and anxiety. "Surrender the Rain", from the same album, has more of that glittery guitar style that feels like standing in a downpour of stars. And if you think you've heard "Doing What I Can" before, that's because it repurposes the accompaniment of Fleetwood Mac's 1987 hit, "Big Love". Jumping to the second disc, in addition to one or two other bits of soundtrack work, you'll find two previously unreleased tracks ("Hunger" and "Ride This Road), and one entry from the Buckingham McVie album.


An ace up of the sleeve of Solo Anthology is the part which, on other compilations, is so often the throwaway, tacked on to lure completists but barely listened to more than once; the live disc. In Buckingham's case, it has several things going for it. One is the mesmerizing way he can, without the support of a band or any additional musicians, create riveting versions of songs which you might have thought wouldn't work without all that intricate and multi-layered production. But they do. Another is the fact that its inclusion means he's able to dip not only into the Mac songbook ("Never Going Back Again") but also the 1973 Buckingham Nicks album (when is that reissue finally going to happen?). It also reveals something that Buckingham, like McVie, does have an advantage over Nicks; he is a self-contained musical entity, with command of musical instruments. Whereas a Stevie Nicks song only becomes viable with the intervention of other musicians, both Buckingham and McVie are fully-rounded musicians.


From his instrumental prowess to the array of different voices in which he can sing, from his production expertise to his inspiring commitment to remaining energetic and creative, there's a great deal to admire about Lindsey Buckingham. His solo albums may not be as seductive as Nicks' or as friendly as McVie's, and it's nothing short of a tragedy to see the promise of that final Fleetwood Mac studio album evaporating before our eyes, but the material assembled here, with excellent remastering from Stephen Marcussen, tells a compelling story. Buckingham has always maintained that his bandmates balked at the left-turn he steered them in for Tusk, and wrested back control from him for the far more mild-mannered Mirage.

But history has vindicated him, now that Tusk has a critical admiration it was denied at the time of its original release. Buckingham's solo albums are where to go if you want more of that eccentricity and although sometimes his work is more interesting than it is loveable, this well-structured, non-chronological collection is a long overdue roundup of his best moments. If you've ever needed evidence as to why both times Buckingham has left Fleetwood Mac it's taken two people to replace him, then you'll find an abundance of it here.

Rating: 8/10
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Old 10-25-2018, 07:21 PM
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not a review, but i guess this is the best place for it (and not that i agree with the list, anyway) -




https://www.culturesonar.com/lindsey...10-solo-songs/

Not Just Fleetwood Mac: Lindsey Buckingham’s Top 10 Solo Songs

BY NICK NADEL
OCTOBER 25, 2018

lindsey buckingham

It’s a weird time to be a Fleetwood Mac fan. First, Lindsey Buckingham gets fired from the long-running band and replaced by Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers. Next, the drama intensifies with Lindsey’s claim that Stevie Nicks got him the boot so he’s filed a lawsuit against his ex-bandmates for breach of contract. Are we surprised? Not really. Buckingham’s always followed his own particular muse, whether it’s on his eclectic solo albums (on which he plays most of the instruments) or the joint record he cut last year with former bandmate Christine McVie. With Lindsey embarking on a new tour supporting the release of a collection of his best tunes, the brilliant singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist is finally getting the individual credit he deserves. Here are 10 songs that prove Lindsey will be just fine going his own way without The Mac.

Related: “Where Were You When Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ Topped the Charts?”

10. “Slow Dancing,” Go Insane (1984)
Buckingham channels a late-night disco vibe with this New Wave head-bopper that deserved nightclub recognition along the lines of Duran Duran and Art of Noise. A treat for fans of the earnest songwriter’s poppier side, “Slow Dancing” suggest an alternate universe where the Fleetwood Mac frontman became an electronic dancehall favorite.

9. “Did You Miss Me,” Gift of Screws (2008)
The 2008 album Gift of Screws features songs Buckingham originally penned for an aborted ‘90s solo outing and for Fleetwood Mac’s 2003 record Say You Will. The result is a mix of Buckingham’s signature propulsive pop-rock tinged with some knock-out acoustic gems. The album was a family affair for Lindsey as son Will and wife Kristen share songwriting duties. The yearning, guitar-driven rocker “Did You Miss Me” especially proves Lindsey can make beautiful music that isn’t about an ex-lover “packin’ and shackin’ up.”

8. “Shut Us Down,” Under the Skin (2006)
Under the Skin found Buckingham returning to his acoustic roots with a low-key stunner of an album that followed Fleetwood Mac’s successful comeback tours and albums. The gorgeous “Shut Us Down,” featured in the Cameron Crowe movie Elizabethtown, recalls Buckingham’s iconic Rumours track “Never Going Back Again” with its intimate guitar picking and raw, emotional vocals.

7. “In Our Own Time,” Seeds We Sow (2011)
Shimmering guitars and soaring harmonies highlight this track from Buckingham’s most recent solo album, which the singer-songwriter recorded and produced in his home studio. The thrilling live versions of the song are a sad reminder of the passion that will be missing from Fleetwood Mac’s upcoming Lindsey-less tour.

6. “Time Bomb Town,” Back to the Future Soundtrack (1985)
Lindsey’s other contribution to a beloved ‘80s movie soundtrack is just as catchy as his classic National Lampoon’s Vacation theme. Playing multiple instruments on the track, Buckingham delivers a moody, calypso-inflected tune perfectly suited to Marty McFly’s wild adventures through time.

5. “Time Precious Time,” Gift of Screws (2008)
This earworm is a showcase for Lindsey’s signature finger-picking style. Amid gorgeous rising and falling melodies, Buckingham sings about time slipping through his fingers until it all builds to an abrupt ending, reminding us that we’re all on a ticking clock and that Lindsey Buckingham can create a haunting masterpiece with little more than his voice and six strings.

4. “Don’t Look Down,” Out of the Cradle (1992)
With its jangly guitar and call-and-response vocals, this catchy song from Lindsey’s third solo album sounds like a lost track from Tusk. Out of the Cradle was Buckingham’s first album after his departure from Fleetwood Mac in 1987. Lyrically, Lindsey delves inward on a folk-rock driven song cycle that sets the tone for future solo albums.

3. “Holiday Road,” National Lampoon’s Vacation Soundtrack (1983)
One of two songs Buckingham performed on the National Lampoon’s Vacation soundtrack (“Dancin’ Across the USA” is the other), “Holiday Road” has become the official theme song of this beloved comedy franchise. The bouncy track inspired numerous cover versions and continues to pop up today in commercials as well as the recent Vacation reboot. It’s also the best song to feature a chorus of barking dogs.

2. “Trouble,” Law and Order (1981)
Law and Order saw Lindsey experimenting with punk and New Wave. Mick Fleetwood performs the drum loop on “Trouble,” and appears in the video alongside former Fleetwood Mac member Bob Welch. But the rest is all Lindsey, including harmonies crafted in his home studio. The result was a Top 10 hit — proof that Lindsey could create breezy, romantic pop without Stevie Nicks or Christine McVie.

1. “Go Insane,” Go Insane (1984)
Lindsey scored another hit with this paranoid, synth-heavy jam from his second solo album. While the album delves into his break-up with ex-girlfriend Carol Ann Harris (who penned a tell-all about her time with Fleetwood Mac), Lindsey has claimed that this title track nods to his tumultuous relationship with Stevie Nicks. With its galloping keyboards and vocals that sound like the result of an all-night booze and cocaine bender circa 1984, the track perfectly sums up Buckingham’s solo output – edgy and unpredictable, while still retaining an undeniable pop sheen.

–Nick Nadel

Photo Credit: Honoree Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac performs onstage during MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Fleetwood Mac at Radio City Music Hall on January 26, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for NARAS)
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Old 10-25-2018, 08:04 PM
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That review by Charles Donovan reads like it was written by David from The Ledge. Such a quotable review!

Quote:
In fact, as much as "Trouble" was a foretaste of the Fleetwood Mac album that followed it (Mirage), so Buckingham's second album, Go Insane, and its title track (his second biggest hit), were a prefiguring of Tango In the Night. It's details like this that become apparent as the anthology unfolds, providing ample evidence to support the argument that Buckingham was the chief sonic architect of the band from which he's now been ejected.
So true.
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Old 11-06-2018, 06:30 PM
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http://drownedinsound.com/releases/2...eviews/4152119

Lyndsey Buckingham
Solo Anthology: The Best Of Lindsey Buckingham

Label: Warner Bros. Release Date: 05/10/2018

thats-incentive by Joe Goggins November 5th, 2018

Never more so than now has the label of 'reluctant solo artist' applied to Lindsey Buckingham.

Ever since he found his way in to Fleetwood Mac, off the back of his collaborative LP with Stevie Nicks in 1976, he's worn the look of a man who knew he'd landed his dream job and was in no mood to give it up easily.

Rumours, despite the extracurricular turbulence, came together collaboratively. Thereafter, Buckingham, whether he wanted to or not, had to step into the role of musical director. Tusk was an album of considerable stylistic diversity and yet, it worked, even if the critical reception at the time suggested otherwise; he kept everybody happy, meaning that the album was able to swing from Nicks' balladry on 'Storms' to the weird proto-pop of 'Save Me a Place' and 'That's All for Everyone', with Buckingham suddenly taking his own cues from Talking Heads and The Beach Boys.

By the end of the Eighties, he'd had enough; the painstaking process of keeping the group together during Tango in the Night's tumultuous gestation period led him to leave. He'd turned out a masterpiece under considerable strain. It took two people to replace him.

Sound familiar? Here we are again, with Buckingham once again out, and with another duo stepping into a shoe each - Neil Finn on vocals, and Mike Campbell on guitar. This time, though, it wasn't his decision - Mick Fleetwood salvaged the last vestiges of his old-fashioned English politeness when he rejected the word 'fired' in a recent interview - ‘words like [that] are ugly references as far as I'm concerned’ - but the truth is that Buckingham was booted for wanting to put back the money-spinning megatour in order to play some solo gigs first.

It's worthy pointing out that he's been trying to bring a new Mac album to fruition for years; there are, apparently, stacks of tunes ready to be cut, if only Nicks would play ball. When Christine McVie emerged from exile to rejoin the fold in 2014, Buckingham swiftly snapped back into songwriting mode; the compositions that made up last year's throughly decent Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie were surely destined for band status. His patience, you sense, was running out quick.

The logical conclusion is that that's what led him to put out this Solo Anthology now, even if it'd been in the works before the Mac served him his notice; he's out on the road extensively in the U.S. this autumn, and 'Never Going Back Again' has surely never sounded so pointed. It's funny how this collection should feel definitive, and it is in its inclusion of all of Buckingham's most crucial extra-Mac endeavours, but truthfully it still somehow feels like an assembly of odds-and-ends; you can tell this work is what he got to up to when he became frustrated with his band's inertia, fuelled by drugs in their heyday and now, by money.

'Go Insane' and 'Rock Away Blind' both sound, in terms of their instrumental style and production, as if they might have been Tango in the Night offcuts. 'Holiday Road' is a handsome exercise in melancholy, whilst 'Trouble' and 'Show You How' take on the fragility of relationships in a manner that should be corny; Buckingham somehow stays the right side of it.

Most crucial are the moments when he demonstrates to his former colleagues what they're missing when it comes to his six-string calling card, his finger-picking style that's fiendishly difficult to replicate or replace in the present pick-driven climate. He plays the lies of 'Not Too Late' and 'Time Bomb Town' with verve and urgency because he devised the guitar parts to sound that way - it's not a live affectation.

Solo Anthology, spanning as it does three CDs, is not without stodge; Buckingham falls victim to sentiment and cheese from time to time, as 'Stars Are Crazy' or the wildly overwrought 'Treason' will confirm. That said, what runs through this set - collectors-only live tracks included - is a sparkling demonstration of Buckingham's keen ear for melody, his impressive work ethic and - most importantly - his romantic heart. None of this is his best work, because he saved that for the Mac, and yet it's still frequently superb. They might have sacker's remorse by the time they play Wembley next June.
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https://reviewcorner.org/2018/11/19/...y-the-best-of/

Lindsey Buckingham: Solo Anthology: The Best Of
NOVEMBER 19, 2018 BY JEROBEAR
review buckingham

Another boxset, this time from the guitarist fired by Fleetwood Mac; he’s so good they needed two players to replace him on tour, Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.

Buckingham’s solo albums have always been gems, his voice good and his guitar work (obviously) outstanding. Unlike the Mac, it always sounds intimate and personal, as if he recorded it all in his front room (he probably did, but his front room is probably massive).

Opener Don’t Look Down is very Mac, nice tune, call and repeat vocals, the lot. Much of the rest is less Mac, though of course his voice and guitar sound are distinctive.

Three CDs of excellent music for £15; what more could any fan of the Mac want? CD3 is live and features some Mac tunes, played acoustically.
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Old 11-20-2018, 12:44 PM
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this dissecting of NGBA and Tusk lyrics doesn't quite fit here, but the keywords are about the anthology / review.....

http://atlargemagazine.com/journal/lindsey-buckingham/

Lindsey Buckingham
Written by Jennifer Parker
11.09.18 | Music
Lindsey Buckingham


Photo of Lindsey Buckingham courtesy APM


She broke down and let me in
Made me see where I’ve been

Been down one time
Been down two times
I’m never going back again

You don’t know what it means to win
Come down and see me again

Been down one time
Been down two times
I’m never going back again

Songwriter: Lindsey Buckingham

Fifty-three words. For decades, the better part of half-a-century, rock-fans have practically made a sport out of deconstructing the meaning behind the lyrics of Never Going Back Again. Go ahead, Google “Never Going Back Again lyrics” and see how many hits you get. Here’s the thing: there are people who love Lindsey Buckingham’s music and there are outright fans. It seems like and yeah, I’m generalizing big time here, fans more or less care about the mystique of the forever handsome Mr. Buckingham and of course, they love the music. Fans invest themselves into the lives of the performer by trying to understand what was going on in his head when he wrote a song. Then there are straight-up music lovers.

I’ll admit to watching two documentaries and at least three interviews about Buckingham and I don’t recall the topic of the meaning behind the lyrics even being whispered. Rumors can get you in deep yogurt. Resisting a juicy story about beautiful and talented people whacked out on cocaine seems impossible. Webpage after webpage someone waxes on and on about unrequited love and infidelity. Come on people, it was the 70s. Sex, drugs, rock n’ roll. If you dig it, dig deeper. Each verse only has two lines. There are two verses. They never repeat. The chorus in most renditions repeats twice. In the newest and my current favorite version, from Buckingham’s Solo Anthology, it repeats a third time adding a whopping thirteen extra words. Here’s another thing that blows my mind: almost all of the words have one syllable. Only three have two syllables and they repeat in the chorus with one exception. Again is the last word of the second verse. It repeats in the fifth, the seventh and the tenth lines. There are conventions when it comes to writing a pop song. Most have two verses and two to three rounds of the chorus and if the song is popular—the chorus is jaunty, easy to remember and will get stuck in your head—possibly forever. So what makes this song so special?

From Never Going Back to You Can Never Leave

1977 was a good year for rock n’ roll. Disco was hot but the songs that have truly endured in our collective Americana consciousness in my opinion can be sampled from Billboard’s top two hundred albums that year. They weren’t all the same. Look at Hotel California by the Eagles. It tells a story, with multiple syllabic words. It too has a memorable and melancholy intro on the guitar followed by words that at least I can quote with accuracy, “On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair, Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air…” I could go on and I bet you could too. If you’re feeling nostalgic go ahead and give It a go. It might take you back, even if you weren’t born yet to a time when you thought the friends you had in high school were the friends you were going to keep forever. I think the challenge isn’t to get caught up in the nostalgia for a moment but to think about what makes the song endure. Why does it evoke feelings of a time that is no longer—that cannot possibly be recaptured? Don’t get distracted by the words but listen to the music. Those few notes at the beginning of Hotel California—something as a non-musician that I can only describe as a feeling but that isn’t good enough for me. I want to know why I feel this way because only certain songs get inside my head, become such a part of my long-term memory, that I’m able to recall not only where I was when I heard a song for the first time but how the fabric on the seat of my mother’s car felt, to the AC blowing on my nine-year-old face.

Life in the Slow Lane

Hard to imagine a more chill concert than Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco. In October, on the eve of his US tour, Buckingham played Never Going Back Again as the sun was beginning to wane over Golden Gate Park. If you aren’t familiar with Chris Thile’s, Live From Here public radio program, Thile is the mandolin virtuoso who took over A Prarie Home Companion. Before you scoff, I’ll remind you that the words hardly strictly doesn’t mean a total absence of bluegrass nor does it mean that Thile doesn’t rock the folksy looking instrument with a curvy body and short neck. Besides, he’s funny AF so if you’re uninitiated give his show a listen (and no, I don’t work for NPR). With a backdrop of eucalyptus trees, the outdoor stage was covered with a smattering of sound dampening worn area rugs. Buckingham stood on the stage in a pair of jeans, a simple black t-shirt and leather jacket, closed his eyes and started to play his acoustic guitar. He begins with a wistful melody then just outright stops—almost as if he hits rewind, takes a deep breath, nods, then the familiar bars of intro chords before he starts singing. I’m hung up on why this song works. I mean, it is more than forty years old. Hairstyles from four decades ago look ridiculous through the lens of 2018. Shoes don’t even look the same. Baffled, I consulted some talented musicians who happen to be friends. One friend, Sammy who writes commercial jingles said that he spends a lot of time thinking about what makes music objectively good. He pointed me Leonard Bernstein who, thanks to the internet, will live in perpetuity. Bernstein schooled me on a combo of four notes that forms the beginning of hundreds of songs. There’s a problem though. My music reading skills are suboptimal. I sent the Bernstein link to my friend Lili who sadly informed me that Bernstein’s four notes begin neither Never Coming Back Again nor Hotel California. So what do the two songs have in common? They both adhere to ye ole’ conventional pop music time signature of 4/4 time, which simply means there are four beats in a measure. Beyond that? Not a heck of a lot. Hotel California hardly conforms to pop lyrics. It has a whopping six verses and two measly rounds of chorus but oh do we remember them, “any time of year, you can find it here.” What both songs have in common is a memorable melody at the beginning. The Eagles are pretty steady in terms of tempo throughout so this is where I find Buckingham remarkable. In my opinion, Buckingham goes outside the constructs of conventional popular music by going inside. And then it hit me—Lindsey Buckingham sings like he is making mad passionate love, the kind that I’m not even sure exists IRL through his music—and friends, I was shook.

Love Is a Four Letter Word

Don’t say that you love me
Just tell me that you want me

Tusk 1979 Songwriter: Lindsey Buckingham

Mr. Buckingham, I couldn’t agree more. I’m sick of being told that people love me. I don’t even know what it means. I think it is better to care about people. It carries more gravitas. I love my kid. I used to love my parents but they are wicked dead. I have deep feelings for lots of people but love? It has become a colloquial thing that people throw around like “that’s dope.” But, want? Yeah, I can dig that one. Everyone knows what it means to want something. Yet, I’m noticing something for the first time. You aren’t suggesting that someone has to believe it. They just have to say it. So now I’m freaking hung up on the difference between say and tell. Is there an etymological difference or is it really two ways of stating the same thing? Gotta figure that one out before I commit to an opinion. From what I can glean, the salient diff between say and tell is when you say something, you don’t mention who said it but when you tell someone something you do. I think tell screams commit. Say? not so much. When You tell someone something it is actionable. You are explicitly stating what you want. In this case, “me.” You are telling another person that you want them to tell you that they want you. Yikes. Somehow, it feels easier to say that you love someone. It’s just a word. Telling another human being that you want them can set you up for a world of hurt, rejection and disappointment. Telling another person to tell you that they want you, that they desire you with an abandonment that means that you are vulnerable to rejection because you are giving everything in the moment to someone else, without expectation of anything in return? I dunno. You can ask for anything you want, that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it. I think there is a difference between telling them what to do and telling them what you need. But being clear about your needs? Telling someone something with such specificity that you are risking everything in the moment? I’ll admit, I’ve never been great at asking for what I want. Need? Fuggedaboutit. I’m no expert on romantic love. I’m not even sure I know what romantic love is. Until I started writing about this song, I thought I knew that I’ve been the physical receptacle of other people’s wants but that is not the same as romantic love nor even desire. This song makes me wander down rabbit holes that I’m not excited about exploring. It occurs to me that want and need are two different verbs.

When It Comes to Music, Forty Is Not the New Thirty

If like me, you’re a person who cares about higher order thinking, the big picture, the grand scheme of things, however you want to label the gestalt of your existence, you are no more risking permanent emotional devastation than stepping on a piece of gum on the sidewalk. It might throw you for a bit on the short term but you’ll figure it out and it will have no impact on the rest of your life. Get out the peanut butter or the Goo-Gone™ or if you’re really desperate, drop the damn thing off at the shoemaker (therapist) but don’t feel sorry for yourself that you stepped in it. You’re gonna be alright. I think that’s the appeal of TUSK. But big picture thinking is a nifty hat trick when you’re trying to get laid. Oh, did I just say that? I’m way oversimplifying it. I mean trying to get laid with feeling. Like you are in a place so transcendent, where your needs and wants are synergistic with someone else’s needs and wants that saying that you love the person is a distraction. You don’t need to, you feel it.

If I told you about the first time I heard this song, you’d wonder why I like it so much. I was in the back of my father’s convertible. My not yet step-mom was in the front. I was sitting behind the passenger seat and my brother was to my left. We were on the “shelf.” No proper back seat in the late 1970s 350 Mercedes SLs. We must have been fighting so my father, who went to the parenting school of react first and ask questions (maybe) later and turned the volume to “11.” I remember being somewhat terrified of his response. A fearful kid, I hated loud anything, yet I was calmed by the repetitive drum beat, punctuated by what I think is a dissonant th-wang, no, not twang, but a distinct th-wang of a guitar that got my attention. I know that I didn’t get the words for sure at age eleven. I understood them literally but I am sure I didn’t ascribe any meaning to the lyrics. [If my lay person’s description is too pedestrian for you, I checked, it is a D minor chord on an acoustic guitar according to my friend, Lili.]

Ok. I’m going to come right out and say it because I’m a grown-ass woman. This song ****ing does it for me. (Yeah, yeah, I know that tusk is slang for penis and I’m not sure it is even relevant in context to the song.) The 83 word song has a brass band, a relentless, driving beat, some versions have a guitar and a synthesizer. Mr. Buckingham, are you yodeling? Howling? It has kind of an echo like sound in a canyon/stadium/lonesome cowboy/edge going for it. The most recent version begins with the delicate swoosh* of cymbals that onomatopoeically sounds like a faintly shaking rain stick, the familiar guitar chords and then the drumming, the relentless rhythm, always, the unmistakable beat that I have not been able to shake since 1979, that once begun marches and pounds the words into the floor, “but don’t say that you love me; just tell me that you want me,” and then just the music building and building with no more singing. Is it too much for words? Because when you want something that badly, when you can’t make another person see you for who you really are, there really are no words.

Thanks, Mats.

Solo Anthology: The Best of Lindsey Buckingham, a compilation drawn from records he has made outside the Mac since the early Eighties.


Tags: Jennifer Parker, music, review
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Old 11-25-2018, 07:25 PM
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6 LP set was released yesterday.

here's another review, this time from Goldmine magazine (5 stars) -

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...&theater&ifg=1
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