Lindsey Uposted

[michelej1]

[Just uploading articles I did not find online yet]

April 6, 1993 Tuesday, Reuters


HEADLINE: Lindsey Buckingham shaking off ghost of Fleetwood Mac.

BYLINE: By Dean Goodman

BODY:

LOS ANGELES, April 6, Reuter - Lindsey Buckingham, the brains behind Fleetwood Mac, refuses to slam the door completely on his times with the 1970s' supergroup even as he savours his newfound freedom as a solo performer.

The 45-year-old musician is currently playing mid-sized venues in North America with a 10-piece backing band on his first ever tour without "the Big Mac", which he quit in 1987.

While he is relieved to be free of the backstabbings and intrigues that plagued the Fleetwood Mac bureaucracy, he doesn't mind combining hits from that era with tunes from his latest album, "Out of the Cradle".

"Over a period of time we can drop some of those (old songs) maybe, but I'm saying this is phase two of something, and I don't feel a need to divorce myself from any of that," he told Reuters in a recent interview at his Bel Air, California, home.

"I think that would be in a way almost inappropriate."

But songs like "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" from the huge "Rumours" album from 1977 obviously get a different treatment with his current band.

The extreme example is "Big Love", a song he wrote for solo use but which was co-opted for Fleetwood Mac's 1987 "Tango in The Night". The song opens the current show, but it's just Buckingham on stage with his guitar, with none of the original's lush arrangements.

Having yearned for his creative freedom for some time, he quit Fleetwood Mac after "Tango", most of which was recorded at his house when the band was going through yet another messy period. For example, singer Stevie Nicks participated in the year-long process for just two weeks.

"Other people also had personal problems at the time. It was almost impossible to get anything done," Buckingham says. "It was demoralising."

The group's problems were highlighted in Mick Fleetwood's recent autobiography, which contained scathing comments about Buckingham and recounts some incidents that Buckingham says never happened.

But Buckingham got his own back in the song "Wrong" from "Out of the Cradle". It's a savage putdown of Mick Fleetwood with the chorus "Young Mr Rockcock, where do you belong?"

Fleetwood and Buckingham have since patched things up, and the band reunited in January to play "Don't Stop" -- which was the Democratic Party's unofficial campaign song -- at President Bill Clinton's inaugural gala.

"It didn't have a huge emotional attachment for me," Buckingham said of the reunion. "The fact that we could play that song in our sleep -- in fact we probably did play it in our sleep a few times -- it was easy.

"Being involved in such a specific event for such a specific purpose, it provided a nice sense of closure for the band," he says.

While he doesn't rule out further reunions, Buckingham says the prospect seems rather distasteful. "For other people in the band there may be other reasons, like money, to want to do it. I've earned the right to make the kind of choices I want to make."

At the moment, his new solo career is the main focus. The tour kicked off last month in Los Angeles and the show was marked by standing ovations for most songs from an adulatory audience.

A single, "Don't Look Down", is being released to coincide with the tour and "Out of the Cradle", which was lauded by critics but shunned by record buyers, may get a second chance as people catch his show.

Buckingham doesn't mind either way. What matters, he says, is that he's got a band of keen unknowns, and he's finally getting to do things on his own terms. "I think I'm probably enjoying this more than I ever did Fleetwood Mac, although I suppose that's not surprising," he says.