My GOS Newspaper Review

[JbbyStew86]

For my entry in my University's newspaper this week, I submitted my review of GOS. Let me know what you all think!!

Buckingham Still Going His Own Way

Next month, Lindsey Buckingham turns 60. Since 1974 he has been part of 13 albums and sold millions of records. But chances are, you don’t even know who he is. One of those 13 records sold over 20 million copies and is entitled “Rumours”. Since the 70s, Buckingham has played guitar, produced, arranged and sang for Fleetwood Mac, a band which needs no introduction. Outside of the Mac he has released five solo studio albums, and one live album. Usually taking a decade or so to release new material, fans were delighted when he released three albums over the past two years. Last week he released his fifth entitled “Gift of Screws”.

Work on “Gift Of Screws” began in 1997 but suffered casualties along the way. The album was temporarily shelved when Fleetwood Mac hijacked many of the songs for 2003’s “Say You Will”. Many of the remaining tracks went to his 2005 acoustic album “Under The Skin”. The differences between “Skin” and “Screws” are refreshing. Comparing both albums, Buckingham remarks: "It's almost like the opening act and then the headline act in terms of the kind of approach. Here I'm bringing to bear many more aspects of what I can do - guitar solos, just rocking a lot more.”

Somewhere along the line, Buckingham decided to put down the acoustic and plug his Turner Model 1 guitar into an amp. Saying he is a master of the guitar solo is an understatement. Buckingham was known for his solos on the 1979 “Tusk” tour resulting in bleeding hands. The opener “Great Day” features a solo the sonic equivalent of a volcanic explosion. It’s so hot that Rolling Stone’s Will Hermes wonders if it was “specifically designed to bitch-slap anyone with the nerve to wonder if Lindsey Buckingham still rocks.” This is an ambitious album you would expect from an up and coming artist and not an aging rocker.

When Fleetwood Mac became the masters of California pop, Buckingham started listening to punk and new wave. Here, he combines the two. Long a master of pop music craftsmanship, Buckingham brings out all the stops on “Gift of Screws” with songs like “Did You Miss Me” the album’s first single. A song singing: “Did you miss me in the evening/When everyone is bound to dream/Did you ever run where the wind blows/Did you ever go where I didn’t know” seems to fit more on the Mac albums of the 70s than here.

Buckingham has long been able to make modern sounding music while not throwing away old tricks. A couple of those tricks are Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac, who appear on tracks that are the most commercially viable of the whole album. “The Right Place to Fade” takes all three of them back to their 70s heyday. “Wait for You” with its roadhouse style, is strongest in its pop driven chorus.

The guitar virtuoso doesn’t abandon a few acoustic tracks and they cool down the face melting rockers. “Bel Air Rain”, maybe the most beautiful of the album, is an acoustic driven autobiography. Buckingham has a personalized style of finger picking he uses on every song that gives the guitar arrangement depth enough for three players.

“Screws” is filled with dark themes and apprehension. In “Time Precious Time” Buckingham sings: “Searching for scars that you hide/Looking beneath every stone/Half deep, half empty/This must be home”. Much of the album’s lyrical style harks back to his 1984 release “Go Insane” which combined synthetic musical design with overtures of depression. Here, themes of being underground or underwater are right beside those of finding your way back to love.

The strongest track on the album is “Love Runs Deeper”, a driving arena rocker arranged much like his famous “Go Your Own Way”. The searing guitar solos combine with a foundation of fast strumming acoustics and a lashing rhythm section to create the best rocker he has ever released.

“Gift of Screws” combines quirky eccentricity with commercial viability. Like a fine wine, Lindsey Buckingham seems to only get better with age. As he said himself, “I'm still, for better or worse, clinging to my idealism and to my sense that there is still yet much to be said.” Buckingham’s musical talent, lyrical identity and producing genius all culminate on this album to make it a “Gift” you won’t need the receipt for.

Songs to Catch: Love Runs Deeper, Great Day, Underground

Grade: A-

Lindsey Buckingham’s “Gift of Screws” is available on Reprise Records on CD, Vinyl and on the Internet

[David]

Originally Posted by JbbyStew86

For my entry in my University's newspaper this week, I submitted my review of GOS. Let me know what you all think!!

Work on “Gift Of Screws” began in 1997 but suffered casualties along the way.

You're a wonderful writer & I like your review. But recording on "Screws" actually dates from an earlier year -- around 1995.

[michelej1]

I think it's a great review. I especially liked what you said about combining musical design with overtures of depression. Michele

[shackin'up]

Great read. You could have done better on the Title though. I read that one before....

Apart of the '95 correction from David, I have to say that John McVie does not appear on Right Place To Fade. That is John Pierce on bass, from Huey Lewis & the news, If I remember correctly.

[JbbyStew86]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

Great read. You could have done better on the Title though. I read that one before....

Apart of the '95 correction from David, I have to say that John McVie does not appear on Right Place To Fade. That is John Pierce on bass, from Huey Lewis & the news, If I remember correctly.

yeah you're right. i realized that a little too late, but then i still probably would have left it. the average college student probably wouldnt follow that or appreciate it either way. good to know that someone from the news is still doing something haha

[Chrislit18]

omfg you actually get to write that much!?

I get in trouble if I go over 500 words

That is AMAZING! though!

I'm gonna wait to review the concert and CD together, as People in my school are already intolerant of my Love for Lindsey.

[LOTR]

Lindsey will be 59 next month not 60.