MacMan
10-09-2008, 06:03 PM
Fleetwood Mac's Buckingham is back
By PATRICK BERKERY
phillyBurbs.com (http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/81-10092008-1603261.html)
There's Lindsey Buckingham, contributor of searing guitar and rock classics like "Go Your Own Way" to the off-again, soon-to-be-on-again Fleetwood Mac.
Then there's Lindsey Buckingham, the enigmatic eccentric behind the bouncy "Holiday Road" single, Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double-album "Tusk," and celebrated solo albums like his latest, "Gift of Screws."
Buckingham is out touring behind "Gift of Screws" and hitting our area three times over the next week: Friday, at the Sovereign PAC in Reading; Saturday at the Xanadu Theatre @ Trump Casino in Atlantic City, and next Saturday (18) at Glenside's Keswick Theater.
You can enter to win tickets to the Keswick show here (http://www.phillyburbs.com/contest/LindseyBuckingham/index.shtml), check out our Fleetwood Mac/Lindsey Buckingham Must-Have Music Guide here (http://www.phillyburbs.com/musicguide/mac.shtml), and read our chat with Lindsey Buckingham below:
Both "Under the Skin" and "Gift of Screws" share the hushed sound of indie artists like M. Ward and Iron & Wine. Are you familiar with those artists? Have they informed anything you've been working on recently?
I'm not familiar with anything that new, really. You get to a certain point with your method, and in your personal life – when you're a father – your context of things moves a little more to the right. In my younger days, I heard new things because other people had them. There was a communication of what to listen to based on what a group of people had. A lot of that's gone away, though I try to listen to things that are fresh. I've been listening to Radiohead and Thom Yorke's solo album. Death Cab for Cutie I really like, too.
If you're not aware of a lot of new music, are you at least aware that there's a pretty disparate group of young artists – people from Joanna Newsome to Bloc Party and Stephen Merritt from Magnetic Fields – who appreciate your work, both solo and with Fleetwood Mac?
Not really, I'm a bit insulated from all of that. I know in a more general sense that there's an appreciation for Fleetwood Mac by a new generation. They seem to gravitate to the authenticity. Maybe they respond to the musicianship and the realness in the music. It's nice to know there's been some influence from me personally. That's what I was doing it for.
And "Tusk" in a lot of ways is seen as the gold standard for maintaining one's integrity.
It was. It was really a line that was drawn in the sand for me and has always been something from that point on that was a point of departure for the way I think in terms of what I think is important. I don't think I would've gotten to that point had we not had this hugely successful album preceding "Tusk." Getting the perspective on the freedom that that can give you but also the lack of freedom that can give you in terms of what's expected of you. The revolt against "Rumours II," for lack of a better phrase, was the beginning of everything for me. You could look at that almost as a first solo album. Certainly it was the setting of a tone to which I still try to adhere.
The title track to "Gift of Screws" harkens back to some of "Tusk"'s more eccentric moments, most notably that sadistic laugh in the chorus. Was that a spontaneous thing?
Yeah, but it wasn't supposed to be as out there as it was. But I kept doing it so we had to settle for that. Rob Cavallo the producer kept saying ‘I don't like that; it sounds like you've got a hot foot.' (laughs)
The opener, "Great Day" is fairly out there as well.
In a way, it's its own variety show. The finger-picking, the lead guitar, the counter-point vocals, it's got a lot of things in about 3 minutes. And yet it's alienating all at once (laughs).
The finger-picking you do is often counter the vocal melody. Is that something that requires a fair bit of practice to pull off live?
Yeah, some of the time it does. Something like "Big Love" came naturally. "Time Precious Time" on the new album was difficult because it was in a tuning I made up specifically to get those notes; it's not like a bunch of positions I know. It's up and down the neck and it's fast. I brought a guitar with me on vacation (before his recent tour) just to practice that, and the singing.
Will we ever see the Buckingham-Nicks album reissued on CD?
It's still on hold. I guess at some point a CD will come out. Obviously, the fact that the band is going to get back together and start rehearsing means there's going to be more physical proximity, it will lead to more discussion about that and maybe a plan regarding that.
Patrick Berkery writes about entertainment and sports for phillyBurbs.com. E-mail: [email protected]
By PATRICK BERKERY
phillyBurbs.com (http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/81-10092008-1603261.html)
There's Lindsey Buckingham, contributor of searing guitar and rock classics like "Go Your Own Way" to the off-again, soon-to-be-on-again Fleetwood Mac.
Then there's Lindsey Buckingham, the enigmatic eccentric behind the bouncy "Holiday Road" single, Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double-album "Tusk," and celebrated solo albums like his latest, "Gift of Screws."
Buckingham is out touring behind "Gift of Screws" and hitting our area three times over the next week: Friday, at the Sovereign PAC in Reading; Saturday at the Xanadu Theatre @ Trump Casino in Atlantic City, and next Saturday (18) at Glenside's Keswick Theater.
You can enter to win tickets to the Keswick show here (http://www.phillyburbs.com/contest/LindseyBuckingham/index.shtml), check out our Fleetwood Mac/Lindsey Buckingham Must-Have Music Guide here (http://www.phillyburbs.com/musicguide/mac.shtml), and read our chat with Lindsey Buckingham below:
Both "Under the Skin" and "Gift of Screws" share the hushed sound of indie artists like M. Ward and Iron & Wine. Are you familiar with those artists? Have they informed anything you've been working on recently?
I'm not familiar with anything that new, really. You get to a certain point with your method, and in your personal life – when you're a father – your context of things moves a little more to the right. In my younger days, I heard new things because other people had them. There was a communication of what to listen to based on what a group of people had. A lot of that's gone away, though I try to listen to things that are fresh. I've been listening to Radiohead and Thom Yorke's solo album. Death Cab for Cutie I really like, too.
If you're not aware of a lot of new music, are you at least aware that there's a pretty disparate group of young artists – people from Joanna Newsome to Bloc Party and Stephen Merritt from Magnetic Fields – who appreciate your work, both solo and with Fleetwood Mac?
Not really, I'm a bit insulated from all of that. I know in a more general sense that there's an appreciation for Fleetwood Mac by a new generation. They seem to gravitate to the authenticity. Maybe they respond to the musicianship and the realness in the music. It's nice to know there's been some influence from me personally. That's what I was doing it for.
And "Tusk" in a lot of ways is seen as the gold standard for maintaining one's integrity.
It was. It was really a line that was drawn in the sand for me and has always been something from that point on that was a point of departure for the way I think in terms of what I think is important. I don't think I would've gotten to that point had we not had this hugely successful album preceding "Tusk." Getting the perspective on the freedom that that can give you but also the lack of freedom that can give you in terms of what's expected of you. The revolt against "Rumours II," for lack of a better phrase, was the beginning of everything for me. You could look at that almost as a first solo album. Certainly it was the setting of a tone to which I still try to adhere.
The title track to "Gift of Screws" harkens back to some of "Tusk"'s more eccentric moments, most notably that sadistic laugh in the chorus. Was that a spontaneous thing?
Yeah, but it wasn't supposed to be as out there as it was. But I kept doing it so we had to settle for that. Rob Cavallo the producer kept saying ‘I don't like that; it sounds like you've got a hot foot.' (laughs)
The opener, "Great Day" is fairly out there as well.
In a way, it's its own variety show. The finger-picking, the lead guitar, the counter-point vocals, it's got a lot of things in about 3 minutes. And yet it's alienating all at once (laughs).
The finger-picking you do is often counter the vocal melody. Is that something that requires a fair bit of practice to pull off live?
Yeah, some of the time it does. Something like "Big Love" came naturally. "Time Precious Time" on the new album was difficult because it was in a tuning I made up specifically to get those notes; it's not like a bunch of positions I know. It's up and down the neck and it's fast. I brought a guitar with me on vacation (before his recent tour) just to practice that, and the singing.
Will we ever see the Buckingham-Nicks album reissued on CD?
It's still on hold. I guess at some point a CD will come out. Obviously, the fact that the band is going to get back together and start rehearsing means there's going to be more physical proximity, it will lead to more discussion about that and maybe a plan regarding that.
Patrick Berkery writes about entertainment and sports for phillyBurbs.com. E-mail: [email protected]