SYW Reveiw with comments about LB

[DJM]

Hi Everyone, This review of SYW is from a local newpaper in the Princeton NJ area. Obviously the author is a LB fan. I thought you might want to read it.
DJM
FLEETWOOD MAC: “SAY YOU WILL” *** ½ (OUT OF 5)

At this point in their storied career, it would have been easy for the members of Fleetwood Mac to just go into the studio and sleepwalk their way through another album, replicating the past before hitting the road for some easy money.
But give Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and founding members Mick Fleetwood and John McVie a lot of credit. For “Say You Will,” their first new full studio set with Buckingham on board since 1987, is adventurous, challenging, wonderfully creative and at times totally off the wall.
It’s true that the group is missing the tenderness and stability of longtime keyboardist/singer Christine McVie, who opted out of this project after touring with the band in support of its 1997 live album “The Dance.” But her absence provided a whole lot more room for ex-lovers Buckingham and Nicks, and both make the most of the opportunity -- especially Buckingham, an underrated guitarist.
This originally started out as a Buckingham solo project and expanded from there. Those who’ve been enthralled with some of the stringman’s previous solo albums, like his criminally forgotten 1992 masterpiece, “Out Of The Cradle, ” will find a lot to like about “Say You Will.” The guitarist’s playing is nothing short of brilliant here, whether he’s rippling through the finger-picking acoustic wonder of “Red Rover,” the passionate “Bleed To Love Her,” and the touching ode to Nicks “Say Goodbye,” or whether he’s turning on the explosive electric power for “Murrow Turning Over In His Grave.”
The latter is one of the disc’s more avant-garde tracks, a big, dense clash of guitars, staggered rhythms, sound effects and Buckingham’s desperate vocals. But it’s not the only time the band steps out on a limb. Sometimes it works – as on that song – and sometimes it doesn’t, like during the rather excessive lumber and thunder of “Come.” But at least the band is still taking chances, unlike the vast majority of “classic rock” acts that long ago lost their sense of adventure.
Longtime fans need not fret, though, for plenty of moments here are true to the best of Fleetwood Mac’s earlier work. “Thrown Down” is a standout, loaded with Buckingham’s and Nick’s harmonies, while others like Nicks title track and the beautiful Buckingham ballad “Steal Your Heart Away” fare nearly equally well.