OCRegister.com (article) The Ball's in Stevie's Court!

MacMan · #1 11-02-2006, 11:36 PM

Lindsey Buckingham: Breaking away
Finally finishing a solo album without Fleetwood Mac intervening, Lindsey Buckingham has begun a new chapter in his career.
By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...le_1342625.php

It isn't as though Lindsey Buckingham intended to take 14 years to make another solo album. It isn't as if he hadn't tried numerous times to resist the lure of another reunion with Fleetwood Mac.

It's just that, to paraphrase Al Pacino, whenever Buckingham thought he was out, they'd pull him back in.

"There was a pattern of that happening for quite a while," the singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitarist admitted by phone from Chicago midway through his first Mac-free tour in more than a decade. (He plays tonight at the Grove of Anaheim and a week later at the Wiltern LG in L.A.)

"Even before 'Out of the Cradle' (his last solo effort, from 1992) that would happen. There was a period before then when somehow a lot of the material I was writing ended up on … uhhh …" He chuckled. "Whatever that was called."

"Tango in the Night," from 1987, the last proper Fleetwood Mac album – that is, the last one to feature the principals who recorded the 1977 blockbuster "Rumours" – until 2003's "Say You Will."

"Right, that's it. That stuff was intended to be for a solo album. This has been happening for many, many years, of getting into a groove on my own terms, then having my intentions or needs intervened at the 11th hour. Which often leads me to be mindful of the greater good."

And he has put such wishes ahead of his own creative desires time and again. While working on a follow-up to "Cradle" in 1997, for instance, with the Mac's namesake rhythm section – drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie – he was persuaded to set aside his plans and instead bring back pianist-vocalist Christine McVie and former flame and writing partner Stevie Nicks. That led to an MTV special and album ("The Dance") and enormously lucrative tour.

The pattern repeated itself three years ago. Buckingham was again working on an insular, home-recorded, decidedly nonmainstream solo album when, once more persuaded by the others to think bigger and more commercially, most of its tunes were pillaged for another Mac disc, the coolly received "Say You Will."

Not that he's bitter about that. "At least from my perspective there are a lot of wonderful moments on that album," he says. "Whether it hangs together as a whole piece, you know, that's debatable. Certainly a lot of politics went into it, as usual – its construction, its sequencing. But in retrospect, it seems like all the material that ended up on 'Say You Will' was more appropriate for that anyway."

One project, however, tends to lead to another: The richly textured intimacy of Buckingham's acclaimed new work "Under the Skin," wouldn't have happened without his "Say You Will" experience – specifically the tour that followed it. With Christine McVie opting out, "It opened up this whole arena for more … testosteroneon stage, shall we say."

More to the point, it allowed Buckingham a grander spotlight, which he maximized by exploring tricky solo acoustic terrain on two reworked numbers, "Big Love" and "Go Insane." "They had both been ensemble pieces that became signature pieces on a single guitar on that tour. That was the starting point for thinking along the lines of what this new album became."

Yet, as he's quick to note, much of his work has become cyclical. The array of subtle but hypnotic effects used on "Under the Skin" in many ways plays like the full flowering of eccentric ideas that have crept into all of Buckingham's work since he produced the Mac's 1979 studio opus "Tusk." The sales of that challenging album were something of a letdown after the unprecedented success of "Rumours" but its stature has only grown as the decades have gone by.

Buckingham often refers to the bedrock approach set forth on that offbeat gem as "the left side" – of his brain, of a sonic style, definitely of the commercial spectrum.

" 'Tusk' was the moment of definition for me, of drawing a line in the sand," he explains. "Whatever I've defined myself as, in terms of drawing from that left side of the palette and somehow balancing that out with something more mainstream – which can be more than a little neurotic, I realize – it all stems from that.

"That album was such a great release for me. But it also shifted the dynamic between me and the band. After it didn't sell 16 million copies, a dictum was handed down: 'Lindsey, we can't let you produce records.' That's what led me to do solo albums in the first place."

All of his subsequent solo work – from 1981's "Law and Order" and 1984's "Go Insane" on through "Cradle" and the new "Skin" – has proven far more introspective and evolutionary than his Fleetwood Mac sides. It seems therapeutic, each album reassessing his life and reputation.

And nowhere is that more evident than on "Under the Skin." Now 57, married since 2000 and the father of three kids (Will, Leelee and Stella), Buckingham seems content at last in songs like "Show You How" and "It Was You."

"Having stability at home actually gives you a creative foundation," he says. "All the things we did all those years ago when we were living a lifestyle, abusing substances, that feeds into a subculture thought that it's something you have to do in order to be creative. Obviously that's not the case. It's really more about your focus and how much of your idealism you can keep intact."

But elsewhere on an album teeming with mesmerizing finger-picking and haunting, delicate soundscapes Buckingham continues to grapple with the plight of the overlooked genius. It's right there in his opening statement, "Not Too Late": "Reading the paper / Saw a review / Said I was a visionary / But nobody knew / Now that's been a problem / Feeling unseen / Just like I'm living somebody's dream."

"Some people have misconstrued that song to think that I literally feel unseen or literally think of myself as a visionary, which isn't the case. It's more about the difference between what people perceive you to be and how you perceive yourself – and the pitfalls between the two. It's about what one has to do to hold that line in the sand, and how the psychology you sometimes have to employ to do so can keep you invisible, apart from the machinery.

Now, however, it appears that Buckingham may be artistically free from the machinery – the industry that is Fleetwood Mac – once and for all.

"Touring is one animal," he says. "I would not disagree with anyone who has the notion that we'll tour again at some point. Maybe not till 2008, depending on what goes on with me." But another Mac album? "To me that would totally hinge on Stevie, and my last understanding was that she wasn't interested in making any more new music.

"That could change. Sometimes she'll react strongly one moment, then think it over and change her mind, as we all do. But for now, I feel like I have people in my corner at (longtime label) Warner Bros. People saying, 'Do this, and if you want do another album in short order' – which is what I'd like to do – 'then do it. And if Fleetwood Mac is knocking, let 'em knock for a while."

Finally, it seems, everything is in place for Buckingham to come into his own.

"It really feels like the best time of my life."

He let out a laugh. "Now I'm just waiting for the bottom to drop out."

LngPrmsdRd · #2 11-02-2006, 11:41 PM

Um... I love Stevie to death and I love Fleetwood Mac to death as well...but uh...to me this is absolutely the most exciting thing I could possibly be reading.

Yay people in his corner at Warner Bros. for once! I really hope this frigging happens.

~Bree

nichora · #3 11-03-2006, 06:37 AM

This article confirms the suspicion that it is Stevie that doesn't want a new Mac studio album. Lindsey has mentioned in a radio interview that if the Mac wanted another studio album, he would be there right now! Perhaps Lindsey sees solo as his only avenue for new material!?

I wonder why Stevie's not interested in making new music?
I read somewhere that Stevie wasn't happy with her songs on SYW. I personally think SYW is one of the best Mac albums along with Rumours and Tusk.

I love the Mac, so I do think its a shame there is no plans for studio albums. SYW proves there's plenty of creative juices left in the tank!
However, at this moment in time I much prefer Buckingham solo albums - more the better!

Maybe in the not so distant future they might settle their differences (again!!)

markolas · #4 11-03-2006, 08:41 AM

Feh. Just bolsters my "overness" of Stevie. Bring on more solo albums from Lindsey!

shackin'up · #5 11-03-2006, 08:57 AM

Pour it out dude. Ask Mick and John and just rock out and bring out!

SortaSavageLike · #6 11-03-2006, 09:08 AM

Translation: Doesn't want to do any more music with Lindsey anymore.

Edgar Allen Poe and Albert Einstein get sick of working with each other eventually.

shackin'up · #7 11-03-2006, 09:12 AM

well, if that's so: good. I want a fleetwood mac album made as an all male trio.

SortaSavageLike · #8 11-03-2006, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shackin'up

well, if that's so: good. I want a fleetwood mac album made as an all male trio.

Yeah, you just gotta convince Mick and John to spend five to fifteen in Lindsey's basement "suffering for his artwork."

shackin'up · #9 11-03-2006, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

Yeah, you just gotta convince Mick and John to spend five to fifteen in Lindsey's basement "suffering for his artwork."

Listen to the bootlegs of his liveperformances now. The guy is loosening up. He doesn't need mick and john constantly in the studio-he never did. And MF doesn't have a prob with it. Only John. and the guy "suffered" for the art of the whole band. Not only for "his" art. He designed a sound that DOES take a lot of time and effort, done in his way.
You'll just have to wait for steviemediocresolo-albums. I bet that could take a LOT of time too. I really think she doesn't have the urge anymore. With or without LB.

SortaSavageLike · #10 11-03-2006, 09:58 AM

I love how people think I'm some kind of evil chiffonhead because I don't have particularly high hopes for an upcoming Fleetwood Mac album. Bring back Bob Welch and Danny Kirwan for all I care.

danax6 · #11 11-03-2006, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

Translation: Doesn't want to do any more music with Lindsey anymore.

Nah, I don't think that's the case. I really have a feeling she is just not that inspired to do anything new anymore, with anyone really. She said it herself she is barely even writing. I think her angst-ridden days are over and she has no idea what to write about these days. Besides, it looks like the BN thing is really happening this time, another reason why I don't think it's Lindsey.

shackin'up · #12 11-03-2006, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

I love how people think I'm some kind of evil chiffonhead because I don't have particularly high hopes for an upcoming Fleetwood Mac album.

I love how evil chiffonheads think that others think that chiffons want FM-albums. They don't. They want SN-albums, and as far as I'm concerned: Bring those on, Stevie. That leaves more room for LB-albums.

PS: You're no chiffonhead, you're SortaChiffonLike.

danax6 · #13 11-03-2006, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shackin'up

I love how evil chiffonheads think that others think that chiffons want FM-albums. They don't. They want SN-albums, and as far as I'm concerned: Bring those on, Stevie. That leaves more room for LB-albums.

What do you call people that really don't give a damn? A new Lindsey album, a new FM album, a new Stevie album...I don't give a rat's ass, as long as we get something new.

shackin'up · #14 11-03-2006, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danax6

What do you call people that really don't give a damn? A new Lindsey album, a new FM album, a new Stevie album...I don't give a rat's ass, as long as we get something new.

you're just cool.

SortaSavageLike · #15 11-03-2006, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danax6

What do you call people that really don't give a damn? A new Lindsey album, a new FM album, a new Stevie album...I don't give a rat's ass, as long as we get something new.

Whatever, guys. I'm gonna go listen to Then Play On again. Except for When You Say (snoorrreeee...). Lindsey isn't one-third the schizo that Peter Green was.