How Les Paul Giant Lindsey Buckingham Took Fleetwood Mac to the Top

vivfox · #1 10-05-2010, 12:55 AM

Ted Drozdowski|10.05.2010

In the annals of Fleetwood Mac’s guitar history, Peter Green gets nearly all the black — in part because of his key role in making the Gibson Les Paul Sunburst an integral part of rock and blues history. But the Mac also featured another great Les Paul player who took lead of the band and helped the group reach its zenith of popularity: Lindsey Buckingham.

Buckingham, who turned 61 on Sunday, October 3, cut six albums with Fleetwood Mac, including 1977’s Rumors, which, like Steely Dan’s Aja from the same year, remains a template for arranging, engineering, production and pure sonic mastery.

The group’s previous album, 1975’s Fleetwood Mac, was no slouch either. It was Buckingham’s debut with Mac and yielded the charters and radio hits “Rhiannon,” “Over My Head,” “Say You Love Me,” “Landslide” and the Buckingham-penned “Monday Morning.” During its first year of release it sold 4.5-million copies, and that number has doubled over the decades.

Buckingham acquired a white 1975 Les Paul 20th Anniversary reissue model as he joined the band, and it became his main electric guitar on stage. Based on the Les Paul Custom more than the original Les Paul Gold Top, Buckingham’s instrument had humbuckers and was gifted with superb clarity and punch, responding briskly to every nuance of his self-made finger-and-nail picking style.

The guitar often appears in classic Fleetwood Mac live videos from the mid-’70s — its tone lightly colored by the spare array of effects Buckingham carried during that era: a fuzz unit he made from a tape deck preamp and a Roland Space Echo driving a loud, clean amp with the reverb audibly cranked.

The first guitar Buckingham played as a kid in Palo Alto, California, was a Mickey Mouse model, which he squeaked by on until his parents forked over $35 for a Harmony acoustic. He is entirely self-taught, which makes his seemingly effortless mastery and remarkable versatility all the more impressive.

Buckingham cut his first album in 1973 with his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks. Buckingham Nicks had a stellar cast of players, including drummer Jim Keltner and another Gibson six-string legend, Waddy Wachtel, a 1968 Les Paul ’Burst exponent. The album included the first version of “Crystal,” which would also appear on Fleetwood Mac. But it stiffed.

Broke but still swinging, the couple began cutting demos for their next disc, including, according to West Coast rock lore, the future Fleetwood Mac hits “Rhiannon” and “I’m So Afraid.” In 1974 Mick Fleetwood ended that demoing process when he tapped Buckingham for his band after the guitar chair opened. The picker insisted that he and Nicks were musically inseparable — and thus the second historic line-up of Fleetwood Mac formed.

Immediately Buckingham and Nicks became the group’s main songwriters — not so surprising, since the crux of the band was its titular rhythm section — and their work started devouring the pop charts. Live, Nicks’ fetching stage persona and Buckingham’s Les Paul pyrotechnics became the group’s twin focal points. “I’m So Afraid,” featuring Buckingham’s lead vocal, became a musical cornerstone in concert thanks to his indelible melody and piercing solos.

After Rumors knocked Fleetwood Mac into the commercial stratosphere, the lives of its members spun into a period of disarray that saw the break-up of Buckingham and Nicks and various combinations of intra-band bed hopping chronicled in Mick Fleetwood’s 1990 autobiography. The group never quite found their footing again. Buckingham took the reigns of 1979’s double-album Tusk, which is imbalanced and wildly self-indulgent, featuring a college marching band and a number of tunes where Buckingham played every instrument.

Although 1982’s Mirage produced several singles including “Hold Me,” “Love in Store” and “Gypsy,” that — and the resulting two-million copies sold — wasn’t enough to keep the group together. Nicks and Buckingham were well into solo careers by then and continued to go their own ways, eventually with diminishing returns.

Buckingham has released five studio albums and one live disc to date, and he continues to enjoy a sterling reputation as a guitarist’s guitarist. But his most visible successes have been Fleetwood Mac reunions.

The original Buckingham-Nicks-Fleetwood-John McVie-Christine McVie line-up came together in the studio one last time for 1987’s Tango in the Night, a complex but strongly pop oriented album that restored their chart standing with four top 20 singles, including Buckingham’s “Big Love.” It also propelled the band’s first reunion tour, which sold out sheds and stadiums across the world.

Fleetwood Mac briefly reunited again to play Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration party but didn’t tour again until the mid-’90s. The Dance, a 1997 live CD, was Christine McVie’s swan song with the group. Since then the remaining members have banded together to tour and record occasionally. Say You Will, their first studio album without Christine McVie, was released in 2003, and the next year saw the DVD/CD package Live in Boston.

In a way, Live in Boston brought the band, at least in name, full circle. In 1970 the first classic line-up of the group, featuring Peter Green, Danny Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer on guitars — all delivering sterling performances of the Green tunes “Black Magic Woman,” “Rattlesnake Shake” and “Oh Well” — cut a live disc at the legendary Boston Tea Party nightclub that’s available on CD under the same name. A truncated version of that set was originally released on LP by the Rounder label in the ’80s as Jumping At Shadows. Both are superb examples of the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac in peak form.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyl...wood-mac-1005/

gldstwmn · #2 10-05-2010, 02:48 AM

Odd how the article neglects to mention Lindsey's switch to Turner around the Tusk era. Although I do recall some interview where he did say he used a Les Paul in the studio at times (post Rumours).
I don't recall him ever saying what he used during the Buckingham Nicks sessions. I'll leave that to the actual players on this board to speculate. Maybe I'm having a senior moment but Jim Keltner played on B/N?
Also after the taping of Soundstage, I was fortunate enough to run into a rack that carried the guitars LB had played that evening. Of course there were the Turners but what I was most fascinated by was a gorgeous white guitar which I first mistook for a Fender but was later pointed out to be a Les Paul. I think he used it for Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind although I can't be certain.
I was also fascinated with the acoustic he used for Big Love and Landslide but couldn't discern the manufacturer.

HomerMcvie · #3 10-05-2010, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivfox

Immediately Buckingham and Nicks became the group’s main songwriters — not so surprising, since the crux of the band was its titular rhythm section — and their work started devouring the pop charts.

Excuse me, Ted? "Their work"? Hello, you dumb ****...neither one of them holds the title, as the group's biggest hit maker.

HomerMcvie · #4 10-05-2010, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Odd how the article neglects to mention Lindsey's switch to Turner around the Tusk era. Although I do recall some interview where he did say he used a Les Paul in the studio at times (post Rumours).

If memory serves, he's playing a gold top Les Paul, in the Tusk doc, in the studio. Where he's sitting in the control room, noodling solo...

chiliD · #5 10-05-2010, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Odd how the article neglects to mention Lindsey's switch to Turner around the Tusk era. Although I do recall some interview where he did say he used a Les Paul in the studio at times (post Rumours).
I don't recall him ever saying what he used during the Buckingham Nicks sessions. I'll leave that to the actual players on this board to speculate. Maybe I'm having a senior moment but Jim Keltner played on B/N?
Also after the taping of Soundstage, I was fortunate enough to run into a rack that carried the guitars LB had played that evening. Of course there were the Turners but what I was most fascinated by was a gorgeous white guitar which I first mistook for a Fender but was later pointed out to be a Les Paul. I think he used it for Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind although I can't be certain.
I was also fascinated with the acoustic he used for Big Love and Landslide but couldn't discern the manufacturer.

Prior to joining Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey was a "Fender guy", Strats & Teles (mainly Teles) I think most of the BN album was done on a Tele.

Yeah, Keltner was brought in to "sweeten" up some of the drum parts. Gary Hodges did most of the drum work. Think they might've even done a couple of dual drum things, too....I know LIVE, BN had two drummers (Hodges & ex-Fritz'er Bob Aguirre)

"Big Love": Gibson Chet Atkins CE

"Landslide": I'm not all that familiar with models of Taylors (one ending in "14", I believe), but I think that was the one he used for that (at least that's what he used on The Dance).

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

If memory serves, he's playing a gold top Les Paul, in the Tusk doc, in the studio. Where he's sitting in the control room, noodling solo...

"Gold Top"?? Hmmmmm, I recall him playing a faded '59 Sunburst....I need to see that again. I can't ever recall seeing Lindsey playing a "gold top" anything.

HomerMcvie · #6 10-05-2010, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiliD

Prior to joining Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey was a "Fender guy", Strats & Teles (mainly Teles) I think most of the BN album was done on a Tele.

"Gold Top"?? Hmmmmm, I recall him playing a faded '59 Sunburst....I need to see that again. I can't ever recall seeing Lindsey playing a "gold top" anything.

Wasn't the story, that his Tele was just too thin sounding, and Mick? convinced him that he needed a Les Paul? I agree...I have three Tele's, and I never play them live. They're just so thin sounding.

Well, it's been a long time since I've seen the Tusk doc, since I only have it on VHS, but I THINK it was a Les Paul, and I'm fairly certain it wasn't white....maybe it was sunburst...? Hell, I've lost more brain cells, than I retain!

chiliD · #7 10-05-2010, 03:23 PM

AHA! Thanks to, and courtesy of, Nancy @ BuckinghamNicks.com here's a shot of that (and also thanks for the one below that).

It's a sunburst.

If I'm not mistaken, this is a shot of him playing that same guitar in concert:

HomerMcvie · #8 10-05-2010, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiliD

AHA! Thanks to, and courtesy of, Nancy @ BuckinghamNicks.com here's a shot of that (and also thanks for the one below that).

It's a sunburst.

If I'm not mistaken, this is a shot of him playing that same guitar in concert:

In that concert pic, the lighting makes it look like a gold top, IMO.

chiliD · #9 10-05-2010, 03:56 PM

??? Gold tops don't have flame maple striping.

But, another thing I noticed...he's almost playing the same chord...with the same "I've just taken a handful of Ambien, wake me at noon on Thursday" look.

RickRobert · #10 10-05-2010, 04:01 PM

I'll just leave this here

ButterCookie · #11 10-05-2010, 04:22 PM

Ahem

chiliD · #12 10-05-2010, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ButterCookie

Ahem

I've had two tobacco sunburst Les Paul Standards that are almost identical to the one Bob played during the '74 tour. (this photo is from around the Three Hearts album timeframe, I believe, but that could be the same guitar)

Wish I still had 'em. Well, actually, I wish I still had every guitar I've ever owned.

ButterCookie · #13 10-05-2010, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiliD

I've had two tobacco sunburst Les Paul Standards that are almost identical to the one Bob played during the '74 tour. (this photo is from around the Three Hearts album timeframe, I believe, but that could be the same guitar)

Wish I still had 'em. Well, actually, I wish I still had every guitar I've ever owned.

Ah man, I can't begin to express how jealous I am. It's threads like these that make me beat myself up for not teaching myself guitar and bass.

MissLadyLoki · #14 10-05-2010, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiliD

I've had two tobacco sunburst Les Paul Standards that are almost identical to the one Bob played during the '74 tour. (this photo is from around the Three Hearts album timeframe, I believe, but that could be the same guitar)

Wish I still had 'em. Well, actually, I wish I still had every guitar I've ever owned.

You got rid of your guitars over the years? I know you've been using the Model 1, but what were you using before that?

chiliD · #15 10-06-2010, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissLadyLoki

You got rid of your guitars over the years? I know you've been using the Model 1, but what were you using before that?

Let's see...I've had so many...I've had:

6 Les Pauls (3 Gibsons, 2 Ibanez, 1 Japanese made knock-off don't remember the brand name)

8 Strats (6 Fender, 1 Squier, 1 Fernandez),

2 Teles (Fender Thinline & a Fernandez copy)

2 Firebirds (1 Gibson, 1 Ibanez copy)

2 ES-335 (1 Gibson, 1 off brand "Made in Korea")

and, about 6 acoustics of various brands.

Currently, I have:

Turner Model 1
Fender '57 reissue Strat (sunburst)
Takamine acoustic
Fender acoustic