Gift of Screws -- Is there hope yet?

[Dulcimer]

Hello, everyone.

Since the Fleetwood Mac album that is coming out this spring (supposedly) is down to a single disc now, do you think it's possible we'll get a solo CD from Lindsey after the Mac album? Wouldn't that be great? Maybe it won't be called Gift of Screws anymore, but something like "Songs They Couldn't Fit On the Mac Album."

I was very disappointed that Lindsey didn't release his solo record last year. "Gift of Screws" would have been awesome. I loved just about every song, except "Come."

"Out of the Cradle" is my favorite record of all time.

[Mac Fan]

I would like GOS to be released, I was alos dissapointed that GOS wasn't released last year.

[chiliD]

I would seriously suggest that we all give up any hope of ever seeing a Lindsey Buckingham solo album in the next decade. His name is not a commercially viable venture for the record company...three strikes, you're out. I think anything he does in the future will come out under the Fleetwood Mac name (as long as Lindsey & Mick are still getting along and Mick still is gung-ho about there still being a Fleetwood Mac, that is)

Whatever tunes that DON'T make it onto this album, I think will either be permanently shelved or be held over until another Fleetwood Mac album (and if they're SMART, they'll release ANOTHER album 6 months after the tour ends, and in the meantime, officially release the "Buckingham Nicks" album during a break between tour legs)

[seteca]

LB has waaaaaaaaay more than enough money to release an (smallscale, obviously, for lifelong fans only) album under a self-created label. Perhaps sometime 5 or 10 years down the line, we will see such a solo album.

As for Fleetwood Mac, when this "Year Of Fleetwood Mac" is over (i.e. however many albums they may release / tours they may do), I don't think we will ever see (at least including Lindsey and Stevie) "Fleetwood Mac" together again. I also personally hope that if Lindsey leaves, Mick will finally call it a day...he clearly wants to erase any history of the band that didn't include LB (or Peter Green) anyway, so I don't think he will want to make the same mistake (i.e. "mistake" in his mind, and to be honest, in mine aswell, JMVHO though) of carrying on again if he isn't there....

[CarneVaca]

Seteca, I couldn't agree with you more about Lindsey's ability to release an album on a small scale if he wanted to. This is one of the things that has frustrated me the most. He should have found a way out of his contract with Reprise, if indeed there was one. Then he should have shopped himself around small quality labels that would have jumped at the chance to have him. He blew it, period.

Why? I've made the money argument. Ultimately, regardless of what he or anybody says, it is the money. Getting a Fleetwood Mac CD out with Lindsey and Stevie translates to dollars. Theoretically. Watch the thing bomb, and then things will be considerably different. I don't think it will bomb though. Most likely, the album will sell a respectable couple of million. And though I may come across as derisive when I mention money, let's look at this from this point of view: An aging rock star with a wife and two kids is thinking ahead, wanting to bank up some money to ensure a certain quality of life for his family. Nothing wrong with that.

One of the bands I follow, Camper Van Beethoven, has taken control of its music and been releasing it themselves through pitchatent.com. Though they were never huge by mainstream standards, they were big on college radio, and they are beginning to create some buzz after being away for about a decade. With their release of "Tusk" and a box set that includes their first three albums and a rarities disc, they are getting themselves on the shelves again. I saw them two weeks ago, and they performed the song "Tusk," by the way. A show highlight.

Another example: Rodney Crowell put most of his savings into releasing his last album, "The Houston Kid" because he had a vision, a vision that the Nashville establishment with which he grew up wanted nothing to do. I guess songs about people dying of AIDS and brutal husbands who use their wives as punching bags don't interest Nashville very much. But guess what? He released it himself, got huge critical acclaim, decent airplay on adult contemporary radio, and now he's about to release another album.

It can work. Lindsey chose not to try this route.

[Les]

I'm one of those who thinks that this is probably going to be the last time this FM attempts a big release and tour, so I guess I see things exactly opposite to Chili. I think anything we hear from Lindsey in the future will be from him as a solo artist or in other collaborative projects. I don't know how long it will take for such projects to surface, but I do believe Lindsey will emerge again.

Depending upon the kinds of projects they are he'll probably have some decisions to make, along the lines of label and distribution issues Carne and Seteca mentioned above, in terms of what he's able and willing to do. If it's for his solo stuff, I suspect he'll shop around for a label that wants him and he'll find a smaller one. While he could, I don't ever expect Lindsey to build some sort of private label or distribution on his own because I think Lindsey, at best, is turned off by the "business" of the music business. His interest is in the art and it has never been in the business. He said his father was not a great businessman because the "business" ultimately wasn't his interest or focus, so I guess that really makes Lindsey his father's son.

But I think he'll be back.