BUCKINGHAM NICKS - Uncut magazine 50 greatest lost albums

[candlebright86]

Uncut magazine, Issue 156, May 2010 (pg. 48)

The 50 Greatest Lost Albums

47. BUCKINGHAM NICKS
Buckingham Nicks

Misty-eyed Fleetwood Mac fans would call this 1973 debut by young lovers Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks a classic, but those who come to it having gorged on Rumours and Tusk might be underwhelmed.

What is remarkable about Buckingham Nicks is that there has never been a CD repress of this cult record. Perhaps the duo, who own the rights, would rather it stays that way. Certainly, Polydor washed its hands of the couple shortly after the LP flopped: longhaired and bell-bottomed, much of the pair's Cali folk was indistinguishable from that of fellow LA minstrels. Nevertheless, "Without A Leg To Stand ON" and "Long Distance Winner" are superb, displaying the flair that convinced Mick Fleetwood to invite them to join his rudderless outfit in 1974.

Expect to pay: £30 for a mint vinyl copy

A slightly harsh review of the album IMHO... Maybe, after reading this, Stevie will stop pissing about with another Rumours re-hash and we might get BN released? *crosses fingers*

(I'll scan the article in and post it later)

[GypsyBlueEyes]

That was pretty harsh! There's no mention of Frozen Love, which I don't quite understand and to say "perhaps the duo, who own the rights, would rather it stays that way" in regards to it never having been released on CD insinuates that Stevie & Lindsey should be ashamed of it. I also didn't care for the "much of the pair's Cali folk was indistinguishable from that of fellow LA minstrels" remark. It wouldn't be acknowledged as one of the 50 greatest lost albums if its all that bad

At least its getting a little attention, though! *hint-hint, Stevie & Linds*

[louielouie2000]

Not surprising to see less than glowing things about Buckingham Nicks since this is a UK based magazine. The entire UK seems to have a lingering distaste for Stevie and Lindsey while they look upon the early incarnations of Fleetwood Mac with a misty eyed revery. I guess that's fair enough, since Fleetwood Mac was born in the UK, with solely British members.

At this point, I don't really give a flip about having Buckingham Nicks on official CD. A Ledgie made me a very fine quality version which I've enjoyed for 10 years now. Truly, the time for Buckingham Nicks to be released would have been circa '98 following the tidal wave of Mac interest The Dance created. Unfortunately that was long ago, the public has moved on, and the record industry is in shambles. There's pretty much no way we'll ever get a physical copy of Buckingham Nicks now. Not trying to be a downer, but CD's have become obsolete almost overnight, and I doubt they could even sell enough copies of BN to make the effort worthwhile.

[LittleCharmer]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

The entire UK seems to have a lingering distaste for Stevie and Lindsey

Oi there! Generalisation! (with the UK spelling for added Oomph )

[iamnotafraid]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

There's pretty much no way we'll ever get a physical copy of Buckingham Nicks now.

Seems like I read something about that recently?

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by LittleCharmer

Oi there! Generalisation! (with the UK spelling for added Oomph )

I guess I should have been a bit more specific: the entire UK press seems to have a distaste for Stevie and Lindsey. More specifically, the music press. Of course, the entire Buckingham Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac had rather lackluster sales and even worse radio play in the UK, too. Meanwhile, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac outsold even the Stones during it's height in the UK. Peter Green is the UK's native son, founder of Fleetwood Mac, and homegrown guitar hero. Why shouldn't the UK press prefer him, and give less credence to the breezy southern California pop duo of Buckingham Nicks?

[iamnotafraid]

Did you know it was Lindsey who sold Peter the acid?
All one big master plan. THAT is why some UK fans don't
like the king and queen of California Sunshine.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by iamnotafraid

Seems like I read something about that recently?

There's been chatter from Buckingham and Nicks about the album being released since the time of The Dance. Buckingham and Nicks are always asked about it in various interviews, and never fail to give the same answers "yes, we'd like to" or "when the time is right" or "I'm waiting for Stevie's ok" or "Lindsey is holding out" etc etc etc. I personally don't think there's been a snowball's chance in Hell for this album to be released on CD since around '03. That would have been the last gasp chance for it to happen, before the record industry was completely annihilated from online downloads, and while there was a small pique of interest in the Mac from Say You Will. We've gotta remember folks, the last Fleetwood Mac album didn't even make Platinum sales status... and there's going to be a very, very limited market for the sales of Buckingham Nicks... especially this day and age. They've missed the boat. It'd be a labor of love... and I'm inclined to think if Buckingham or Nicks really gave a hoot, they would have released this a hell of a long time ago. Just my two cents.

[ButterCookie]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I guess I should have been a bit more specific: the entire UK press seems to have a distaste for Stevie and Lindsey. More specifically, the music press. Of course, the entire Buckingham Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac had rather lackluster sales and even worse radio play in the UK, too. Meanwhile, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac outsold even the Stones during it's height in the UK. Peter Green is the UK's native son, founder of Fleetwood Mac, and homegrown guitar hero. Why shouldn't the UK press prefer him, and give less credence to the breezy southern California pop duo of Buckingham Nicks?

You're right, Louie. The vast majority of the Music Press in the UK are bittered towards the Mac for inviting two Americans to join. It's a horrible running trend though, is British prejudice. In one of the articles I posted in the other thread from the New Musical Express, the journalist comments on the fact that 'Stevie Nicks can give up her job as a waitress now.' They're bitter. Always have been and always will be. I think the same goes for the album sales, if I'm completely honest. For example, had The Sex Pistols turned pop, the British public probably would have loved them all the same. The punks mightn't have been to happy, but the press and the radio would have adored it. However, had they hypothetically 'turned pop' the American audience (Listeners, fans, radio stations, the entire punk scene) would more than likely have seen how completely stupid of a move it was and quite rightfully turned their back.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is this: Play my granddad Peter Greens FM and he gets very nostalgic and the music genuinely makes him happy. Ply him Buckingham Nicks era-FM and he asks 'What's this pop-rock you've got on kiddo?' I thought it was widely recognised how stubborn we Brits can be?

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by ButterCookie

I suppose what I'm trying to say is this: Play my granddad Peter Greens FM and he gets very nostalgic and the music genuinely makes him happy. Ply him Buckingham Nicks era-FM and he asks 'What's this pop-rock you've got on kiddo?'

Thanks for sharing your first hand experience, Georgie! Just out of curiosity, how old is your Granddad? I'm guessing since you're in your teens, and he listened to Peter Green, that he's probably in his 60s? It just caught me off guard that somebody's Grandparents would know a Fleetwood Mac song! Mac fan demographics has always been so interesting to me... such a varied group of people.

And I'm sure you've noticed that the British prejudice towards Buckingham Nicks Mac is absolutely mirrored in the way that mainstream US mostly brushes over pre '75 Mac as just a stepping stone to the Main Event.

[ButterCookie]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Thanks for sharing your first hand experience, Georgie! Just out of curiosity, how old is your Granddad? I'm guessing since you're in your teens, and he listened to Peter Green, that he's probably in his 60s? It just caught me off guard that somebody's Grandparents would know a Fleetwood Mac song! Mac fan demographics has always been so interesting to me... such a varied group of people.

He's actually in his 80's Music is something he loves though, especially with him being a singer. My mum, however, who's 44 adores Buckingham Nicks. She used to have a copy of Bare Trees (until I got my hands on it) and it was unplayed. Unfortunately unsealed too. Yet her copy of TITN was so worn on Stevie's tracks I had to get another. She's a funny one with music though. Tends to go for the artists with unusual voices like Stevie, Annie Lennox, Florence Welch, Enya (don't ask) and Alison Moyet. But not Christine It'd be something interesting to look into from a psychological point of view though.

[luckydimecaper]

My mum always preferred Peter Green's FM to the Buckingham Nicks era too. Even though she also likes those albums, it's the old blues stuff like Oh Well she remembers from being a teenager in the 60s. I think she was quite disappointed when she realised they wouldn't be playing much of the old, old stuff when we went to see them on tour!

[RickRobert]

I'm British aswell(Welsh!) and it seems here at least that I hear a lot more Buckingham Nicks-era than Peter Green. Whenever an FM song comes on the radio, no matter what the era, my granddad says "I saw Fleetwood Mac". It was Peter Green he saw but he seems to lump all incarnations into one My nan is more interesting however, she always talks about how she doesn't like Stevie (she calls her "RHIAAAAAAAAAAAAANNON"), but at the same she always thinks that Oh Well is a Jethro Tull(!) song, and now for the big shock... she's always thought that Lindsey was Greeny! For the record she thinks Christine is "alright". My mum knows every song on Tango in the Night but never mentioned liking them once until I played the album in the car. To make things even more confusing, my grandparents have no FM records in their record collection and only two CDs - the green Greatest Hits and Behind The Mask

After living with these people I have no idea what the general consensus is on FM line-ups here

[trackaghost]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I guess I should have been a bit more specific: the entire UK press seems to have a distaste for Stevie and Lindsey. More specifically, the music press. Of course, the entire Buckingham Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac had rather lackluster sales and even worse radio play in the UK, too. Meanwhile, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac outsold even the Stones during it's height in the UK. Peter Green is the UK's native son, founder of Fleetwood Mac, and homegrown guitar hero. Why shouldn't the UK press prefer him, and give less credence to the breezy southern California pop duo of Buckingham Nicks?

Not true. Maybe it was that way in the late 70s but certainly not now. There's been plenty of great articles about the Rumours era of Fleetwood mac in the UK press, even in the last 10 years or so. Uncut, Word and Mojo have featured them more in recent years than I've seen any American music mags such as Rolling Stone etc.

Also, people should remember that this is a list of the greatest lost albums, it includes Buckingham Nicks alongside the likes of Neil Young, Van Morrison, The Beatles, Captain Beefheart, The Who, Tom Waits and Eric Clapton, to name but a few. It's not just a list of lost albums it's a list of the GREATEST lost albums. It's saying this is the 47th GREATEST lost album. Where is the diss in that? I don't see any of Peter Green's solo album on the list. Saying that Stevie and Lindsey might be embarrassed by it is only speculation why it's not on CD, not that is it embarrassing. They even go on to say it includes many "superb" tracks. But it's mere inclusion on this list is a huge, huge compliment!

As for the record sales thing, I think Rumours has the record for spending the most time ever in the British album chart, and if it doesn't now, it certainly held that record for a long, long time. And as I recall Tango In The Night was a bigger hit here than in the US. Certainly I can remember songs from the album being played on the radio all the time when I was growing up, that's how I discovered them. Even now they are often played on Radio 2, so I'm not sure where the record sales and radio play thing comes from.

Back in the 60s Peter Green was a huge star but now he's more of a hugely respected cult artist. To the general public Rumours era Fleetwood Mac is still more recognisable. Ask someone in Britain to name a Fleetwood Mac song and they'll most likely say Little Lies rather than Oh Well.

[mylittledemon]

Originally Posted by GypsyBlueEyes

That was pretty harsh!

How so? The album made the list didnt it?