LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM 'SEEDS WE SOW'

Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow"
Released September 6, 2011
Available on iTunes | Amazon




PRESS RELEASE
June 13, 2011

Lindsey Buckingham has accomplished almost everything that can be done in rock n roll, earning a spot in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with Fleetwood Mac, winning countless awards, selling out venues around the world, and helping define the sound of rock for the last 3 decades. Hes the predominant musical force behind such Mac albums as Rumours and the innovative Tusk, and has created a critically acclaimed body of solo work that yielded the hits, Trouble, Go Insane, and Holiday Road.

But one thing was missing as Buckingham and his band mates were dominating music. The irony of the bulk of the Fleetwood Mac experience was that none of us were comfortable, Buckingham confesses. We had this external success going, which was not matched by any kind of internal success. It didnt make any of us whole people or contented people in that sense.

Now married and with three kids Buckingham has found that internal success as he puts it. It really does feel like the best time of my life, he says.

That contentment and peace are evident throughout his sixth solo album, Seeds We Sow. From the soft melodic pop/rock tinge of End Of Time and the albums most rocking track, One Take, to the touching When She Comes Down and the almost lullaby-esque hushed tones of the gorgeous closing number, She Smiles Sweetly, the album showcases Buckinghams full arsenal of skills.

He attributes his peace to two things. The first is his personal life, To finally meet someone and to have the family thing happen, thats been a real gift, he says. The other is musical. If there is a level of contentedness that Ive arrived at, part of it is because I think in the last three or four years what I experienced during the solo albums and then what I experienced on the last Fleetwood Mac tour I felt like I had come to a point where there was so much foundation that I had built for myself making incremental steps forward as a musician and as an artist, he says.

Those solo albums, 2006s Under The Skin and 2008s Gift Of Screws, as well as the last Fleetwood Mac tour, in 2009, led directly to Seeds We Sow, an album Buckingham didnt even plan on making. So where did it come from? I think it came from a certain residue of momentum that was left over from the three years I did those two solo albums back to back and toured a lot behind both of them. That was such a great experience, just finally allowing myself to do that, he says. So I grew a lot during those three years and then of course we went on the road with Fleetwood Mac and did just the opposite, which was to go out and tour without any album at all. And that was sort of freeing because you come to terms with the fact that at a certain point people dont necessarily want to hear anything too new from Fleetwood Mac. All the energy that I took from those three years and the confidence I took out of that three-year experience with those two albums got reapplied to Fleetwood Mac and it helped me to infuse a higher level into that music.

How coming to terms with the band that made him a superstar, that success, and the tremendous Mac catalog influenced Seeds We Sow is evidenced from the gentle guitar intro of the opening title track, which Mac fans might recognize as being similar to the classic Never Going Back Again. But rather than just retread his past he utilized the full scope of his touring experience to mold the guitar sound. Over a period of years when I was touring by myself, the song Big Love got retooled as a single guitar piece and that was a real breakthrough. The energy I was getting back was extraordinary and it became a template for many other things that followed, he recalls.

Buckingham wanted the guitar to be a unifying sound on this record. Again I was interested in pursuing an orchestral guitar style that would be at the forefront of a lot of tunes, he says.

Just as his guitar style on Seeds We Sow is more mature and refined, so too are his lyrics, with one of the standout tracks being the hook-laden Illumination. I think the lyrics over the years have actually gotten better because theyve gotten a little, I dont want to say obscure, but gotten more poetic in the way theyre created, he says, adding, Its a mysterious process even to me.

The result is often sophisticated word play that possesses the rare double gift of being simultaneously personal and open to interpretation. A perfect example being When She Comes Down, which he calls, The first song I wrote for my wife, but one that has already piqued curiosity among friends. Stevie [Nicks] heard that and she goes, Whos that about? Some goddess?

The albums lyrics are Buckinghams most subjective to date and seem to pit social commentary against personal observation. Illumination could be about honest relationships or interrogation, and theres One Take, which is clearly talking about the state of the world, or the state of America at least. But as soon as these are done, the subject matter returns to something more personal. Even the opening song, Seeds We Sow, is talking about observing a world which seems to be going crazy. But then at the end of the song youre back in bed dreaming or with your spouse and youve turned that whole convoluted world back in on yourself.

Sure to be one of the most talked about lyrical passages comes in End Of Time, where Buckingham seemingly addresses his own mortality, singing, Even though I may be dead and gone. He believes however that is not as clear-cut a line as it may first appear The bridge does talk about Even though I may be dead and gone, so its pretty literal, but, again, you can take that to mean anything, he points out. You can mean me in the context of having a relationship with someone else. But I wasnt necessarily thinking in terms of the end of a life. Its just the end of a certain way of being I guess, and maybe the end of certain things in the world that may never be the same again.

Buckingham, an admirer of up and coming bands like Phoenix and the Dirty Projectors, looks to his current favorite act to illustrate his point. You listen to that Arcade Fire album, hes going on about just how things were when he was a kid and how he expects them to be, referring to World War or wanting to have a child before all the damage is done, he says. Theres an element of that in there, world and how it affects us.

Buckingham has another similarity to Arcade Fire. After 30 years signed to Warner Bros., he is now an indie artist, releasing the album on his own. Where some artists whove been in the confines of a major for most of their adult life might find the change intimidating, Buckingham is embracing his new role as a DIY artist. Ive lived a double creative life. On the one hand theres the large mainstream machine of Fleetwood Mac and on the other hand, the small esoteric machine of solo work. Warner Bros. never fully embraced or supported that small machine. What happens when you pull away from the corporate mentality is that suddenly youre able to deal with people who are free to appreciate your work for what it is without the constraints of politics, he says.

The DIY approach extends to the music and recording as well. I think its probably the first time I mixed everything, he says. Im happy with my work on a technical level. I think its a good across-the-board representation of what I do, he says. It shows a certain maturity and musicianship and I just feel like I have a lot of tools in my musical vocabulary from which to draw that are again the product of the choices Ive made. Its on my own terms. This is very much from the inside out and I hope I never stop doing that.

Tracklisting

1. "Seeds We Sow"
2. "In Our Own Time"
3. "Illumination"
4. "That's the Way That Love Goes"
5. "Stars Are Crazy" (Lindsey Buckingham, Lisa Dewey)
6. "When She Comes Down"
7. "Rock Away Blind"
8. "One Take"
9. "Gone Too Far"
10. "End of Time"
11. "She Smiled Sweetly" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards)
12. "End of Time" (acoustic) – Amazon download
13. "Seeds We Sow" (electric) – Amazon download
14. "Sleeping Around the Corner" – iTunes download


Singles Released











Lindsey Buckingham
"Songs From the Small Machine Live In L.A."
The two-hour 19-song show released on DVD, Blu-ray, and as a DVD/CD set.
Released October 31, 2011 UK | Europe. Released November 1, 2011 North America
Available at Amazon on DVD | DVD/CD | Blu-ray

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM "SONGS FROM THE SMALL MACHINE LIVE IN L.A.
Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Famer Lindsey Buckingham just may be one of the very few Americans who most changed the face of British Rock. As the male lead singer for Fleetwood Mac, this singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer took an underground blues band and helped make it into one of the most respected and best-selling bands in the universe. His voice … his intricate guitar playing … his compositional prowess, they’re all instantly recognizable. And he’s still going strong.

On November 1, Eagle Rock Entertainment will release a DVD of Lindsey Buckingham’s Songs From The Small Machine: Live In L.A., which was filmed in high-definition with DTS Surround-Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Digital Stereo at The Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, California in April 2011.

Filled with his most beloved songs, including such Fleetwood Mac classics as “Go Your Own Way,” “Second Hand News,” “Big Love,” “Tusk,” “I’m So Afraid” and “Never Going Back Again,” blended with material from his new album Seeds We Sow (“In Our Own Time,” “Illumination,” “Stars Are Crazy,” “That’s The Way Love Goes”) the DVD and Blu-Ray also feature a Buckingham interview.

Songs From The Small Machine: Live In LA opens with a solo acoustic set that accentuate Buckingham’s nimble fretwork and multidimensional voice. The band join him for the remainder of the concert leaving the audience on their feet, shouting for more. The show closes with an acoustic encore of the title song from Seeds We Sow– a final reminder that this is one artist who refuses to rest on past laurels but, instead, prefers to look towards the future.

DVD / Blu-ray Tracklisting: 
1) Shut Us Down
2) Go Insane
3) Trouble
4) Never Going Back Again
5) Big Love
6) Under The Skin
7) All My Sorrows
8) In Our Own Time (NEW SONG)
9) Illumination (NEW SONG)
10) Second Hand News
11) Tusk
12) Stars Are Crazy (NEW SONG)
13) End Of Time (NEW SONG)
14) That’s The Way Love Goes (NEW SONG)
15) I’m So Afraid
16) Go Your Own Way
17) Turn It On
18) Treason
19) Seeds We Sow (NEW SONG)

CD Tracklisting:  
1) Shut Us Down
2) Trouble
3) Never Going Back Again
4) Big Love
5) Under The Skin
6) All My Sorrows
7) In Our Own Time (NEW SONG)
8) Illumination (NEW SONG)
9) Second Hand News
10) Tusk
11) Stars Are Crazy (NEW SONG)
12) End Of Time (NEW SONG)
13) That’s The Way Love Goes (NEW SONG)
14) I’m So Afraid
15) Go Your Own Way
16) Seeds We Sow (NEW SONG)

First Official video from Seeds We Sow, "In Our Own Time" Taken from the Saban Theatre performance April 22, 2011 - also from the "Songs From The Small Machine" DVD.


Second Official Video from "Seeds We Sow" and "Songs From The Small Machine Live in L.A." Released October 17, 2011
SPIN Magazine "In My Room" with Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow" from Eagle Rock Entertainment


 PRESS | REVIEWS

FEBRUARY 23, 2011
Lindsey Buckingham in Two Worlds
LES PAUL AWARD WINNER PREPARES NEXT SOLO ALBUM
By Blair Jackson
Mixonline.com


How does Say You Will [the most recent Fleetwood Mac album] sound to you now?
I have not listened to that album recently, but my intuition tells me that I was quite happy with how that album turned out. I cannot say it was as unified a piece of work as it could’ve been, and that was down to the fact that much of the material I had at the time had been, once again, slated to be a solo album—stuff I had done with Rob Cavallo. So there was a certain amount of deconstructing going on in order to make it work in a band context. From Stevie’s end, she wrote four new songs and then brought in a bunch of stuff that had been laying fallow for a while. I think you could sense a dividing line in terms of style with my songs that were not only new and a little bit edgy, but also a bit off the beaten track from the Fleetwood Mac style, as much as we tried to backtrack on it. So whether those two sets of material found any common ground… that would probably be the one thing I could criticize about the album. Having gone through a process that was a little problematic like that, I was happy with my stuff and the overall outcome of the album and the effect it had. I was pushing for it to be something a little more art-y and more chance-y, and it had elements of that and we folded it into one CD and made it what it was.

So, if you’re going to milk the Fleetwood Mac catalog, do you have somebody working to get a special episode of Glee with your music on it?
[Laughs]. Not that I know of, but that’s not a bad idea! There have actually been a few ideas about some kind of Broadway musical—jumping on the American Idiot bandwagon, I guess—but there’s nothing in the works right now.

Who’s doing your engineering these days for your new album, or are you doing it mostly yourself?
I’m afraid so. I have to plead guilty to that. [Laughs]

Is this Pro Tools HD and a bunch of cool boxes?
Some of that. But I’m also still doing some work on a reel-to-reel Sony 48-track, and even if I’m working in Pro Tools or whatever, I always like to mix it over to 2-track to get that tape sound. Then we’ll dump all the mixes into Pro Tools and get it ready to be mastered.

What are some of the things that are influencing your writing?
Well, it’s all guitar-driven, I guess. I’ve also been listening to a lot of college radio. About six months ago, I had to turn off KIIS-FM because my kids turned on the hip-hop songs and then it was the same ten songs over and over again. Then I started hearing Phoenix and being aware of that, and Vampire Weekend—a lot of groups where you’d hear one song and it would catch my ear. There’s actually a lot of great stuff going on. I don’t know who’s hearing it… I guess Phoenix has sort of pushed through, but a lot of these groups that seem to be doing interesting things, I wonder if more than 50,000 people are hearing them or not.

So, you’re in good company with this TEC Award you’re getting…
Yeah, I saw the list. It’s impressive… I’m not sure why I fit in with that group.

Well, because you’re a talented and successful musician who’s also always been interested in technology. Is it true you were doing your own recordings back as far as Buckingham Nicks?
Yes. When I was about 21 some relative I didn’t even know left me something like $10,000, so one of the things I did with that money was go out and buy an old Ampex half-inch 4-track—like the kind they recoded Sgt. Pepper’s on, I guess. At that time, my dad had this small coffee plant in Daly City [south of San Francisco]—they were coffee roasters—and at night I would go up there with Stevie, and a lot of times just by myself, and work on songs and demos. That machine then made it down to L.A. when we moved down there, and we had it downstairs where we were living, and some of work on the album we were making got done down there.

Of course that whole idea came from Les Paul originally. When I was maybe 19, I read how he had these two mono machines and he would play all this stuff himself and bounce it, and at that point I went out and got a Sony stereo consumer reel-to-reel recorder that had sound-on-sound, and that’s how I started recording myself and layering. Then it went to the 4-track and it on from there.

Was it surprising, then, when you finally made it into a real studio and there you are working with Keith Olsen, who obviously knew a ton?
It was an adjustment, for sure. There are certain quirky things you do when you’re doing it yourself which get lost in the mix in service of a bigger picture. That was a great experience when I look back on it now. I don’t think we were experienced enough to appreciate the fact that we’d only been in L.A. less than a year and we got a record deal. And here we are in the studio playing with [Elvis drummer] Ronnie Tutt and [bassist] Jerry Scheff and Jim Keltner. That was a pretty neat experience. And Keith, of course. I give him a lot of credit for his organizational skills for pulling together a situation that had to be done quickly on the first Fleetwood Mac album we did. That and the fact that he was a gifted engineer.

I didn’t know that album was done quickly.
Well, compared to Rumours…

Everything was quick compared to Rumours.
That’s true. But I mean it was done efficiently, and we’d rehearsed and pretty much chosen everything we were going to do before we went in to work with Keith. He did a very good job to pull together a group that had not really worked together before, and that was the case with the Buckingham Nicks album, too. He was a good overseer for both of those projects.

How does working on an album now, by yourself, compare to working on an album then?
I got into this thing where I was interested in pushing myself to learn how to work by myself in the studio. I wasn’t somebody who had seriously engineered, or mixed, but I wanted to look into these things to see how they enhance the overall, because—and I know I’ve told you this before—for me writing a song is something like painting. You go down there [to my home studio] and you’re dropping the colors on, and there’s a certain level of abstraction that goes on. Unless you’re a kind of Burt Bacharach-type person that brings a completed song in and hands it off to the next person to arrange it, and somebody else to play on it, then it’s all experimental as you go on a certain level, and what you start with may not be with what you end up with. With me, at the end of the day, I’m less a writer in the strict sense than I am a stylist. So I guess the idea of being alone in the studio and being involved with the mixing and the engineering, and the whole subsconscious thing, has branched out into being more important to the total process of making my music.

How often do you come up with lyrics and music at the same time at this point?
Not very often. Usually I’ll have a musical theme, and the way the lyrics seem to come these days is kind of a subconscious thing. I’m actually liking the lyrics I’m writing quite a bit, but they’re tending to be a little more abstract and less literal for sure—more of a Rorschach for whoever’s hearing them, which is a good thing.

Oh, you’re going through your Blonde on Blonde phase?
[Laughs] I guess, if you want to look at it that way. There’s a certain freedom in being able to come up with something which feels poetically interesting and right and doesn’t necessarily have to mean any one thing. I find that to be forward motion. A lot of times with lyrics, I’m not even sure what I’m going to say. I’ll start writing and little bits of things will come together from various takes and finally you arrive at something—“Okay, I see how that works, and it sounds musical,” and you build off it. I’m not a person who can sit down with a pen and paper and write a bunch of lyrics on a page.

Has the relative domesticity of your life affected your writing?
That’s a good question? I don’t know if I can be too objective about that.

Well, as long as you’re not writing songs like “Cook of the House” by Linda McCartney.
It’s probably only affected me in a small way. Being married and having a family have certainly provided more peace of mind, and more freedom to go down there [to the home studio] and think of that work as this linear, stable thing I do. For years, I saw so many people I knew who were parents and spouses who were just not there for their families. And it wasn’t necessarily their fault, but I guess we were all doing what we thought we had to do to be creative in that subculture, which turned out to be a load of bullshit, really. It’s very easy for me to reconcile the two worlds now. I can go downstairs and spend five or six hours a day working, or sometimes more, and come up and hang out with the family. In fact, the two actually help each other—the fact that I am fulfilled downstairs and I’m not coming home from some job I hate, and the kids are certainly intrigued by what I do… Although, I don’t think they want to follow in my footsteps particularly.

Do they like your music?
I think so. I know they like certain songs. Overall I think they think, “Yeah, it’s OK.” That would be my guess. [Laughs] It’s probably hard for them to be objective about it—after all, it’s dad. Maybe if they heard it on the radio they’d like it more. Like, right now my wife has a running CD of stuff from the new album and she’s been playing it for them in the car when she takes the girls out riding, and they sing along to it. I take that as a good sign.

April 12, 2011
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM GEARING UP FOR 
NEW ALBUM, TOUR
(Reuters) by Dean Goodman - Fleetwood Mac frontman Lindsey Buckingham has finished work on his third solo album in six years, a project he expects to release in September and promote with a tour.

The album, "Seeds We Sow," will also be his first outside the Warner Bros. family. Buckingham told Reuters that he was unhappy with its handling of his solo projects, and he was now considering teaming up with a new label or going the DIY route with an independent promotion team.

Fleetwood Mac is also a free agent after more than 40 years at Warner Bros., Buckingham said. The Anglo-American rock icons last released an album in 2003 and were the ninth biggest touring act in 2009 with U.S. ticket sales of $55 million, according to Pollstar.

Buckingham, 61, said Fleetwood Mac will continue to tour and record. Given classic-rock audiences' disdain for hearing new music in concert, he said he enjoys the creative challenge of giving old favorites a new sheen on stage.

Despite a busy family life, Buckingham has also been on a creative tear in his solo career, releasing albums in 2006 and 2008, and touring to promote both of them. Before then, he had not released a solo album since 1992's "Out of the Cradle."

Coincidentally, he said "Seeds We Sow" will be similar in tone to "Out of the Cradle," which received a rapturous critical response but was a relatively poor seller.

ANOTHER STONES COVER

The title track opens the album. "I don't think anyone's gonna take that for a radio song because it's just voice and acoustic guitar and there's a lot of that on the record," he said. "It runs the gamut. There's some lead playing, there's a little bit of everything on there."

As he did on 2006's "Under the Skin," he covers an obscure Rolling Stones song, this time "She Smiled Sweetly" from the band's 1967 album "Between the Buttons." He previously reworked their 1966 tune "I Am Waiting."

Buckingham said he was a fan of the Stones' experimental recordings with original leader Brian Jones, an ill-fated virtuoso with whom he shares a musical versatility.

He recorded "Seeds We Sow" at his home studio in Los Angeles, playing most of the instruments and mixing it himself while fulfilling his obligations as the married father of three preteens.

While there is no theme to the album, his late-in-life domesticity inevitably means songs "get filtered through looking at the world a little differently, perhaps a little more philosophically."

Buckingham will take a break from laying the groundwork for the album when he appears at the annual ASCAP "I Create Music" Expo for musicians and songwriters in Hollywood on April 29. His Q&A with pop singer Sara Bareilles will follow the presentation of the performing rights group's Golden Note Award for career achievement.

"Maybe I'll take a guitar and a little amp and do a little picking on stage," he said.

But he warned attendees not to ask him technical questions related to publishing and licensing. And maybe not to tax him too much with tips for songwriting.

"I don't really think of myself so much as a writer as a stylist, someone who came into writing from the back door and has found it through a certain very specific and personal means. It's all about what you do with the style. Hopefully I'll have something good to say. We'll see."


Australian Hi-Fi Magazine Jan-Feb, 2012



The Mac maverick goes his own way, again. Lush and reflective... 
by Piers Martin
Uncut 

For almost four decades, on and off, Lindsey Buckingham has been the driving force behind one of the world’s biggest bands, Fleetwood Mac.

He is the charismatic architect of Rumours and Tusk, whose songs are familiar to millions, yet it’s often the case that many Mac nuts, particularly outside the US, would be hard-pushed to name one of the guitarist’s five solo albums, let alone pick a highlight from any of them.

That doubtless says more about the fairweather nature of the band’s conservative fanbase, though to his credit, Buckingham, one of the more gifted players of his generation, has never appeared to crave attention even though he’s spent his career in the spotlight. Cast as a maverick when he indulged various eccentric recording methods for 1979’s landmark Tusk, the tag has stuck.

As a solo artist, Buckingham is, at the age of 61, enjoying a fine run of form. Seeds We Sow is his third album in five years, following 2006’s Under The Skin and 2008’s Gift Of Screws, records which the Californian singer-songwriter discovered were welcomed by a new audience who’d been enchanted by Fleetwood Mac’s surprisingly harmonious 2003 reunion and tour after 16 years apart. Their comeback set, Say You Will, from that year, was solid enough, its best song a tumbling, guitar-speckled Buckingham number called “Red Rover”. In concert, too, his solo rendition of “Big Love” illustrated the range of his exquisite fretwork and power of his star-crossed vocal. Comparison with Stevie Nicks’ latest solo effort is unnecessary, so let’s just say Buckingham’s passion for his craft is obvious.

What’s noteworthy is that both Gift Of Screws and Under The Skin stemmed from or before those Mac sessions; Seeds We Sow, a mellower affair, is an entirely new set of songs, and, lush and reflective, it unfolds as such. Buckingham composed, produced and mixed the record in his LA home studio, playing almost every instrument, even overseeing its release via the independent label Eagle. Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac are out of contract with Warners, though you suspect the major would’ve stuck with him if he could guarantee a healthy return. As it is, removed from the pressure of label and band, he’s a free agent who can feed his rebellious streak. Go his own way, so to speak. Couple this with his happy domestic situation – he married in 2000 aged 50 and has three children – and it was always unlikely he’d produce a record as unhinged as 1984’s Go Insane.

That’s not to say Buckingham is set in his ways. On the contrary, though he specialises in two types of song, the fluid acoustic flourish and the rockier stomp, he explores variations of these with the youthful vigour of a person one third his age. There’s a “Tusk”-like shuffle to “One Take” which he decorates with an outrageous Yngwie Malmsteen shred, while the distinctive shimmering harmony of “In Our Own Time” and simple interlocking riffs of “Rock Away Blind” can really only be called Buckinghamesque; no-one else plays with such elegance. If there’s one track that will draw newcomers to Seeds We Sow, it’s “Stars Are Crazy”, one of the loveliest songs Buckingham has ever written. Over tantalising fingerwork he pines for a lover before howling at the moon as the chorus erupts, sending shivers of delight through the listener. A closing tiptoe through the Stones’ “She Smiled Sweetly” could be Buckingham paying his dues to Jagger and Richards, but the distinction here is that, though his songbook, like theirs, is already abundant, Seeds We Sow suggests that there’s plenty more to come.


Lindsey Buckingham - Seeds We Sow
TJ McGrath (Woodbridge, CT)
Driftwood Magazine

Seeds We Sow is Lindsey Buckingham‘s sixth solo album since leaving Fleetwood Mac, and his first self-release effort. As a guitar player, Buckingham ranks as one of the best, and this album serves as a reminder of just how good he is. Many of the tracks demonstrate Buckingham’s glissando guitar attack, a 6-string fingerpicking method which seems to defy time and space and gravity.

The title track, a self-confessional that edges into a brittle, preachy protest song, has a blistering “sheltering sky” aura, with plenty of reverb and echo and swirling dynamics, and is faster than the speed of light almost. [Lindsay Buckingham defies laws of physics. News at 11. -ed] “Stars are Crazy”, another whirlwind of cascading notes, seduces with its angry, dangerous tone and threatens to run off a cliff with its barrage of pulsating rhythms and bouncy tempos.

However, as much as I enjoy Buckingham showing-off speed-demon crazy guitar licks and zipping around the fretboard as if his fingers were on fire, he’s at his best when he keeps things simple, sane, and stripped-down. Buckingham’s genius lies with his subtle guitar interplay and arranging, which were brilliantly on display on most of the successful Fleetwood Mac hit singles and albums. His most engaging work rests on when he lays low on the guitar and builds up tension and suspense with clever guitar and vocal overdubbing, as he does on classic Mac songs like “Go Your Own Way,” “The Chain,” “That’s All for Everyone.” Seeds We Sow has three speeds: Super doggone fast, kinda fast, and real slow. The last two are the ones you want to sing along with late at night when there’s a slight chill in the air and the moon is fading softly away. “End of Time,” my personal favorite from the album, has some clever simple guitar chords and restrained phrasings as he

Always keep me in your heart
even though I maybe dead and gone
and though we’re far apart
my love for you is strong.

It certainly could have surfaced on any Fleetwood Mac record with its dreamy lyrics mixed with soft, pleading lines. “That’s the Way Love Goes”, a spirited harpsichord romp with a simple lead guitar crawl continues in the same vein, and gets stuck in your head on the first play. “When She Comes Down” is also a sure-fire winner with a drifting, slo-mo heartbeat and crafty, layered vocals ala Beach Boys. Less is more, and “Gone to Far” has a steady strum of three chords and some wistful, heartfelt singing that Lindsey does so well. A final successful song is Buckingham’s cover version of the Rolling Stones’ “She Smiled Sweetly,” which he underplays with just guitar and voice. Melancholy perfection.

Those wishing to witness first-hand Buckingham’s astonishing dexterity on the six-string and songwriting skills are advised to seek out Songs from the Small Machine: Live in LA, a DVD/CD of Buckingham performing in front of an adoring crowd of fans.


Seeds We Sow = passion + precision
By Dean Gordon-Smith
Despite fronting a mega-band in his off-time, singer/guitarist Lindsay Buckingham excels in under-the-radar releases.

Seeds We Sow is Buckingham’s sixth solo album and it offers a glimpse into the musician’s creative drive. He doesn’t let his high profile alter his style.

There are Mac-isms throughout Seeds We Sow, but they’re representations of Buckingham’s personality, not derivative attempts at past creations.  Illumination and That’s The Way Love Goes are pieces of classic Buckingham-influenced Fleetwood Mac, fueled by the guitarist’s slightly wild edge.

The stately guitar work of Buckingham marks him as a premier stylist; a heavy hitter who’s also a singer/songwriter of some renown.

Guitarist/singer? Singer/songwriter? Singer who plays guitar? All of these and more.

Buckingham’s one-two punch carries over onto his instrument of choice. His spidery acoustic lines crackle along at a manic, angular pace (Stars Are Crazy, Rock Away Blind) that’s at home in Appalachia.

His soaring and skewed electric work is singular and unpredictable and hasn’t showed signs of rust. 

One Take updates Buckingham’s borderline frenzy against a straight ahead rhythm that’s cliché but tough.

There’s an under-current that mixes the melodic sunburst of The Beach Boys with the suggestive imagery of ‘80’s era Dylan and late ‘60’s Leonard Cohen.

When She Comes Down and Gone Too Far float this direction into both corners and She Smiled Sweetly connects the two sonic dots with cool logic.


LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★ ★ ★★
Xavier Rossey
Music in Belgium

Sixième album solo pour un des piliers du groupe Fleetwood Mac, "Seeds We Sow" risque d'être difficile au premier abord, mais surtout, prenez la peine de réécouter cet album. Entièrement enregistré dans son home studio, et presque entièrement exécuté par lui-même (excepté l'excellent Walfredo Reyes à la batterie sur un des titres).

Ce qui déroute un peu au début, c'est le son, même si d'entrée le titre éponyme convainc. Le jeu particulier de ce guitariste attire tout de suite notre oreille. La chanson elle-même est profonde, et le jeu modal utilisé convient à merveille.

"In Our Own Time" choque un peu au départ vu les instrumentations et samples qui renvoient fortement aux années '80. Mais le refrain accroche, et, ici encore, le jeu de guitare soutient la chanson sans nécessairement mettre en avant le guitariste - c'est d'ailleurs la manière dont il dit approcher toute sa musique.

"Illumination" est de ces titres qui donnent envie de bouger, et ici les harmonies vocales sont particulièrement réussies également. "That's the way that loves goes" a un ton très "Beatle-esque" qui n'est pas pour déplaire. "Stars are crazy" est quant à lui un petit bijou mélodique, tout acoustique mais ô combien intense.

"One Take" est un tantinet plus rock, et ici l'arrangement typiquement eighties convient également même si certains trouveront le son un peu vieillot. Très mélodique également, "The end of time" touche par la sensibilité du chant.

Pour terminer, on relèvera une belle reprise de "She smiled sweetly" des Rolling Stones.

En conclusion, " Seeds We Sow" s'écoutera et se réécoutera avec plaisir. C'est un album fait maison par un musicien exceptionnel, vivement conseillé!


LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★ ★ ★★★ ★ ★/10
By John Bergstrom
Pop Matters

 Most of Lindsey Buckingham’s career has been a study in contradiction. He was the eccentric, anti-social studio rat who was fascinated by Talking Heads and the Clash. Yet he was the featured guitarist in one of the most mainstream, popular bands in the world. When Buckingham tried to inject his restlessness into Fleetwood Mac on Tusk , the result was a million-selling album that was deemed a commercial failure and brought on the wrath of his bandmates and record company alike.

Buckingham relented, saving his more experimental work for an intermittent solo career, which he financed with his day job as musical director for the Mac. But it was always a struggle. Thanks in no small part to Warner Brothers Records’ politicking, Buckingham’s solo albums became Fleetwood Mac albums, first Tango in the Night, and then, after a 15-year reprieve, Say You Will.

Finally, as the 21st Century dawned, Buckingham began to come to terms with both sides of his musical existence. As he formed his own family and relationships within Fleetwood Mac became more normal and drug-free, he was able to channel his restless energy into the band, then take the momentum back into the studio for a resurgent run of solo work. Under the Skin (2006) and Gift of Screws (2008) are widely regarded as some of the best work of Buckingham’s career, and for good reason. They showcase a musician and songwriter who is fully immersed in, and coming to terms with, his considerable gifts. And the two albums provide an ideal combination of the skilled melodicism and almost unhinged strangeness that have marked the different aspects of Buckingham’s career.

You can consider Seeds We Sow the third in a trilogy. In terms of overall feel, it is very much of a piece with Under the Skin and Gift of Screws. Maybe too much so, for some listeners. Buckingham is now free of Warner Brothers, which means Seeds We Sow is even more of a do-it-yourself effort than the previous releases. But the close, reverb-drenched atmospheres, needling acoustic guitar arpeggios, and minimal production are familiar.

Buckingham displayed a bit more of his nervous, jittery edge on Gift of Screws, and Seeds We Sow has some even sharper, weirder moments. “One Take” starts with a sparse, tense atmosphere, as Buckingham half-raps his way through the verse. Then the chorus bursts into a multi-tracked chant. It’s a dynamic Buckingham has used often, but the haywire drum programming helps turn this into his most out-there work since Tusk. “That’s the Way Love Goes” applies a similar approach to a more pop-friendly melody, while the rattling “Illumination” is as close as Buckingham has come to garage rock.

Of course, Seeds We Sow has pure pop moments as well, where Buckingham’s pure songcraft is given a chance to shine. “In Our Own Time” mates a reflective yet hopeful verse to a jolting chorus where Buckingham gets to jam on his acoustic. “Rock Away Blind” is a great reminder that, like his hero Brian Wilson, Buckingham has a way with sing-song, almost lullaby melodies that capture the pure innocence of rock’n'roll. On these tracks, the stripped-down production becomes a liability, though, the demo-like quality almost becoming self-sabotage.

This no-frills approach works much, much better on the reflective, slow-motion ballads that are nestled throughout Seeds We Sow. The successive “Stars Are Crazy” and “When She Comes Down” are stunning, paying homage to an unnamed, elusive goddess with a near-religious beauty and intensity. Tracks like these display a warmth that, crucially, nudges up against Seeds We Sow‘s more remote tendencies.

Under the Skin was inspired by Buckingham’s young family, and benefited from an unprecedented lyrical directness because of it. On the new album, Buckingham is more oblique, his most overt message being something about corporate greed ruining the middle class. Thankfully, though, such rhetoric is in short supply. Much more effective is the sentiment of “End of Time”, a trademark Buckingham heartwarmer in which the impeding apocalypse sounds like a welcome rest for the weary.

Indeed, Seeds We Sow could be viewed as a sort of sampler of the different directions Buckingham’s ambition and brilliance can take. It could also be viewed as more of the same. But both approaches would be taking the unique quality of the songs for granted. With output as consistently strong as Buckingham’s has been, that would be easy to do. A much better way to think of Seeds We Sow would be as the album where Buckingham’s creative restlessness finally, completely made peace with his history with one of the biggest bands in the world.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
by Eric Swedlund
Tucsonweekly

 Sounding reflective and emotionally raw, Lindsey Buckingham takes a bigger turn toward folk music on his latest solo effort.

The album leads off with its strongest song, the title track, which is a gorgeous showcase for Buckingham's signature voice and virtuoso guitar style. Fast picking and a mournful wail blend together into a song as powerful as anything he's sung in the past.

Though punchier and fuller in instrumentation, "In Our Own Time" and "End of Time" also find Buckingham playing comfortably in the folk-rock realm, with particularly sharp use of his own layered vocals. "Stars Are Crazy" blends his ornate finger-picking with a hazy reverb on the vocals.

Still, there are songs on Seeds We Sow that mine the '70s vibe of classic Fleetwood Mac—particularly the Rumours-esque "That's The Way Love Goes," the incredibly catchy "Illumination," the meditative "Rock Away Blind" and the rock-ballad "Gone Too Far."

Buckingham does fall into a soft-rock trap on "When She Comes Down," and misses the mark on "One Take," which features half-rapped braggadocio and out-of-place aggressive—though skilled—guitar solos.

Buckingham closes with an excellently chosen cover, the Rolling Stones' "She Smiled Sweetly," which he turns into a somber and aching reflection.

Though his has been a long and fruitful career, Buckingham still can earn attention with his signature style as both a guitarist and a vocalist—and even better, he has the production smarts and skill to continue molding those familiar elements into new and fresh music.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow  ★ ★ ★★
Le Journal De Montreal
October 8, 2011
Eagle Records

Under The Skin (2006), son premier disque solo en 14 ans, avait surpris agréablement les critiques et les observateurs. Buckingham remet ça avec Seeds, essentiellement fondé sur le chant, accompagné à la guitare acoustique, enjolivé de quelques effets instrumentaux et réalisé à la maison. Des chansons solides, un air d’intimité et de nonchalance parce que fait à la maison, jeu instrumental original, particulièrement pour son picking omniprésent et formidable ( Stars Are Crazy), son chant qui reproduit l’innocence de certains grands chanteurs des années 1960 et 1970, dont Terry Reid. Aussi du Fleetwood Mac classique et, une fois de plus, une reprise saisissante d’une chanson des Stones.

(Translation)
Eagle Records
Under The Skin (2006), his first solo album in 14 years, was pleasantly surprised critics and observers. Buckingham Seeds with it again, mainly based on the song, accompanied on acoustic guitar, embellished with some instrumental effects and produced at home. Strong songs, an air of intimacy and nonchalance because homemade, original instrumental performance, especially for its ubiquitous and picking great (Stars Are Crazy), her singing that mimics the innocence of some great singers of the 1960s and 1970, Terry Reid. So the Fleetwood Mac classic, once again, a striking recovery of a Stones song.


 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow (B)
By Bill Brotherton
Boston Herald 

The Fleetwood Mac guitar maestro becomes a one-man band on this true solo effort: Save for one song (the Buddy Holly-ish “That’s the Way Love Goes”), Buckingham plays every instrument and does all the singing. As expected, the guitar playing is tremendous, whether the song’s quiet (the acoustic folk title song or a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “She Smiled Sweetly”) or loud (“One Take,” the Mac-like “Rock Away Blind”). Download: “Rock Away Blind.” (At the Wilbur Theatre, Sunday.)

 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow (A-)
By A.C. FERRANTE
AssignmentX

 An exceptional set of great, ambient pop songs from one of Fleetwood Mac’s most influential musical architects

 When Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974 (with Stevie Nicks), the end result was a transformation of a rock solid band into a pop music powerhouse.

Buckingham was an expert and visionary musical architect who had a vision that not even the band probably fully grasped at the time and his contributions resulted in some of the finest pop songs ever (I defy you no to start singing along to “Go Your Own Way” when it comes on the radio).

While Buckingham still tours with Mac, the band hasn’t released a new album since 2002, but Buckingham has been very busy as a solo artist releasing the great acoustically textured UNDER THE SKIN in 2006 and followed by the more rocking GIFT OF SCREWS in 2008.

Now, Buckingham returns with his latest solo release, the exceptional SEEDS WE SOW which lands stylistically between his last two solo releases.

It’s a showcase for his incredibly nimble guitar work and his crystalline vocals. The songs, as always, are as catchy as ever and cover a broad spectrum of relationship highs and lows.

The balance between soft, introspective songs like “Seeds We Sow” and “Stars Are Crazy” give way to full-blown pop treatments as on “That’s the Way Love Goes” and “Illumination”

Lyrically, Buckingham is quite playful on this set of tunes. “Seeds We Sow” has the line “Sweet things pretty things are dying/In the penny arcade of Edgar Allan Poe” while “One Take” deals with bad celebrity behavior commenting, “No I have no reputation and I’m not on any list/That’s because I’ve got a publicist who covers up the avarice of where I put my fist.”

Stand-out tracks include the beautiful “Rock Away Blind” which begins with an elegant guitar picking intro and then builds into a crescendo complemented by Buckingham’s soulful vocals. Like the best of his work, the song is filled with beautiful nuances and continues to build and grow until the song shifts gears into an incredible guitar solo toward the song’s end.

“In Our Own Time” also mixes acoustic guitar with a propulsive beat about a love that still bubbling beneath the surface. It also contains the wonderful line: “ I had the same old dream she was hiding outside my door/She used to come from time to time but not anymore.”

“When She Comes Down” is a mid-tempo gem that evokes “Down on Rodeo” from Buckingham’s UNDER THE SKIN.

And “Gone Too Far” is just a great pop song about the end of a relationship – as good as anything he’s done solo or with Fleetwood Mac.

On first listen SEEDS WE SOW feels like it’s relying on too many slow or mid-tempo songs, but on repeated listens, you start realize how expertly placed each song is on this album. Buckingham has always been a stickler for sequencing (you can see that evidenced in the Mac days that even with three different singer/songwriters sharing the spotlight, there was always a cohesive whole to each album) and here there is a flow and mood he’s expertly created with care and tact.

Music nowadays rarely offers these kind of rewards, where new textures or appreciation for music arises out of digging deep into the music. Part of this comes from Buckingham’s unique voice which soulful, bright and powerful and his supreme guitar skills. Both enhance and complement all of the songs on this release.

SEEDS WE SOW ends with the beautiful “She Smiles Sweetly” – a cover of the little heard 1960s Rolling Stones song. And dare I saw, this is a case where Buckingham does it more justice than the Stones originally did. Buckingham recorded this song on a previously unreleased version of his GIFT OF SCREWS album. It’s similar, but this time it’s been stripped down to just Buckingham and his acoustic guitar. It’s incredible, and if you didn’t know it was  a Stones tune, you would swear Buckingham wrote it himself because he truly makes it his own.

For die-hard Buckingham fans (like myself), there are handful of B-sides/bonus tracks also available for SEEDS WE SOW.

Perhaps the best of the bunch is “Sleeping Around the Corner” which is only available on the iTunes download of SEEDS WE SOW (you can purchase it separately as well).

This is a pretty awesome track which feels like TUSK era Fleetwood Mac with its crunchy guitar sounds. It’s listed as the “electric” version, so there must be an acoustic version of this floating around as well. It will be interesting to see if this track resurfaces for a future Mac album or not. It’s a shame Buckingham didn’t feel it worthy of inclusion in the actual sequencing of the album, but I’m sure there are many reasons.

The Amazon.com download exclusives (which also can be purchased separately) include an electric version of “Seeds We Sow” which rocks a lot more, but somehow loses the intimacy of the softer, finished version. Similarly, the acoustic version of “End of Time” is not as powerful as the more produced version on the actual album.

It’s interesting to listen to Buckingham deconstruct his songs, and in some cases bring a completely different feel and sonic palette to the same music. It’s a testament to his perfection nature – and it’s nice that he’s allowing fans a glimpse into the process with these bonus tracks.

SEEDS WE SOW is one of the best albums of 2011. Buckingham is still at the top of his game, and instead of the long wait in between solo releases (like it was in the 1980s and 1990s), he’s pushing forward at a much faster pace with music that is just as good, if not better than when he first made his mark with Mac in the 1970s.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
(Mind Kit/Buckingham Records)
★ ★ ★  (standard CD version); 
★ ★ ★  1/2 (iTunes exclusive)
Miami Herald
by HOWARD COHEN

In May, Fleetwood Mac band mate Stevie Nicks released In Your Dreams, her best collection of songs in 30 years. Not to be outdone by an ex-girlfriend,Buckingham has delivered his finest batch of new songs since the Carter administration. The gorgeous and grandiose Seeds We Sow mines group efforts Tusk and Tango in the Night for musical inspiration but its raw, ebullient sound represents creative growth.

The infectious Sleeping Around the Corner, a must-have bonus track on the iTunes version, could fit snugly on Tusk but is more melodic and pop-friendly. The über-catchy standout Illumination would be the highlight on any post- Rumours Fleetwood Mac album.

Most impressively, with the exception of That’s the Way Love Goes, Buckingham plays every instrument, along with producing, writing and engineering. The one-man-band brings forth a wall of sound built on canyons of interwoven acoustic and electric guitars, distorted bass, layered voices and crisp percussion. Seeds We Sow One Take In Our Own Time Rock Away Blind Never Going Back Again The only real throwaway is a cover of the Rolling Stones’ 1967 LP cut, She Smiled Sweetly.

Buckingham and Nicks both hint at a Fleetwood Mac tour and possible studio album in 2012. Hope the pair haven’t used up all of their best material this year.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
by: Nick Nadel
Ultimate Classic Rock

While Fleetwood Mac have been relatively quiet of late, Lindsey Buckingham has used the long gap between Mac albums (their last was 2003′s ‘Say You Will’) to release a series of increasingly excellent solo records that hark back to his blistering work on ‘Tusk.’ While 2006′s ‘Under the Skin’ was a hushed folk-rock affair, 2008′s ‘Gift of Screws,’ and the newly released ‘Seeds We Sow,’ are a reminder that Buckingham is one of best (and most underrated) singer-songwriters working today.

As usual, Buckingham fully takes the reigns on the self-released record — producing, mixing, and engineering the album himself. On the acoustic title track, Buckingham shows off his signature finger-picking flair amid melancholy references to “pretty things dying in the penny arcade of Edgar Allan Poe.”

‘In Our Own Time’ starts out as another shimmery folk track before Buckingham belts out the chorus. (“Wouldn’t make any difference/we crossed the line/from the fire we will rise again/in our own time”). Buckingham is equally fiery on the album standout ‘That’s the Way Love Goes,’ a churning pop-rock tune that sounds like a lost track from Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Mirage’ album. It’s moments like this that make you wish that the Buckingham of ‘Tusk’ gems ‘The Ledge’ and ‘What Makes You Think You Think You’re the One’ would pop up more often.

If Buckingham doesn’t break out vocally as much as he did on ‘Gift of Screws,’ musically he is at the top of his game. ‘Stars Are Crazy’ and ‘Rock Away Blind’ should satisfy anyone looking for a blast of Buckingham’s distinctive guitar arpeggios. Those missing the harmonies and driving drums of his Fleetwood Mac work will find a lot to like in bouncy tracks like ‘Illumination’ and ‘One Take.’

Meanwhile, fans of ‘Tango in the Night’-era Mac will dig the smooth, soft rock stylings of the gorgeous synth-kissed love song ‘When She Comes Down.’ (It rivals the recent Bon Iver track ‘Beth/Rest’ for the title of “ultimate ’80s adult contemporary throwback of 2011.”)

Following up on themes developed in ‘Gift of Screws,’ the lyrics on ‘Seeds We Sow’ find Buckingham ruminating on eternal love, death and the unstoppable drum march of time. Buckingham sings of the “end of the line” on ‘End of Time’ and muses that “when they finally come to bury us, maybe then we’ll tell the truth.”

The album closer, a strong cover of  the Rolling Stones’ ‘She Smiled Sweetly,’ brings this song cycle to an intense close with an audible exhale. (Could the “she” Buckingham refers to throughout the album be the sweet embrace of Lady Death?)

‘Seeds We Sow’ comes at a time of renewed interest in Buckingham and his band of merry Mac-sters. Stevie Nicks is riding high off her best solo album in more than a decade, while a young audience is discovering Fleetwood Mac classics like ‘Landslide’ and ‘Dreams’ thanks to the recent ‘Rumours’-themed episode of ‘Glee.’ And of course, there was Buckingham’s recent appearance on ‘Saturday Night Live’ opposite his on-screen doppelganger Bill Hader in the “What Up With That” sketch. (There’s also talk of new Fleetwood Mac music in 2012.)

Never one to coast on his past triumphs, Buckingham is making the most of this new phase of his career through stellar albums and live shows (he just kicked off a national solo tour) that demonstrate why he is one of the most enduring icons in classic rock.

 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
By JON PARELES
New York Times
When Lindsey Buckingham sings, “I woke up in the middle of the night/with you on my mind,” it’s hard to avoid thinking he means his many guitars, acoustic and electric. Throughout his solo album “Seeds We Sow” (Buckingham Records) his fingers fly, often in layers of fast, restless finger-picking that he clearly couldn’t wait to assemble. He played, produced and mostly wrote the songs all by himself, except for one songwriting collaboration and a version of the Rolling Stones’s “She Smiled Sweetly.” While Mr. Buckingham obviously selected every buzzing or pinging guitar tone carefully, the production has the low-fi informality of a demo. He maintains the sense of pop melody he brought to Fleetwood Mac, and he sings in an expressively frayed latter-day version of his old high tenor. His lyrics philosophize about love, loss and passing time. But his guitar geekery is the album’s governing force, and it’s usually for the better.


LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
by Jeb Delia

 "Buckingham continues to amaze with not just the technical brilliance of his guitar playing, but the sheer variety of different tones and stylings"

It’s surprising how easily Buckingham seems to slide back into the retro mode when there’s a Fleetwood Mac tour on the horizon. Yeah, the money’s good, but I doubt he needs it, and the man we meet in his solo recordings seems so content with his new life (happily married, three kids), that it feels odd to see him retreat back into the role of “touring past glories” hitmaker. Fortunately, though, neither domestic bliss or the glow of nostalgia are blunting his considerable talents as composer, producer, and guitarist.

On his third album in five years, Buckingham handles not only the writing and producing, but plays nearly every instrument himself, and self-released Seeds We Sow through his own new label. Perhaps more than any of his peers, Buckingham continues to amaze with not just the technical brilliance of his guitar playing, but the sheer variety of different tones and stylings: “One Take” is busy and blistering, “In Our Own Time” glows with shimmering harmonies, and “Rock Away Blind” recalls his clean, epic fretwork on Mac classics like “Go Your Own Way.” And while it can be argued that his old band’s turbulent times caused him to dig deeper with his songwriting than he does today, he’s still able to inhabit a song like “Stars Are Crazy” or “That’s The Way Love Goes” as though he were still burning with the flames that stoked the sexual carousel that was Mac in its heyday. For sheer gorgeous pop genius, highly recommended.

 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We sow
Whitney Tolar

 Fleetwood Mac fans get excited – Lindsey Buckingham’s new album, “Seeds We Sow,” is now available for download and as a whole, it is definitely praiseworthy.

Even for generations too young to remember Buckingham’s pre-solo career, the album should resonate with anyone who appreciates a simple melody enriched by incredible instrumentals on the acoustic guitar.

The overall tone of the album is nostalgic and tranquil, yet one or two songs stray slightly from Buckingham’s characteristically understated sound into a louder, fast-paced style that has a more rock 'n roll feel, which is not necessarily pleasant.

“One Take,” for example, is out of place in the otherwise calming collection of songs, but this does not detract from the quality of the album as a whole.

A few especially great songs are  “Seeds We Sow” and “End of Time.”

The album’s title track, “Seeds We Sow,” offers beautiful, intricate instrumentals on the acoustic guitar, creating a calming sound reminiscent of classic Fleetwood Mac.

This song is definitely the standout of the album, featuring subdued yet powerful vocals and touching lyrics making for a catchy melody that is sure to get stuck in your head (in the best way possible).

While the vocals and lyrics are impressive throughout, Buckingham’s awe-inspiring expertise on the acoustic guitar is what truly makes the album exceptional, unique, and definitely worth a download.

For the most part, “Seeds We Sow” maintains a refreshing folk sound few artists can achieve as well as Buckingham.


 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
George Lang
NewsOK.com

Following two solo albums of gauzy beauty suggesting that placidity had settled upon Lindsey Buckingham's restless mind, “Seeds We Sow,” his sixth solo studio disc, indicates that the Fleetwood Mac guitarist still has demons to exorcise. Indeed, “Seeds We Sow” finds Buckingham alternating between moments of pop transcendence and exhilarating songs in which he sounds like he might come unglued. It is his most interesting and varied solo work since 1984's “Go Insane,” the last time he behaved as if he could take breaks from carrying the standard for Fleetwood Mac's musical legacy and just be a freak.

While “Under the Skin” and “Gift of Screws” sounded like the work of a rock god transitioning to indie singer-songwriter glory, “Seeds We Sow” is Buckingham's first truly independent record, released on his own Mind Kit label, and it sounds completely unencumbered by expectations. The opening title song growls at the ghosts in his past before he lets his fingers fly on “In Our Own Time,” picking wildly as drum machines and blasts of orchestral synths thunder in the background. “Illumination” and “That's the Way Love Goes” find Buckingham in off-kilter Mac mode, creating manic, multilayered pop music with a noticeable edge of menace.

“I can't see you anymore, but it don't mean I'm blind,” Buckingham croons on the soaring centerpiece “Stars Are Crazy” before the chorus finds him howling at the sky. But not all turmoil is internal: “One Take” finds Buckingham inhabiting the callous soul of a corporate raider who “won't be satisfied 'til the middle class is gone,” before ending “Seeds We Sow” with the shimmering “Gone Too Far” and a cover of the Rolling Stones' “She Smiled Sweetly,” a song about never being able to let the past lie. Buckingham might always be encumbered with an unquiet mind, but “Seeds We Sow” shows the artistic upside of living with a personal and professional history that curses as often as it blesses.


LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
By Kenneth E. Oquist
As a long time Lindsey Buckingham fan, his new release Seeds We Sow is excellent from start to finish. “End of Time” is a really pleasant mid-tempo song that does show the marketabililty the group that gave him a boot in the behind several years ago would have liked. That being said, this is simply a really good song and my favorite track. “Gone Too Far” is a Pop flavored song. Regardless of marketability, this is another of the best. “Illumination” shows a more funky side than what some of the other songs sound like from Lindsey these days.

“In Our Own Time” is another sound yet with some slick acoustic guitar lead and it’s a snappy sounding song. On “One Take” finally folks enter the electric guitar. A quirky song but funky in parts. It’s great song and one of the best here. “Rock Away Blind”  has a minimal beat and those fast acoustic guitars he favors these days. “She Smiled Sweetly” is a lovely acoustic song. I like this one quite a bit. The title track is quite a fast paced acoustic song. Marketing may not know what to do with it, but no matter it’s pretty good to me.

“Stars Are Crazy” is another fast acoustic guitar tune with minimal percussion, but strong as they all are. “That’s the Way Loves Goes” alternates totally acoustic with a pretty snappy beat. Variety is here in this song by itself. Another really good song. “When She Comes Down” is a slower song with a lazy beat. There is a nice variety here in spite of a lack of electric guitars. With very little weakness, Lindsey scored four and a half stars easily.



LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow

Whenever Lindsey Buckingham is apart from Fleetwood Mac, you worry that he’s going to drift into the ether. Buckingham needs the tension of Fleetwood Mac to bring out his best work. He can get too quirkily self-indulgent on his own, but this new solo album, “Seeds We Sow,’’ has moments of considerable beauty. His fingerpicked acoustic guitar once again shines, leading the way on the hypnotic title track and on such layered gems as the Nick Drake-influenced “Stars Are Crazy’’ and the edgy “End of Time.’’ His vocals throughout are often processed in a heavily reverbed manner. A few songs don’t work - “In Our Own Time’’ has some guitar fills resembling a buzzing gnat - but Buckingham’s sheer gift for melody wins out. The ballad “When She Comes Down’’ is a stately coup, while “One Take’’ is a political insight into this country’s dwindling middle class. Buckingham has made a hobbyist record to please himself, and he ends with a lovely, folk-flavored remake of the Rolling Stones’ “She Smiled Sweetly.’’ It’s almost a lullaby in his hands.

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LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★
Gary Graff
The Oakland Press

Lindsey Buckingham’s sixth solo album starts with a shimmering guitar pattern that sounds similar to Fleetwood Mac’s “Never Going Back Again,” but rest assured no one will mistake this 11-song set for a Mac attack. As is his wont, Buckingham takes an arty and often airy approach that harks back to “Tusk,” with a dry ambience and plenty of sonic space. The politically tinged “One Take” rocks out in furious fashion, while “Illumination” and “That’s the Way Love Goes” are hooky pop gems. But it’s the emotive solo acoustic pieces such as “Stars Are Crazy,” “Rock Away Blind,” a hushed cover of the Rolling Stones’ “She Smiled Sweetly” and the title track that really bring these “Seeds” to fruition.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
Written by Real Gone

Following 1992’s ‘Out of The Cradle’, Lindsey Buckingham continued to write new material, but largely stayed out of the spotlight. In the early 00’s he had almost completed a solo album, provisionally entitled ‘Gift Of Screws’, when destiny called and he rejoined Fleetwood Mac. A few songs scheduled for ‘Gift of Screws’ were reworked with Fleetwood Mac and eventually surfaced on their 2003 release ‘Say You Will’.

After touring for that record, Buckingham resumed his solo career and released the intimate acoustic record ‘Under The Skin’ in 2006, followed by a finished, partially different ‘Gift of Screws’ in 2008. As 2011’s ‘Seeds We Sow’ is Buckingham’s third solo release in five years, it marks his most prolific period in some time. It’s a very home-spun recording, with a lot of programmed mechanical elements, but that’s certainly not to say it sounds hurried or remotely slapdash compared to works on which he spent three times longer.

Despite the drum loops, ‘Gone Too Far’ has a pop purity, which with a little tweak would be worthy of inclusion on a Fleetwood Mac disc, with pleading lead vocals and a plethora of backing voices. Musically, it’s much simpler than some of Buckingham’s works, but it stands up well. The vocals alone would carry most of the number, but a few plays in, the unobtrusive guitar solo stands out as being particularly noteworthy, capturing a very clean and distinctive sound. ‘In Our Time’ is a superb off-kilter pop number which Buckingham very much makes his own. Not just with a plethora of finger plucked moments, but the addition of staccato keyboard strings for emphasis hints at the anger of a couple of his ‘Tusk’ performances. Almost a complete opposite ‘When She Comes Down’ is rich with harmony vocals. The music is relatively simple, but Buckingham is acutely aware that a strong hook and stronger vocal will win out. It’s enough to make you wonder how this would have sounded with the embellishment of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie… [‘Seeds We Sow’ may be rather mechanical on the whole, but even after a few plays, it’s so obvious that most of these songs are vastly superior to those which filled Mac’s ‘Say You Will’, which was let down in part by Christine McVie’s absence].

‘That’s The Way That Love Goes’ is credited as featuring other musicians (everything else is arranged and recorded by Buckingham alone), but even so, it doesn’t sound much more natural than the other cuts. The drums come with a clipped march, the bass only slightly warmer than on other numbers and the keyboards add little interest overall. As expected with a Lindsey Buckingham recording, however, this track is still very much “The Lindsey Buckingham Show” – and frankly, his contributions are almost beyond criticism. His vocal retains exactly the same presence as it has always had -as if barely any time has passed since those drug-fuelled ‘Tusk’ sessions and days of excess – while the music contains a few slightly more angular moments. ‘One Take’ is the album’s most urgent cut, both musically and lyrically. The bass notes rumble as Buckingham settles for a far less showy guitar style. Clanging rhythm chords provide most of the focus, but the two instrumental breaks are where it’s at; each one brimming with fury – a sharp reminder of the man who played the screaming solo at the end of ‘The Chain’. Combined with Lindsey spitting lyrics like “I have no reputation and I’m not on any list / That’s because I got a publicist who covers up the avarice and where I put my fist”, it’s certainly the closest ‘Seeds We Sow’ comes to presenting anything resembling an angry rocker. Placed alongside some of the more refined numbers – particularly those with a strong bias towards finger-picked guitar – stylistically, this feels a little shoe-horned in. On the other hand, it comes loaded with a chorus that’ll stay with you after three or four plays, so it’s still a really great track.

It’s with the solo number ‘Rock Away Blind’ ‘Seeds We Sow’ unleashes what is unquestionably it’s most amazing piece. Buckingham’s voice has a pop musician’s purity, and as such is extremely admirable, but looking beyond that, his guitar work is just astounding. His voice compliments a furiously plucked acoustic guitar which is subjected to an appropriate studio shine (and possibly some kind of delay). The blanket of notes is mesmerizing – this is every reason Buckingham is revered as a musician as well as song writer. With this track, he captures the essence and brilliance of that performance of Fleetwood’s ‘Big Love’ (the one featured on ‘The Dance’) on a studio recording. It’s a track which can be played on a loop and never lose any of its sparkle. Similarly, the cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘She Smiled Sweetly’ – which wraps things up – proves a fantastic showcase for Buckingham’s sounds of wood and strings pitched against breathy vocals. A track so subtle, yet brimming with professional brilliance, this provides a most appropriate ending.

Although this album stretches Buckingham’s work into a couple of new places stylistically and isn’t always as polished as some of his previous outings, his voice retains a heart-warming familiarity which will keep most listeners coming back time and again. And while some musicians would sound cheap surrounded by drum machines and programmed elements, throughout ‘Seeds We Sow’, Buckingham’s song writing runs rings around most and that – combined with his superb voice – is enough to make ‘Seeds We Sow’ a fantastic listening experience.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow (B)
By STEVE KNOPPER. Special to Newsday

Starting with 1981's "Law and Order," Fleetwood Mac co-frontman Lindsey Buckingham has been writing, recording and producing great solo works -- it's just that they're starting to sound alike after all these years. As usual, "Seeds We Sow" has impeccable high vocals, beautiful guitar-playing alternating between angry and soothing, well-crafted songs and a heavy rhythmic quality; best song here is the outraged "One Take."

BOTTOM LINE Another solid collection from the Fleetwood Mac singer in his spare time


LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
John Mulvey

“Seeds We Sow” feels like a hermetically-sealed, satisfyingly odd album

Last time I wrote about Buckingham and “Gift Of Screws”, my self-professed ignorance/suspicion of a lot of Fleetwood Mac drew a fair bit of approbrium from his more dedicated fans. Nevertheless, I’ll risk it again, because “Seeds We Sow” is another really interesting record.

Even more than that last album, “Seeds We Sow” feels like a hermetically-sealed, satisfyingly odd album, an absolutely driven pursuit of a singular artistic vision. On one level, “In Our Own Time” is a pretty orthodox rock song, but Buckingham smartly flaunts his home studio solipsism and his ProTools rig rather than faking a virtual band with it. The results are fractured and disorienting, with some unearthly, obsessive-compulsive guitar textures.

While there are certainly some beautiful, rippling reveries like the title track and “Stars Are Crazy”, which hark back to “Under The Skin”, many of the songs on “Seeds We Sow” sound – to a relative neophyte, remember – like they’d work pretty well for Fleetwood Mac. It’s the treatments - so micro-managed and fastidious; hyper-sharp and dreamy at the same time – that see Buckingham really asserting his independence. I like it, if that’s OK with his proper fans…


LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★✩✩
(Eagle Rock)
The Daily Mail - UK
Sept 2, 2011

AS FLEETWOOD Mac gear up for another reunion in 2012, guitarist Buckingham’s solo renaissance continues apace. In contrast to his arena-pleasing day job, this homespun album has a maverick charm. There is an Arabic feel to his fretwork on In Our Own Time. That’s The Way Love Goes is a surging rocker, and She Smiled Sweetly is a faithful cover of an obscure Stones gem.

 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
Somethingelsereviews.com
by: Nick DeRiso

"You keep waiting for Lindsey Buckingham, the old rebel, to soften into middle-aged acceptance, to conform. This isn’t that record. Credit Buckingham for never trading true emotion for sentiment. Seeds We Sow is as hard eyed as it is musically ambitious — beginning with its abruptly confessional album-opening title track."



LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★★/5
BY DARRYL STERDAN

Buckingham gone to seed? Not a chance. Like its predecessors, the Mac daddy’s superb sixth solo CD is a DIY affair, with LB layering his precise needlepoint fingerpicking and high-whispery vocals atop beatboxes, sparse instrumentation and home-studio sonics. Add some sharp folk-rock cuts about karma and you’ve got the best album Mac didn’t make this year. What up wit dat?

Download: In Our Own Time; That’s the Way Love Goes

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - SEEDS WE SOW (A-)
By Tom Harrison
The Province (Canada)

Buckingham's solo career has been a matter of one reliable gem after another, so there's always a danger of taking his modest little masterworks for granted. This new disc - his sixth studio recording and first self-released effort - is defined by Buckingham's hyperactive acoustic fingerpicking and ultra- melodic hooks. Playing virtually all the instruments and doing his own producing and mixing, Buckingham manages to make an insular work sound far-reaching and timeless.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
By Jason Heller
There’s a reason Lindsey Buckingham is portrayed as the aloof-and-silent type on Saturday Night Live’s “What’s Up With That?”: In real life, he’s always seemed that way. Yet his songs with Fleetwood Mac—many of which he sang—remain some of the most heartrendingly intimate ever committed to mass consciousness. His solo work since Mac’s prime has been hit or miss, but 2008’s Gift Of Screws was a beautiful reminder of Buckingham’s bygone directness and warmth. His new album, Seeds We Sow, sees him shying away again. But not always in a bad way.

Seeds’ biggest barrier is one Buckingham has always shielded himself with: the studio. Otherwise stunning folk-rock gems such as “Stars Are Crazy” and the disc’s title track drown stark, naked folk in staccato reverb and air-conditioned acoustics. Often, though, Buckingham elicits gooseflesh for the right reasons. “Illumination” is a sharp, accusatory screed that vibrates like a Tusk outtake, and “In Our Own Time” wrings sorcery out of Buckingham’s signature finger-picked arpeggios and haunted swathes of harmony. But where Gift Of Screws showcased the unforced and immediate passion of his voice, even the best moments on Seeds feel as though they’re being heard through a stethoscope placed upon Buckingham’s chest.

One thing Buckingham has never forgotten, though, is how to construct albums with the consummate balance and gravity-defying magic of an architect. After laying a foundation of sprawling airiness and sumptuous overdubs, he tops Seeds with “She Smiled Sweetly,” a bittersweet, almost medieval-sounding love song that falters and quivers like collapsing lungs. And when he closes the track—and the album—with what might be the soft, breathy aftershock of a kiss, he once again cuts through all the effects and atmospherics to deliver a little raw piece of his heart.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
BY BRETT MILANO
With 2008’s Gift of Screws, Lindsey Buckingham proved he could make a vintage Fleetwood Mac-sounding album all (largely) by himself. This follow-up is a more typical Buckingham solo set — meaning that the pop mastery is still here, but the overall feel is darker and more insular. He does seem in a more downcast mood than usual, whether that’s due to romantic troubles, advancing age, or the state of the nation (the foreboding “End of Time” alludes to all three). And the best moments here are indeed melancholy: “When She Comes Down” echoes the soaringly sad feel of Mac’s “Walk a Thin Line,” and the closing cover, “She Smiled Sweetly,” has a verge-of-tears vocal that makes it more affecting than the Rolling Stones’ original. With nobody else in the studio, Buckingham alternates stripped-down acoustic numbers with full-band facsimiles. That said, even the loudest songs here — like the topical “One Take,” which includes one of his most ferocious guitar solos ever — don’t detract from the album’s late-night, down-there mood.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
(Eagle Rock Entertainment)
Rating:  ★★★
By Ryan Reed

In a year when longtime Fleetwood Mac mystic (and his former flame) Stevie Nicks released some of her worst songs to date (the underwhelming In Your Dreams), there’s something especially comforting about the ornate fingerpicking that opens Seeds We Sow, Lindsey Buckingham’s sixth solo album. “Had a dream that you reached for me in the night, touched me soft and slow,” he nearly whispers, his paper-light voice shrouded in homespun reverb. “Everything was wrong, but everything was right.”

It’s a moment of astounding, nostalgic beauty, alarming in its quiet and even more so in its blinding emotion. As great of a pop songsmith as Buckinghams’ always been, something even more mesmerizing always happens when he strips back the excess, trimming the mix to his acoustic and vocals. The album version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Big Love” now sounds dated and restrained; Buckingham’s now legendary solo performances of the track are transcendent, often featuring the singer screaming himself hoarse over his windmilled spirals of fingerpicked color.

“Seeds We Sow” is yet another moment of sparkling clarity. Elsewhere, Buckingham’s at his best where he so obviously feels most comfortable: strapped to that acoustic, armed with nothing else but his fingers and that journeyman’s tenor. The electronic-spattered “In Our Own Time” climaxes in a torrent of head-rush arpeggios. His hypnotic, double-tracked assault on “Stars Are Crazy” is jaw-dropping, wrangling out his trademark alien noises from only a six-string and a capo.

Buckingham’s no stranger to the recording process, but Seeds We Sow is his most DIY moment yet. He wrote, played, produced, and mixed every inch of this batch, which he is also self-releasing. There’s a rough, intimate charm throughout—as if you’re listening in on basement warm-ups rather than final takes. Buckingham’s voice is breathy and intimate, typically coated in trebly reverb, even when he soars to his usual beefy choruses (“In Our Own Time”); and the emotions are expansive and fully-bloomed, even when the music is dated. (“When She Comes Down” sounds like a bad Steve Winwood B-side as heard on the soundtrack to a direct-to-video ’80s rom-com—but it somehow gets by on its own craftiness.)

Ultimately, the most “song-like” tracks here (like the rowdy, half-baked rocker “One Take”) are also the least interesting. Those moments feel stifled and awkward. Ironically, the more pop details Buckingham adds, the less impact he achieves; at times, you can’t help but wish for a Mick Fleetwood drum fill or John McVie’s liquid bass pulse.

But Buckingham knows his true strengths. Seeds We Sow waves goodbye, just as it began: with quiet meditation. “She Smiled Sweetly” is nothing more than folky plucks and ocean breeze whisper, evaporating gracefully into the fog of a half-gone dream.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★★★★★★
MICHAEL TOLAND

Lindsey Buckingham has for so long been a part of the one of the biggest mainstream pop bands in the world - Fleetwood Mac, of course -  that we tend to forget what an oddball he can be. When the singer/guitarist makes solo records - formerly infrequently, but Seeds We Sow is his third in five years - he takes his cues from the experimental Tusk more than the mainstream blockbuster Rumours. Seeds runs on Buckingham's usual staples - sparkling melody and superlative guitar work, particularly hyperactive acoustics in this case - but it's the production that makes the record more than a soft rock side project. Looking back to the quirky arrangements of Out of the Cradle and the synthesized sheen of Go Insane, Buckingham takes often simple tunes and processes them into a strange mix of weirdness and clarity.

"One Take," while sporting an immediately catchy chorus and a burning guitar solo, is powered by deliberately old-fashioned electronic drums and clipped singing, sounding beamed in from another dimension. "Rock Away Blind," outside of its enigmatic libretto, floats on a sea of air while still digging its roots into the ground. "Stars Are Crazy" revolves around the tension between Buckingham's fleet-fingered acoustic guitar and his urgent singing, which sound out of sync in a beguiling way. "Gone Too Far" and the title track even alter the auteur's voice to sound younger, thinner and more feminine.

Buckingham does play it straight from time to time - "She Smiles Sweetly" lives up to its title with just voice, guitar and a no-frills tune, while "End of the Line" and "That's the Way Love Goes" just need the voices of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie to be Mac tracks. The rocking "Illumination" boasts not only an obviously anthemic chorus but a production job straight out of Tango in the Night.

Buckingham's hero has always been Brian Wilson, another eccentric whose forte is combining heavenly melody with imaginative production. Without sounding anything like Pet Sounds, Seeds We Sow indicates Buckingham has absorbed Wilson's lessons well.

DOWNLOAD: "Stars Are Crazy," "Illumination," "Gone Too Far"

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow
Barry Walters

Written, produced and performed almost solely by the Fleetwood Mac guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham’s sixth studio album doesn’t suggest a guy who’s spent most of the past 36 years as the artistic center of a band that’s sold more records than everyone currently in the charts combined. It’s Buckingham’s first self-released disc, and it feels like an indie album, albeit one from a studio genius able to afford and master any high-end gizmo he pleases. The folky opening title track would fit on Fleet Foxes’ latest if it weren’t so exquisitely produced; it may be entirely acoustic, but listen to the way his wordless refrain halfway through the track soars like the private jets that became Fleetwood Mac’s preferred vehicle of travel.

Ever since Tusk — the quintet’s notoriously experimental follow-up to its blockbuster Rumours — “only” went double platinum, Buckingham’s solo albums have been the destination for his most personal and daring material. This one suggests Tusk in its mix of gentle ballads and tense, almost New Wave uptempo cuts. The fast stuff is really fast: When his menacing meditation on corporate greed “One Take” shifts into quadruple time on the choruses, the drums thump and roll faster than any human without access to digital tempo-shifting could muster. Although the focus here is on picking and not soloing, Buckingham remains one of rock’s greatest underrated guitarists, yet it’s impossible to determine if he’s actually playing those rapid runs on “In Our Time” or the harp-like opening to “Illumination” in real time or relying on software to speed up his game.

The thing with Buckingham is that it doesn’t really matter: All that time and pressure with Fleetwood Mac hasn’t diminished his ability to frame his songs in intricate, yet human-sized arrangements that serve his material and not merely radio friendly unit shifting. Like fellow multi-instrumentalist millionaire Paul McCartney, Buckingham can still be raw and offhand (or refined and fastidious) when he wants to be because his melodic ability is so assured. It’s pointless for him to try to write hits: That’s just what Buckingham does, whether they actually sell or not. The tunes here are his poppiest since the Mac’s ABBA-tastic Tango in the Night, but the result is more akin to Grizzly Bear: Seeds We Sow is craft subverted by art.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★★ 1/2 out of five
Montreal Gazette

It's a good year for the two pillars of Fleetwood Mac's best-known records.

Stevie Nicks, forever the group's most identifiable face in her spacecadet witch regalia, surprised skeptics in May with the unexpectedly solid In Your Dreams. Lindsey Buckingham, the real visionary behind the lush, sparkling Mac sound that once sold records into the platinum stratosphere, does not surprise us at all: with Seeds We Sow, he delivers yet another terrific collection of songs.

Buckingham's solo career has been a matter of one reliable gem after another, so there's always a danger of simply taking his modest little masterworks for granted. The multi-instrumentalist and gifted songwriter never returns to form because the standard has yet to slip.

Like his last two releases, Under the Skin (2006) and Gift of Screws (2008), the new disc - his sixth studio recording and first self-released effort - is defined by Buckingham's hyperactive acoustic fingerpicking and ultra-melodic hooks. The wonderfully familiar pattern is quickly established by the title track, which opens the album, and In Our Own Time, which follows it.

As usual, one of Buckingham's most intriguing quirks is that it's sometimes hard to lock into the groove of his songs: a chorus will come around and you're looking for the natural place to move your head with the rhythm. In Our Own Time and That's the Way That Love Goes are perfect examples. On the latter, the guitarist wails contentedly with two bare-bones electric solos.

Playing virtually all the instruments and doing his own producing and mixing, Buckingham manages to make an insular work sound far-reaching and timeless. Rockers like Illumination and One Take alternate with dreamier tracks like Gone Too Far, which is the most obvious Mac sound-alike on the disc, and When She Comes Down, which evokes the Irish folk song Wild Mountain Thyme as well as Brian Wilson's sunnier choral beds.

Once again, Buckingham raids the deep tracks in the Rolling Stones' mid-'60s catalogue. Having covered I Am Waiting on Under the Skin, he closes the new album with a haunting version of She Smiled Sweetly, surely one of the most tuneful beauties in the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards oeuvre.

If the recurring themes of betrayal and distance add a blue note to the proceedings, the music on this disc overflows with joy. Never take it for granted.

Podworthy: That's the Way That Love Goes

Lindsey Buckingham Goes His Own Way, Again, With 'Seeds We Sow'
By Chris Willman

For someone who plays so well with others -- as attested to by tens of millions of records sold with Fleetwood Mac -- Lindsey Buckingham sure does create a hermetically sealed world when he makes his one-man-band solo albums.

“Seeds We Sow,” his latest, is another pipeline directly into his brilliant head, an echo chamber marked by equal parts obsessive neuroticism and dexterity. As always, it’s a fascinating place to visit, though if you dared to live there, you’d probably want to bring along a rhythm section, if not a chick singer.

This is the paradox of Buckingham: When he's with the Mac, you wish Stevie Nicks would do fewer songs so we could get more of his genius, but when he's by himself, you start to wish another human would show up, even if just for a cameo, to assure us we haven't been locked into his brain alone.

The trademark of his last few independently released solo efforts has been endlessly repeated, time-signature-avoidant acoustic guitar arpeggios, which inevitably sound like they’re being played by three sets of hands at once. These patterns are beautiful, but maddening after a spell -- “mad” perhaps being the operative word for a guy who titled an early signature project “Go Insane.”

When he deigns to do something resembling a pop song, your gratitude for the relief of a simplistic beat and sing-along chorus may know no bounds. That arrives in the form of, among other songs, “That’s the Way That Love Goes,” but don’t go looking for any lyrical comfort even there, amid the almost cheerful sounds. Sample lyric: “I lie alone and watch you sleep/I’d reach for you but I might weep/If you should tell me I must keep/Away.” 

That’s minor paranoia by Buckingham standards. “I can’t touch you anymore, it causes you harm,” he sings in “Stars Are Crazy.” The title track's seeds aren't blooming into anything too sweet, either: “Pretty things are dying, in the penny arcade of Edgar Allan Poe.”

Is there a tell-tale heart beating underneath all these bad vibes? Warmth does rear its ugly head in the gorgeous chorus of “When She Comes Down,” although it’s not at all clear who are what the imminent “she” in the tune is. Maybe it's death itself, since that’s the theme of “End of Time,” where Buckingham suggests, “When we get to the other side, maybe then we’ll make amends.” (Those are probably the words he dictates to the telegram operator every time he turns down another Fleetwood Mac reunion.)

Maybe he’s setting more commercial material aside in case he succumbs to another Mac attack, but more likely, this is the only muse he’s following nowadays. And it’s one worth following with him, if you’re a freak for brilliant acoustic guitar playing and the strange hooks Buckingham breaks them up with. But “Seeds We Sow” is deeply claustrophobic, so don’t go in without a lifeline to pull you back out.

“I’m just another madman/I turn it off, I turn it on,” he announces in “One Take," doing some role-playing but probably speaking for himself, too. That’s our Lindsey: still going insane after all these years.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★ Stars (out of 4)
Mikael Wood
LA Times

It’s been a good year for Fleetwood Mac, even without the actual existence of Fleetwood Mac, which last toured in 2009 and hasn’t released a new studio album since 2003’s "Say You Will." In May, the hit Fox series "Glee" devoted an episode to the band’s 1977 record "Rumours," the same day that singer Stevie Nicks released "In Your Dreams," her best-received solo disc in decades. And echoes of the group’s lustrous West Coast pop have cropped up recently on records by buzzy young acts like the Belle Brigade and Fleet Foxes. No wonder, then, that Lindsey Buckingham told Rolling Stone last week that Fleetwood Mac will likely return in 2012.

Until then, here’s Buckingham’s latest solo album, his third in five years and the first one he’s releasing himself following a lengthy stint with Warner Bros. Like all of the singer-guitarist’s own work, "Seeds We Sow" is thornier than Buckingham’s material for Fleetwood Mac, with an emphasis on his percussive, sometimes-discordant acoustic guitar playing and on his intimately recorded vocals, which in a stripped-down rendition of the Rolling Stones’ "She Smiled Sweetly" push intriguingly at whatever border separates passionate from creepy. (Buckingham’s originals reflect his usual blend of midlife introspection and limousine-liberal hand-wringing.)

Several cuts, though, suggest that the man who wrote "Second Hand News" and "Go Your Own Way" has indeed been thinking big of late: In "That’s the Way That Love Goes" he layers an insistent vocal melody over a zippy fuzz-pop groove, while "Gone Too Far" has the lush light-rock feel of Fleetwood Mac’s radio-bait late-’80s phase. Stand by to see what these "Seeds" grow.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★ Stars
Elysa Gardner
USA Today

Buckingham has, happily, been recording at a steadier pace in recent years. Seeds is his third solo album since 2006 and, like its predecessors, is both intricate and supremely listenable. The Fleetwood Mac guitarist remains one of the most lyrical musicians around, fashioning arrangements that veer from gentle beauty to edgy effervescence. His melodies have a similar pungency. 

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★ 1/2 Stars out of 4
Greg Kot - Music critic Chicago Tribune

In the increasing down time between Fleetwood Mac tours and albums, Lindsey Buckingham has become unusually prolific as a solo artist, doubling his career output in the last five years by producing three albums. The latest, “Seeds We Sow” (Eagle Rock Entertainment), is essentially a one-man-band affair, with Buckingham donning his mad-scientist lab coat to orchestrate mood swings on voice, guitar and percussion. 

Unencumbered by the commercial and ego demands in Mac, Buckingham affirms his talent for turning eccentricity into twisted pop songs. He tackles big themes: how time reveals consequences; the grudging arrival of enlightenment. He favors undulating guitars, voices woven into choirs, a shimmering sense of space. Not that he’s gone soft. Instead, he’s restless, anxious, as exemplified by the protagonist in “Stars Are Crazy” who awakens in the middle of the night to torture himself with questions he can’t answer.

The turbulence lurking just beneath the surface crashes through on “One Take,” a nasty song about a despicable character (A politician? A rock star?  Buckingham himself?) who’s “got a publicist who covers up the avarice.” The jumpy beat gives way to a lovely vocal interlude, only to have Buckingham shatter the fine china with a crazed guitar solo.

Buckingham has a knack for disrupting beauty, intruding on the serene. A deceptively hushed vocal brings “Seeds We Sow” to a seething finish. Tense guitar-playing and furtive percussion overtake “In Our Own Time.” And even as mortality closes in on “End of Time,” the narrator still can’t let go of the lies and hostility that wrecked a relationship.

A cover of the Rolling Stones’ “She Smiled Sweetly” makes for a particularly apt closer. The guitarist is a huge fan of the Stones’ mid-‘60s pop era, a time of gloriously jaded singles and social commentaries. He plays “She Smiled Sweetly” as a sparse, haunted, 3 a.m. reckoning, exhaling the lines as if he were expiring. “Don’t worry,” the song’s femme fatale advises as the narrator stresses out, his fate sealed.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - Seeds We Sow ★★★/5
By Will Hermes
Rollingstone Magazine

Lindsey Buckingham's 2008 Gift of Screws, assembled with some of his Fleetwood Mac compadres, was a shockingly good set from a dude who hardly needed to prove anything. This self-released and -produced LP is a true solo affair. The best moments - the title track, the Rumours-echoing "Rock Away Blind" - show a sweet guitar picker, a haunting high-tenor and an unmistakable melodic touch. But the recording suffers from thin, uneven sound and, on tracks like "Stars Are Crazy," a surfeit of muddling reverb. Sometimes a man needs to go it alone, but sometimes it's good to bring your buds.

 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM New Album "Seeds We Sow" + DVD
On 5 September 2011, Eagle Rock Entertainment is delighted to release “Seeds We Sow” [Cat No EAGCD448], the new studio album from Lindsey Buckingham, his first since “Gift Of Screws” in 2008. “Seeds We Sow” is an excellent, new collection from the revered producer, songwriter, singer and guitarist of Fleetwood Mac.

This album release will be followed by release of a new live concert DVD & Blu-ray in October, featuring tracks from the new album plus classic solo and Fleetwood Mac tracks from across Lindsey Buckingham’s incredible career.

The album is a showcase for his distinctive guitar picking style and instantly recognizable voice. The songs cover a broad spectrum from the simple guitar and vocals of the opening title track through the rockier style of “That’s The Way Love Goes” to the more complex arrangement and harmonies of “When She Comes Down”.

As on previous solo albums, there is also a cover of a little known Rolling Stones track “She Smiled Sweetly”, which first appeared on the Stones’ 1967 album “Between The Buttons”. Lindsey Buckingham recorded “Seeds We Sow” in his home studio in Los Angeles and played the majority of the instruments himself, as well as mixing and producing.

Tracklisting
1) Seeds We Sow
2) In Our Own Time
3) Illumination
4) That’s The Way Love Goes
5) Stars Are Crazy
6) When She Comes Down
7) Rock Away Blind
8) One Take
9) Gone Too Far
10) End Of Time
11) She Smiled Sweetly (Rollingstone cover)

A new Lindsey Buckingham album is always to be treasured and “Seeds We Sow” fully lives up to the high standards he has previously set himself, both as a solo artist and with Fleetwood Mac.
_______________________________________________

 April 22, 2011
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Debuts 6 NEW Songs in Live Performance

Lindsey played the Saban Theatre April 22nd - he debuted 6 NEW songs from his upcoming album. Song titles lifted from the Setlist photo... These could be abbreviated on the setlist:
  1. In Our Own Time
  2. Illumination
  3. Stars Are Crazy
  4. End of Time
  5. That's The Way Love Goes
  6. Seeds We Sow


APRIL 10, 2011
DVD News: Update on Lindsey Buckingham's New Album!
Brett Tuggle, Lindsey Buckingham,
Walfredo Reyes & Neale Haywood
Walfredo Reyes Jr. Drummer for Lindsey Buckingham while touring solo recently posted on his Facebook Page with photos that he was at Center Staging rehearsing for a LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM DVD! saying that it's going to be a really great DVD of Lindsey's NEW CD coming out... and that they hope to tour around the fall!!

No further details were given on whether this is a documentary type DVD that they are rehearsing for or a live performance they plan to film... But in any case to not only have a new Lindsey CD in the works for release this year, but to also have a DVD" This is just way beyond more then expected!

Jokerstyle Productions could be involved in the DVD filming.  Back in March, they posted on their Facebook page a few details on them filming Lindsey's rehearsals.

Next up for Lindsey is he is to receive the Golden Note Award for lifetime achievement from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) at ASCAP's sixth annual 'I Create Music' expo being held from April 28 to April 30 at LA's Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.  His award and interview that he'll give will take place April 29th.

April 11, 2011
Journalist for Reuters - Dean Goodman posted on Twitter today the following:
"Just got off the phone with Lindsey Buckingham, his next album will be reminiscent of 1992’s Out of the Cradle"
Interesting!
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MARCH 22, 2011
Lindsey Buckingham Teams Up With Jokerstyle Productions...

Lindsey Buckingham. Photograph by: Jokerstyle Productions...
Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac - Studio interview & solo album documentation - 2/11 (Azoff)
Alex Castino an Independent Videographer & Editor with Jokerstyle Productions today posted on Twitter that he's filming Lindsey's Solo Rehearsals in LA... You read that correctly... REHEARSALS!  Obviously Lindsey is gearing up with something... The production co. looks as if they put together promotional videos similar to the ones we saw for his Gift of Screws album where Lindsey is sitting there speaking about each song... It's also possible that Lindsey is compiling footage for a sort of "making of" doc to go along with the album that's expected sometime this year...

Over on The Jokerstyle Productions Facebook Page, it appears they've been working together since as far back as the latter part of February... Check them out on Facebook... More details are to come!












Album/DVD Timeline: Here's What We Know
October, 2010 (updated as new info became available)

It was reported that Lindsey Buckingham was working on a new studio album and it was reported shortly there after on his official website that it was expected in early 2011. Later reports suggest a possible mid to late year release.  It was confirmed in April the album would be released on September 6, 2011 (North America) September 5th Internationally.
  • December, 2010 - Lindseybuckingham.com gets a makeover.
  • February 7, 2011 we find out that Lindsey was photographed by photographer Jeremy Cowart, with Jeremy confirming via Twitter that the photos were for the new album. (See post)
  • It was reported the week of Feb 25, 2011 that the new albums promotion will be handled by Lenny Beer Editor in Chief Hits Magazine, www.hitsdailydouble.com.
  • February, 2011 it was revealed by Jokerstyle Productions that they had been working on documentary footage with Lindsey for the new album.
  • A February, 2011 Mixonline article on Lindsey revealed that his new album was tentatively titled "Seeds We Sow".
  • April 12th it was reported that Lindsey would perform a one off show in Beverly Hills April 22nd where new music from the new album would be played.  He would go on to play 6 new songs from the album. Billboard Magazine
  • April 19th ahead of the Beverly Hills show, Jokerstyle Productions filmed rehearsals at the Saban Theatre. 
  • In April the title of the new album was confirmed "Seeds We Sow".
  • May 17, 2011 The first 2 live solo dates are announced and appear online - Las Vegas and Towson, MD. More dates in the days ahead would be revealed on-line suggesting a national tour was coming together.  By June 13th the full 31 city itinerary would be in place.
  • It was revealed in early June that Lindsey would take part in the Triple A Conference being held in Boulder, CO August 10-13.  It was later revealed that he would be performing during the Awards Brunch taking place on the last day August 13th.
  • It was revealed June 13, 2011 via press releases that the album would be self-released on September 6th in North America (Sept 5th internationally) with the first single being "In Our Own Time".  It was later discovered that the album would be distributed by Eagle Rock Entertainment for North America and PIAS for Europe.  The 11 song tracklist was also revealed June 14th.
  • Also confirmed via press release in June was the release of the DVD component of the album first talked about by Jokerstyle Productions back in Feb/March.  The DVD is scheduled to be released a month following the album release (October) containing live footage (most likely the live footage filmed at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA on April 22, 2011) and behind the scenes/back stage documentary style footage that Jokerstyle Productions worked on earlier in the year.
  • A 31 city North American tour was announced June 13th and will commence September 9th all in support of the new album.  The tour was expanded extending into November and December with UK and Ireland dates added in December.
  • June 29th SPINNER Premiered the song "Seeds We Sow" with a free download of the title track from the album.
  • It was revealed in early July that Lisa Dewey co-wrote "Stars Are Crazy" on the new album with Lindsey and that it will also be part of the DVD "Lindsey Buckingham Live at Saban Theatre", that was filmed in April.
  • Barry Ehrmann of Enliven Entertainment tweeted today (July 28, 2011) that he was delivering Lindsey Buckingham DVD for release... No other info available.  Enliven specialize in post concert production. 
  • August 10th it was revealed that "When She Comes Down" Would be the lead single in the UK from Seeds We Sow.  The track was made available August 21st as a 2 track download on AmazonUK, the album version and the radio edit.


    • Songs From The Small Machine Live In LA DVD will be released October 31st in Europe, November 1st in North America.
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