Review/Pop; A Musically Mad Scientist - Lindsey Buckingham

By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: April 06, 1993
The New York Times

Lindsey Buckingham might be described as the mad scientist of California pop. The singer, songwriter and guitarist who masterminded the gossamer folk-rock harmonies of Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits is a notorious perfectionist in the recording studio. And at Town Hall on Wednesday evening, in a concert that was part of his first solo tour, he worked with considerable success to recreate the layered textures that have made both his Fleetwood Mac and his solo albums models of a certain kind of meticulous craft.

Especially on his solo albums, Mr. Buckingham has applied his wizardry to the creation of tortured psychodramas in which every sigh of pleasure is balanced by a primal scream or a Gothic nightmare. His newest record, "Out of the Cradle," is an autobiographical song cycle describing a midlife crisis with many characteristics of a nervous breakdown.

In introducing songs from the album on Wednesday, the wiry, frizzy-haired singer talked about their personal associations. A brooding acoustic version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "This Nearly Was Mine," which he said was his father's favorite song, prefaced "Street of Dreams," a reflection in which a visit to his father's grave sets off howls of loneliness and despair.

Since Mr. Buckingham plays most of the instruments and sings most of the parts on his own recordings, even to begin duplicating what he does by himself in the studio required a nine-member band. He was joined by four guitarists doubling as backup singers, a drummer, a keyboardist, a bassist and two percussionists.

Even though the sound had an impressive clarity, there was something bizarre about finding the stage of Town Hall jampacked with tons of electronic equipment that dwarfed the performers. This sort of technological barrage befits a heavy-metal concert in which the goal is to create a sonic explosion. But it seemed excessive for an artist as quirky and introspective as Mr. Buckingham.

Pumped up to heavy metal levels, such Fleetwood Mac songs as "Go Your Own Way," "The Chain" and "Tusk" sounded overblown, although they had an undeniable visceral clout. When things quieted down, as in "Street of Dreams" and "All My Sorrows" (Mr. Buckingham's freewheeling adaptation of "All My Trials"), the layered voice, guitar and percussion found a blend that was almost as refined as the texture of the recording.

REVIEW Lindsey Buckingham's First Live Solo Show - The Wiltern

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM

The Wiltern Theatre

Los Angeles

CHRIS MORRIS 

Billboard Magazine March 20, 1993

FLEETWOOD MAC'S onetime axe-slinger/singer /songsmith enchanted an adoring crowd of fans at his first-ever solo show in L.A. proper on Feb. 22. 

Forging a live style that dramatically re-created the opulent studio architecture of his records, Buckingham alternated between solo performances of breathtaking intimacy and full-blown band numbers that

showed off the well-drilled skills of his nine backup musicians.

Performing with always apparent delight, the highly animated Buckingham received a local hero's welcome. He kicked off the evening with richly detailed acoustic versions of "Big Love," the last major hit he penned for his former group, and "Go Insane," the title track from his 1984 solo album. Proclaiming his intention to "reclaim some sense of creativity for myself," he then introduced his truly startling group.

Featuring five guitarists, three percussionists, and six singing voices, the tentet was adept at re-creating the densely layered vocal and instrumental overdubs that have made works like last year's Reprise release, "Out Of The Cradle," such engrossing rococo pleasures.

Buckingham led the group through its stormy paces on memorable Mac oldies like "The Chain" and "Tusk" and solo album numbers such as "Trouble" and "You Do Or You Don't." The concert hit a raging midshow peak with "I'm So Afraid," in which Buckingham constructed one of his few extended solos with near-mathematical precision and heart-halting emotion. 

After this show-stopping display, Buckingham dropped the energy level again with a couple of solo turns, then shifted into high gear again (with the remark, "All these guitars -give me a break! "), rampaging through "Doing What I Can," "This Is The Time" (in which all five guitarists traded furious fours) and the inevitable set-closer "Go Your Own Way."

Buckingham obliged the crowd with a pair of encores that included a spirited "Holiday Road" and a wrenching solo "Soul Drifter." No doubt about it: One of America's best-known studio hermits has acquired the band and the on-stage attitude to deliver his eccentric, ornate pop music totally live. Buckingham's show is one of the best on the boards at the moment.

Lindsey Buckingham's first solo National Tour

Buckingham's Out Of The Cradle Again

Lines Up Dates With 10 -Piece Tour Band

BY CHRIS MORRIS

Billboard March 13, 1993

LOS ANGELES - Warner Bros. is optimistic that a tour by singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham's 10-piece band will ignite fresh sales of Buckingham's much-lauded 1992 Reprise album "Out Of The Cradle." The group, which performed two shows at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., in December and a concert at the Wiltern Theatre here last month, launches the monthlong first leg of a national tour of clubs and medium-sized halls Monday (8) in Solana Beach, Calif. 

On Tuesday (9), the Buckingham band will be showcased on the half-hour VH1 show "Center Stage "; an hourlong version of the broadcast, co-produced by BUCKINGHAM by the cable network and PBS and taped live at WTI'W -TV in Chicago will be aired on the public broadcasting network later this spring. 

Westwood One aired 90 minutes culled from the group's Dec. 10 and 11 Coach House performances (Buckingham's first-ever live solo shows) on its Feb. 27 "Superstar Concert Series" broadcast.  Although two singles from "Out Of The Cradle" failed to chart last year, the company will release a third, "Don't Look Down," within the month to coincide with the tour. Says Buckingham of the tour, "Best case scenario is that we might pump life into the record, and this is basically what [Warner president] Lenny [Waronker] and Warner Bros. would like to do. I think it's to their credit that they're even willing to do that at this point because it would be just as easy for them to say, 'Yeah, go out and do the [tour] leg, and then make another album.' " While "Out Of The Cradle" won wide favor in critical circles it came in 10th in BAM's poll of national critics and 33rd in the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Poll the eccentric pop album stalled commercially following its release last June. 

It spent only nine weeks on The Billboard 200, peaking at No. 128 in August. The first two singles, "Countdown" and "Soul Drifter," failed to hit the Hot 100 Singles chart; the track "Wrong" logged seven weeks on the Album Rock Tracks chart, peaking at No. 23. 

Buckingham had enjoyed some solo success in the early '80s when he was still a member of Fleetwood Mac. His 1981 Asylum album "Law And Order" hit No. 32 and spawned a top 10 single, "Trouble "; that album's 1984 successor, "Go Insane," on Elektra, rose to No. 45.

But Buckingham admits that his past association with Fleetwood Mac may not have done any good for his own distinctly different brand of music: "On the one hand, the name is gonna get your foot in the door, but maybe it's the wrong foot."

Buckingham says that the promotion of "Out Of The Cradle" focused on "normal publicity stuff ... and then we ended up going out for like five or six weeks and doing what I call radio ass-kissing."

Buckingham didn't begin to audition band members until late last summer. He says, "I didn't really expect that the thing would take as long to put together as it did. There was sort of a lag time, which obviously didn't work to our advantage, but I guess better late than never."

The 11-piece touring unit, including Buckingham, which features five guitarists and six singing voices, was designed to parallel the detailed, heavily overdubbed sound of Buckingham's albums that the studio-obsessive musician has essentially recorded by himself. 

He says, "[Rather than] having to paraphrase that [sound] down to the point where that had very little relation to what the recorded idea was, I wanted to get into a position where you had the flexibility to get into at least some level of nuance [on stage] ... It's a level of orchestration that was never possible in Fleetwood Mac."

Waronker says, "He's actually got a guitar orchestra up there, which is something he's talked about for as long as I've known him -maybe not completely seriously because I'm not sure he felt he could do that."

He adds, "The idea of taking his guitar parts and orchestrating them, giving each guitar player a part, really makes it special, and it gives you a little bit more insight into the record, too."

Buckingham is sticking to clubs and theaters during the first leg of his tour because "we need to reintroduce ourselves out there. I'm a little disenchanted with the larger places. I'm kind of interested in getting close, making as much contact as possible."

He says that later dates on the tour will be booked into "slightly larger places."

Even if the tour fails to fire sales for "Out Of The Cradle," Buckingham says his experience with his big band may bring about a change in his record-making style.