Lindsey Buckingham - Unbroken Chain

Relix Magazine - September / October 2008
Lindsey Buckingham - Unbroken Chain

Lindsey Buckingham: “Fleetwood Mac still have a lot to say”

MusicRadar.com
The MusicRadar interview
by: Joe Bosso

Monday September 29, 2008

“Rumours was like climbing Mount Everest,” says Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham. “Once you’ve done that, you can’t go any higher. You just have to find other places to go.”

And in the three decades since the release of that worldwide favorite (which has racked up sales of over 30 million copies), Buckingham has indeed followed his own erratic muse. There have been band breakups, reunions, solo albums, and a general understanding that Fleetwood Mac will only come together only when the mood is right.

“We’ve been through it all,” Buckingham says. “I think the fact that we’re still standing is proof of how strong our bond is. It’s taken a while to get to this point.”

Buckingham states that 2009 will be a Fleetwood Mac year, but before he reunites with the band he’s on the road to promote his strongest solo effort in years, Gift Of Screws.

Back to the amps

Unlike 2006’s Under The Skin, which was a largely acoustic work, Gift Of Screws is a more rocking affair. “It just felt right,” says the guitarist. “For me to put out Under The Skin II wouldn’t have made any sense. It was time for me to amp things up again.”

While the new album is resplendent with moments of ethereal beauty and intensity - and virtuosic fingerpicking that will drop jaws to the floor - there are also cuts that recall the Fleetwood Mac at their most rhapsodic. Not surprisingly, on these songs, Wait For You and The Right Place To Fade, Buckingham is backed by one of the finest rhythm section in rock, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

Lindsey Buckingham recently sat down with MusicRadar to discuss Gift Of Screws and to give us the lowdown on Fleetwood Mac.

“It’s been a twisty little road for the band,” Buckingham admits. “But nowadays things are a little easier and the line is a lot straighter. To be in this place is quite a relief.”

Lindsey Buckingham: Q&A

How does Gift Of Screws relate to your last solo album, Under The Skin? Could you have released this one without having released that one first?

“I could have. In fact, Warner Brothers would have much preferred this one. [laughs] When I turned in Under The Skin, their general response was ‘Yeah we’ll put it out, but don’t expect us to do too much.’ But Under The Skin was an approach I’m very interested in, which is to take the kind of energy that a single guitar and voice have and apply the manner in which they succeed on stage in a studio situation.

“So I would use one or two guitars and have them do the work of the bass and drums and lead guitars pretty much throughout. I was very happy with that album. In retrospect, it functions as an opening act for Gift Of Screws.”

You went through many years between solo releases, but Gift Of Screws and Under The Skin happened in rapid succession. Is this the sign of a new wave of productivity?

“To some degree. Some of that is reflective of my personal life, and a certain stability that I have been able to find, having gotten married and having had children. But it also is about the fact that I put a three-year boundary in terms of Fleetwood Mac. I basically said, ‘Guys, I need these three years to do solo work and tour. But the band has had a pattern of coming into the picture anyway. [laughs]

“That’s happened several times, the most recent being when I was poised to release a solo album and the band wanted to record, and so almost all of my solo material got folded into the 2003 album Say You Will. And I’ve just kind of made it under the wire here because I think Fleetwood Mac may start rehearsing some time in January.”

The return of Fleetwood Mac

Are Fleetwood Mac going to record an album as well as tour?

“We’ll do some dates and get comfortable again. And assuming all goes well, we’ll make an album and then tour. So we have a rough, long-term sketch going and everyone’s very excited about it. I think Fleetwood Mac still have a lot to say musically.”

Tell me about Sheryl Crow’s supposed involvement at one point. Did you guys rehearse with her?

“No. [laughs] That whole thing has been blown up so far out of proportion to anything that was real. The reason that there was even any consideration in bringing in someone like Sheryl was that Stevie, having gone through a tour in 2003 without Christine McVie, missed that female camaraderie on stage, and so she was looking for someone else to kind of share that with.

“We’re all acquainted with Sheryl and Stevie brought up Sheryl’s name. I was fine with the idea, hypothetically speaking. I did have some private reservations about it that I didn’t voice, like, ‘Hmmm, are we now going to be doing Sheryl Crow songs in a Fleetwood Mac set?’ [laughs] That would be something of a mixed message. So the idea sort of sat there and there was no decision on it.

“Then Sheryl had an album come out and, as I understand it, during interviews she took it upon herself to announce it to the world that she was joining Fleetwood Mac! [laughs]

“That was something I was distanced from, but I guess it bothered Stevie a great deal. It was weird, and I think it led to Stevie having a bit of friction with Sheryl. Plus, Sheryl then realized that we weren’t just talking about 40 dates; we were talking about three years. So, after that…it just kind of went away.

“To me, the best way to approach Fleetwood Mac is to take the four core people and work on our dynamic, and there are many positives to that. I think this is going to allow Stevie and I to explore a lot, musically and emotionally.”

How do you and Stevie maintain a relationship? She’s said in interviews that you’re still the great love of her life. Does that make you uncomfortable?

“One of the things about Fleetwood Mac is, when we’re not together, we don’t talk a lot or keep in touch. We keep a healthy distance. But a good part of what we need to approach this time around is the dynamic between Stevie and me. It’s intense. We’ve been down a long road and we’ve known each other since we were about 16. We need to honor that and dignify that story, and I think that we’ll do that on our next recordings.”

Guitars and production

On the new album’s song Great Day, you have a wonderful mix of acoustics, and you play a blazing electric solo. What guitars did you use?

“I use a Rick Turner Renaissance gut-string for playing those little bluesy kind of drop-D riffs. The solo is the normal Turner stage guitar. I like that song a lot because it’s almost like a potpourri of everything that follows on the album.”

Tell me about the Rick Turner guitar, your mainstay instrument. When did you start using it and what do you like about it?

“It was brought to me probably after Rumours and during the making of Tusk. Its funny, because I don’t play with a pick, and before joining the band I had used a Telecaster which was appropriate for my playing style, and yet the Telecaster didn’t blend with the existing sound of Fleetwood Mac - the fatness of Christine and John’s instruments. So I had to switch over to a Les Paul to get the tone that seemed to work. A Les Paul is not a very good fingerpicking guitar, though, so I asked Rick to make me something that was somehow a cross between a Les Paul and a Telecaster. The guitar he came up with delivered in every area and it’s worked for me since.”

On the song Time Precious Time your fingerpicking is unbelievable. Are there any particular exercises you practice?

“I don’t practice per se. I learned to play on my own, taught myself how to play. I’ve never really had a lesson and I don’t read music. So all the stuff that I do doesn’t come from the normal set of disciplines that they teach you where you sit down and run through scales for a particular number of minutes a day.

“I’m not that knowledgeable with the guitar - I just find ways that are pretty creative, but it’s all within the framework and the limitations of what I can do. As they say, it’s not what you got, it’s what you do with what you got.

“On that song, the actual finger pattern of the right hand is just an arpeggio back and forth between the thumb and three fingers. It sounds like a waterfall to me - that was the idea, at least. In order to get that, I had to find a tuning that was specifically geared towards the notes that I wanted to use and then to find the new thumb notes that needed to be used with those, which were a root and a fourth.

“I figured out a tuning that was more or less open so I didn’t have to do a lot of fretting. And then I taught myself the positions all the way up and down the neck that would that would get to those things. It was an interesting exercise.”

Some of the sounds on the album recall the edgy production techniques from Tusk (1979). Your fascination at the time with punk and new wave was a very big deal. Did that have a negative impact on the band?

“Yes and no. I always made the joke that I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Warner Brothers first put Tusk on and listened to it in their boardroom as a follow-up to Rumours. That was an interesting, defining moment for me. The idea of subverting the formula that led to the success of Rumours, because clearly we were poised to follow that same formula to try and recreate the same success.

“And yes, a lot of new kinds of music had flooded in during that time and I was quite intrigued by a lot of it and loved a lot of it and it reinforced a lot of my belief system anyway.

“For me, it still defines the way I think, which is to try and follow your own instincts and not the expectations of external forces that may be wanting you to do certain things for the wrong reasons.

“In terms of the band, it did have a negative impact in a way. There was kind of an arc in the whole process where they were a little bit alienated from what was going on because at first I was working at home and bringing stuff in, and I think they were a little bit threatened by the lack of status quo at that point. As the album unfolded and people became aware of what it was I think everyone got pulled into what it was and got enchanted by the fact that it was different and experimental.

“Of course, when it didn’t sell 16 million albums there was a backlash from within the band. Basically, it became, ‘Well, we’re gonna put it back on track and work in the manner in which we made Rumours.’ If you want to call that an in adverse effect on the band I guess you could.”

How do you feel now about the belated regard to Tusk? Now people are calling it a masterpiece…

“All of those events never affected my feelings on the album and what it was. It only affected my feelings for the politics and it gave me a little sense of disappointment in the sense that I guess I was feeling at the time. It drove in the point that not everyone in the band were doing things for the same reason. But that’s fair enough too because Fleetwood Mac as a fivesome was a very unlikely group of people to be together in the first place.”

On a couple of the new songs on the new record, you’re joined by Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. How aware are you that whenever they play with you, it immediately sounds like Fleetwood Mac?

“I’m a little too close to it to be completely aware. It’s really hard to hear because on some level I am close to it and maybe take it for granted a little bit. But I have so much regard for Mick, especially as a drummer. He’s completely unique. Nobody else in the world sounds like him.”

Of all of your solos, I’m So Afraid is a show-stopper. What goes through your head every night you play it? And how much room for improvisation do you give yourself?

“I’m no Jimi Hendrix. I don’t have the level of proficiency to just let myself go off into something completely different every night. Nor do I think I would want to. I am someone who values musical themes. Someone who feels there should be a consistency from night to night with something. I’m not one of those people that can slam out a completely different solo every night because I don’t have the skill to do that.”

Buckingham and Nicks

Let’s go back to you and Stevie. What do you think would’ve happened if the two of you never joined Fleetwood Mac?

“That’s a good question! [laughs] I don’t know what we’d be doing now. But there was a period of time where we both wondered what would have happened if we had passed on the offer from Mike Fleetwood, because after Stevie and I had done that one album together we started to play some shows in the South - and things started to happen for us there!

“It was weird: we lived in LA and we were starving, but in the South we were headlining for three and four thousand people a night, which is more then I can play to now! [laughs] To be honest, I don’t really don’t have any answers to that question. Who knows where we’d be?”

Fleetwood Mac became famous for the soap opera - the fights, the squabbles, the walkouts. Do you think you have all mellowed with age and the things that used to bother you don’t seem so important now?

“I think one of the reasons why everyone is looking forward to next year is that we’re at a point where we’re feeling the same thing, which is to go out and acknowledge that there is a great deal of caring and love between us and acknowledge that we’ve accomplished something significant; and to acknowledge that everything we do needs to be come from the perspective of us sharing something and enjoying that thing and keeping that particular individual agenda down to a minimum.

“Just to relax into it and have a good time. What I think is going to happen out of that is that feeling is going to translate on stage. So yeah, I think we have gotten there. We’ve mellowed, but we’ll still rock!”

Kansas City Review - September 28th

Back To Rockville

The line can get fine between surprise and mystery; there was some of both Sunday night at the Uptown Theater. The surprise: The size of the crowd — about 600 — which was about half the size of the crowd that showed up the last time Lindsey Buckingham was in town.

The mystery: why this guy isn’t regularly included in discussions of great rock guitarists.

He and his three-piece band played for two hours Sunday night. By all measures it was a good show. Sound was great. Nice light show. Great set list. Very entertaining.

I love the Uptown (which will be rocking tonight), but they could have slipped this show into Liberty Hall or the VooDoo and cut out some of the emptiness. The vibe is always a little off when the place is less than half-full.

Buckingham made the most of it. So did his fans, most of whom came as much for the solo material as they did for the Fleetwood Mac nuggets.

He started with two from his new album, “Gift of Screws,” then three tracks that were encore-worthy: “Trouble,” “Go Insane” and “Tusk,” the evening’s first Mac song.

He followed that with another “Tusk” track — a rollicking, amped-up version of “I Know I’m Not Wrong.”

He sent the band off stage towards the middle of the show for a solo/acoustic set that included one of three “Rumors” tracks, “Never Going Back Again,” and one of Fleetwood Mac’s last hits, “Big Love.” He pulled a couple tracks off the “Fleetwood Mac,” too: “I’m So Afraid” and “World Turning.”

The setlist blended plenty of new material with the old. Some of it dovetailed nicely with those Fleetwood Mac songs, especially “Did You Miss Me” and the “Screws” title track, both of which would have fit in perfectly on “Tusk.”

A lot of folks were familiar with those new cuts, but two tracks off “Rumours” got the biggest response: “Go Your Own Way,” which finished the set, and “Second Hand News,” which opened the encore. “News” sounded particularly sweet.

No matter what album or era he visited, Buckingham showed off his inimitable guitar style — plectrum-free — and prowess all night. His fingers are so quick and nimble, he can play rhythm and lead at the same time. During some of his more elaborate instrumentals, it sounded like two people were playing. He makes it look effortless –like a guy who still spends hours a day practicing. At the end of several numbers, he pulled his guitar to his chest and embraced it, as if it were one of his children.

His “smoke-and-mirrors” light show deserves mention for its simplicity and effectiveness: spotlights bouncing off mirrors, often with heavy wisps of fog drifting by in the background. The sound was as good as I’ve heard in the Uptown recently, even with the place about two-thirds empty. This was a show with a big-name, designed and equipped for a big theater. Too bad it didn’t get the kind of crowd it deserved.

Timothy Finn, The Star

Setlist: Great Day, Underground, Love Runs Deeper, Trouble, Go Insane, Tusk, I Know I’m Not Wrong, Gift of Screws, Never Going Back Again, Big Love, Shut Us Down, Under the Skin, Did You Miss Me, Come, World Turning, I’m So Afraid, Go Your Own Way. Encore: Second Hand News, Don’t Look Down, Treason, Time Precious Time.

[Photo Credit: Top Timothy Fin, Bottom two: Lisa1769]

Stevie's Soundstage Sessions Tracklist Confirmed

Amazon confirms Stevie's Soundstage Sessions cd track listing:

1. Stand Back
2. Crash(Dave Matthews Band cover)
3. Sara
4. If Anyone Falls in Love
5. Landslide (orchestra version)
6. How Still My Love
7. Circle Dance
8. Fall From Grace
9. Sorcerer
10. Beauty and the Beast

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham Gift of Screws Tour Stop #13 - Tulsa

By Brandy McDonnell
Staff Writer.
NewsOK.comPhotos by: katScratch Designs (click for more)

TULSA — A strange and beautiful chemistry exists between Lindsey Buckingham and guitars.

The rock ‘n’ roll legend surpassed his reputation as a musical wizard Friday night at the Brady Theater, blending his potent fingerpicking and keening vocals into a spellbinding performance.

The crowd at the historic theater was woefully small; the show drew an estimated 1,500 fans, leaving the intimate venue only about half full. But they were ardent and loud, wildly worship ping every song, solo and guitar flourish of Buckingham’s two-hour set.

The Fleetwood Mac guitarist/singer/songwriter opened with a pair of songs from his new solo album “Gift of Screws,” released last week. Even those not yet familiar with Buckingham’s fifth solo effort appreciated the throbbing insistence and blazing closing solo of “Great Day” and the pop ditty “Love Runs Deeper.” The latter sounded as if it only needed the three-part harmony of Buckingham, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks to slip neatly into Fleetwood Mac’s oeuvre.

After sincerely thanking the crowd for being there, the black-clad frontman promised more familiar material and delivered two of his biggest solo hits, “Trouble” and “Go Insane.”

He didn’t make the audience wait long for some Fleetwood Mac favorites, putting an eerie, subdued=2 0opening on “Tusk,” then suddenly morphing into the customary pounding rock treatment of the song, which got fans stomping their feet and bobbing their heads.

Buckingham’s fingers danced over guitar strings with seemingly easy precision, but sweat was dripping from his curly hair and bent limply to one side at the end of the raucous “I Know I’m Not Wrong.”

Guitarist Neale Heywood, bassist/keyboardist Brett Tuggle and drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr. accompanied Buckingham with impressive sonic synergy. But the frontman hit one of the show’s high points when he went totally solo for a three-song acoustic set, including the wistful “Shut Us Down” and the Fleetwood Mac standard “Never Going Back Again.”

He illustrated that acoustic doesn’t necessarily mean low-key with a frenzy of flamenco-flavored fingerpicking on “Big Lov e.” He referenced the band’s legendary interpersonal struggles while introducing the song, the first single off 1987’s “Tango in the Night,” “the last album I did with Fleetwood Mac before I went off for a little while to regain my sanity.”

Heywood and Tuggle joined their acoustic guitars to Buckingham’s to give a lush and lovely dimension to “Under the Skin,” and their harmony vocals elevated the mellow ballad “Did You Miss Me,” the first single from the new album.

But the show reached its apex as Buckingham’s guitar wailed and screamed with pent-up emotions on the scorchingly intense “I’m So Afraid,” and then abruptly shifted into the irresistibly bouncy Fleetwood Mac classic “Go Your Own Way.”

For his encore, he kept the crowd on its feet with the rollicking 0Second Hand News” and vibrant “Don’t Look Down.” He could have stopped there, sending his fans home high on adrenaline and nostalgia. Instead, he planned to close with the introspective new offering “Treason,” explaining that “it’s about the lies that we tell each other … and also postulates that there’s something better, which we all know.”

And when the fervent fans coaxed one more song out of Buckingham, he again picked a thoughtful new song, “Time Precious Time.” As his agile fingers moved with an almost magical delicacy over the strings, it proved a fitting choice that allowed the enchantment of the evening to linger.

2 Audio Interviews with Lindsey Buckingham for Gift of Screws

John Soeder of The Cleveland Plain Dealer interviewed Lindsey Buckingham at the beginning of September during his conference calls with reporters on the release of Gift of Screws. The interview is roughly 7 minutes long.

Also, today... and repeating again at 8pm this evening... is an interview with Lindsey at 90.9 KTBG The Bridge in Kansas City.

Gift of Screws Tour Stats (so far)

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham "Gift of Screws" Sound Check with Jesse De Leon

Caller.com
September 25, 2008

Musical greats reclaim identities

Lindsey Buckingham always has struggled. At the beginning of his career, his partnership (and romance) with fellow songwriter Stevie Nicks neither was spectacular nor lucrative. It was their collaboration LP, "Buckingham Nicks," that got the attention of Mick Fleetwood when he was looking for new talent for the ever-changing Fleetwood Mac.

The quirky guitarist would feel increasingly claustrophobic within the framework of Fleetwood Mac, and his departure in 1987 was a bold, assertive step in forging his own musical identity. His solo output, like the ramshackle "Law and Order," the slick "Go Insane," and the severely overlooked "Out of the Cradle" all got critical accolades.

Buckingham has continued a solo career, with 2006's excellent "Under the Skin,: a live album out last year and contributions to the "Elizabethtown" soundtrack.

His latest, "Gift of Screws" (Reprise), has lingered on the shelf for a while. That combination with new material makes for a cohesive collection.

The disc rocks with Buckingham's fiery guitar work; especially the title track and "Great Day." The more introspective tracks like "Underground" and "Time Precious Time" recall some of Buckingham's more memorable solo moments, but "Did You Miss Me" and the nearly perfect "The Right Place To Fade" sound like Fleetwood Mac outtakes. Ex-Mac-ers Mick Fleetwood and John McVie show up on a couple tracks.

The heartbreaking "Wait for Me" and the equally affecting resignation of "Treason" make unapologetic emotional statements. Each track explores opposite ends of romantic connection, with hopefulness at one end of the spectrum and betrayal at the other. It's a pendulum on which Buckingham often has swung, and that's what makes "Gift of Screws" a satisfying but unassuming tour de force.

Lindsey Buckingham has a winner

Thursday, September 25, 2008

GJSentinel.com

In my humble opinion, Lindsey Buckingham's newest CD "Gift of Screws" is without a doubt his finest release to date.

The polar opposite of his last release, "Under the Skin," this CD is mostly a high energy electric offering with a few acoustic gems mixed in.

Let there be no mistake, though, this is a fairly intense and introspective set of songs representing his most potent song writing to date.

All songs on "Gift of Screws" were written or performed by Buckingham with very few exceptions, and the production is spotless.

The album opens with "Great Day," featuring red hot guitar solos that we have come to expect from Buckingham. But here he takes it to another level.

"Time Precious Time" is a dreamy introspective acoustic song that features Buckingham's excellent vocals and his unique ability to strum his guitar like a harp.

"Did You Miss Me" is a very catchy melancholy pop-rock song that may be an ode to his former love, Stevie Nicks, or it could be for his wife of many years, Kristen. Either way it would be an instant classic if it was on any Fleetwood Mac album and would have fit really well on "Rumours."

"Wait For You," the disc's fourth track, is a bluesy rocker that is more like Buckingham's solo work and reflects his views on getting older and less independent.

"Love Runs Deeper" is a classic Lindsey-era Fleetwood Mac rocker with terrific lead guitar work and, not so coincidentally Mick Fleetwood and John McVie on drums and bass, respectively.

If this song is not about Stevie Nicks then explain these lyrics to me, "I loved you little child, how you mystified," and "Black Angel can't be alone."

"Bel Air Rain," the album's sixth track is a lovely laid-back song featuring Buckingham's virtuoso acoustic guitar work. The introspective song is about being contented and more patient and relaxed by taking life as it comes at this stage of his life.

"The Right Place to Fade" is another introspective song about the good fortune of being able to realize what is most important in his life and how to appreciate it before it is too late. However, this song is a rocker with a freakishly wicked guitar solo at the end.

The title track, "Gift of Screws" is one that I haven't been able to get a handle on yet, but it sure sounds, like they had a lot of fun recording it.

"Underground" is a nice and melodic laid-back delivery for a song that shows his frustrations with the music business and the way in which it is run.

"Did I sell my heart for the dream in my head?" he wonders.

"Treason," the disc's closing track, is a beautiful song about love, hope and redemption with Fleetwood and McVie providing perfect accompaniment.

Everybody needs to know about this great CD. If "Gift Of Screw" was a Fleetwood Mac album it would be its best release since "Rumours," and the press would be all over it.

As it stands, it is Lindsey Buckingham's crowning achievement and one of this year's best albums.

Soundstage Sessions - Stevie Nicks

After months of release dates bouncing around from July all the way to December 31st, it seems that FINALLY Stevie's PBS Soundstage DVD and CD are going to be officially released on October 28th.

The track list for the DVD which is called "Live in Chicago" is similar to the version that PBS released, and is still selling, except this one includes "Dreams". It also includes as a bonus track - "Landslide" with an orchestra. Beauty & The Beast is the only song filmed that night that isn't included with the DVD. It's possible that there were some rights issues that prevent Beauty & The Beast from being on the DVD. Behind Stevie on the screens while she's performing - film footage from the film Beauty & The Beast is being shown. If you saw her in concert in 2007 the same footage played during the closing number of her shows.

The CD versions called "The Soundstage Sessions" and includes Beauty & The Beast which doesn't appear on the DVD - a nice marketing tool!

The cover for the DVD is slightly different then what PBS was selling, same image, just different colour. The CD is the same image without any background enhancements.

The CD and DVD track listing were provided by iamnotafraid from The Ledge. Please note that they haven't been confirmed and are not yet on Amazon .

Stevie Nicks "The Soundstage Sessions" CD

1. Stand Back
2. Crash
3. Sara
4. If Anyone Falls In Love
5. Landslide (Orchestra Version)
6. How Still My Love
7. Circle Dance
8. Fall From Grace
9. Sorcerer
10. Beauty And The Beast

Street Date 10/28/08 Sug. Retail $18.98

_____________________________________________

Stevie Nicks "Live in Chicago" DVD

1. Stand Back
2. Enchanted
3. If Anyone Falls In Love
4. Rhiannon
5. Crash
6. Dreams
7. Sorcerer
8. The One
9. Gold Dust Woman
10. I Need To Know
11. Circle Dance
12. Landslide
13. Sara
14. Fall From Grace
15. How Still My Love
16. Edge Of Seventeen
17. Rock And Roll

BONUS TRACK "LANDSLIDE" (ORCHESTRA VERSION)
Street Date 10/28/08 Sug. Retail $19.99

Phone Interview with Lindsey - 103.7 The Mountain

A 5 minute phone interview with Lindsey Buckingham to Radio Station 103.7 The Mountain KMTT in Seattle. Interview took place on September 5, 2008.

DOWNLOAD

Lindsey Buckingham: Official Soundscan Numbers - 1st Week Gift of Screws

Lindsey Buckingham's Gift of Screws was released on September 16th.

It came in at #48 on Billboards Top 200 Albums chart in the US.

First week sales are 9,588

Previous Albums on Billboard and Peak Positions:
Law and Order - Released October 1981

#32 - 24 weeks on

Go Insane - Released July 1984

#45 - 16 weeks on

Out of The Cradle - Released June 1992

#128 - 9 weeks on

Under The Skin - Released October 3, 2006

#80 - 1 week on

Lindsey Buckingham's Return to Rock

Fleetwood Mac leader crafts upbeat new disc, preps tour with the band

AUSTIN SCAGGS

Rollingstone Magazine

In 2001, Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham had the intention of recording a solo album, but then his band showed up. "They said, 'Let's do a studio album!'" says Buckingham. "So the bulk of that material was folded into [2003's] Say You Will." Three years later, Buckingham finally struck out on his own with Under the Skin, a moody collection that highlights his virtuosic fingerpicking. On September 16th, Buckingham released a far more rocking sequel: Gift of Screws, named after an Emily Dickinson poem, is a wide-ranging collection of 10 songs he's written over the past decade. "I told the band that I wanted to be left alone for three years," he says, "so I could follow through with my plan: to put out two albums and to tour behind them."

The past 10 years have been particularly joyful for Buckingham. "There was a period where I was leading a fairly narrow life, focused exclusively on music," he says. "The past decade has been a revelation to me. Meeting my wife and having three beautiful children has infused another level of enthusiasm and optimism. You can get a sense of that in the new work." While the new disc displays the intensity that marks much of his solo work, there are moments of uncomplicated joy, such as the buoyant opener, "Great Day." And when John McVie and Mick Fleetwood join in on the galloping "Wait for You" and "The Right Place to Fade," you'll be transported to Fleetwood Mac's heyday.

After touring to support Screws through October, Buckingham will reunite with his bandmates again next spring for a tour. In March, Sheryl Crow announced plans to collaborate with the band, but Buckingham says the idea never moved beyond a casual conversation. "If you're bringing someone in just to do Christine McVie's stuff," he adds, "doesn't that sort of degrade it into kind of a lounge act?"

[From Issue 1062 — October 2, 2008]

 

Soundcheck... Lindsey Buckingham

Soundcheck

Lindsey Buckingham

Singer-guitarist

 

Volume 15, Issue 73

Published October 2nd, 2008

By Jeff Niesel

The Cleveland Free Times

 

Originally, Fleetwood Mac singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham was going to release his solo album Gift of Screws a few years ago. But when Fleetwood Mac came calling, he ditched the project and many of the songs ended up on the 2003 Mac album, Say You Will. Buckingham has since retooled the songs for the rock-oriented album, which finally got a proper release (after the initial offering was heavily bootlegged) this month. During a phone interview, Buckingham spoke from his Los Angeles home about the album and its various permutations. Oh yeah, he also had a few things to say about why he's stayed on the roller-coaster ride that is Fleetwood Mac.

I know you probably want to talk about your new album and upcoming tour, but why the hell is it so hard to find that Buckingham Nicks album anywhere?

It's an outgrowth of the convoluted politics in Fleetwood Mac and the politics that have existed in the past between Stevie and myself. If you look at any time period when it might have been retooled and put out on a CD, there have been business interests saying it wasn't the right time. That time has never come about. There has also been a level of inertia in terms of Stevie and myself. The masters are sitting in one of her managers' houses somewhere. I'm sure it will come out on CD. And I'm sure if someone wanted to find it, they would not have too hard of a time finding it. Probably on a commercial level, it will emerge in the next couple of years, I'm sure. You also said there might be a tour behind it.

Who said that? It's on your Wikipedia entry. Haven't you ever looked yourself up?

No. I should, but it's probably pretty bad. You can't be accountable for everything you say. Maybe I said that as a hypothetical. That doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility, but we're a ways away from that.

Is it true you originally planned to release this new album of yours several years ago, but the songs ended up becoming the Fleetwood Mac album Say You Will?

Not this album per se but a grouping of songs that was to be called Gift of Screws. The song "Gift of Screws" didn't make the cut on the Fleetwood Mac album because it was too raucous for the fabric of that album. In 2002 or 2003, I was going to put out a solo record, and it's not the first time the band has come in and had something like an intervention. That was cool.

When you're in a band, you think of the whole as much as you can. The material gets out to more people that way, too. So the greater part of the album got folded over into the Fleetwood Mac album Say You Will.

I like the fact that the new disc rocks much harder than Under the Skin. What prompted you to turn up the volume?

Well, nothing in particular. The last one, Under the Skin, was something I had been wanting to do for awhile. There are songs that I do onstage like "Big Love" that are single guitar and voice. I was interested in exploring that kind of approach on a record. That album was as much about what I wasn't doing. It was just one or two guitars and no bass or drums. When I came to begin work on new songs, I didn't think it would be as rocky. It seemed to want to go that way. You have to follow where it takes you.

There aren't any songs about going insane or getting in trouble, so would you say this is your most optimistic album?

It could be. I wouldn't want to admit that to the public. I haven't made comparisons. But if you want to look at the personal life behind it, it was made during a time when I was the happiest I have ever been. I watch a lot of my friends who were married and have children and not be there for them. I didn't want to do that and was lucky enough to find a beautiful woman and have three children. That puts a whole new face on every aspect of your life. It has not panned out that the children are the death to the artist as someone once said. It's been a great thing. You took the term "gift of screws" from an Emily Dickinson poem. What do you like about the phrase?

You know, it's not any one thing. I thought that phrase was very intriguing. You can take it in a sexual way or in the way I think she intended or as a school of hard knocks. I am not a scholar of Emily Dickinson. I had a pocket book of her poems. As you know, we're always looking for stuff we can rip off. I read the words to that line. It took me a few times to get a sense of what that meant. I don't know if I got it right. What I took from it is that there's a rose that grows, but what makes it more worthwhile is that someone has a vision for what to do with the natural gifts and has to pick the rose and the petals and turn the screws of the press to make the oil and the perfume. In order to get something out of it, you have to put some love and effort into it.

You've said "The Right Place to Fade" is about Fleetwood Mac. Yet the band hasn't entirely faded because you're working on a new album with them, right?

It wasn't about that part of the fade, and I don't know if it's particularly about Fleetwood Mac. It certainly resonates with how Fleetwood Mac plays into one's way of looking at the world. Speaking only for me, there's been a long period of time between 1980 and the time I left the band, which wasn't the best time for me. There was residue that I held onto for years. I pared my life down quite narrowly to just music. The music didn't provide the nurturing for me that I needed, and I pulled myself into a monk-like environment. That's what I'm talking about with the fading. I'm saying, "Let's fade that scene down."

Given all the behind-the-scenes history of Fleetwood Mac being common knowledge, is there anything you'd change if you could?

Oh, not really. I'm just glad that none of that happened in the environment we are now in. With the tabloids, we would have been exploited to death. I'm happy we went through that. It's unique and to some degree almost heroic that we were able to get through it, even at the cost of our emotional health at times. There's something to be said for pushing forward with that whole thing.

Do you ever wish you had stuck with water polo?

You know, it's funny, I live in Brentwood, and there's a restaurant across Sunset that I often go to. All the owner has is pictures of himself as a water-polo player. He's Italian and was on the water-polo team. I think, "He must not like the restaurant business much." No, water polo was pretty much a dead end for me.

Former Fleetwood Mac leader goes his own way

by JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
9/24/2008

Tulsa World

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is warming up for a worldwide tour. He's unleashed his second solo album in as many years, "Gift of Screws," and is polishing up a canon of Fleetwood Mac favorites for this Tulsa tour stop.

None of his solo work sold anything approaching the level of Mac's "Rumours," but they are distinguished and layered pop albums. His contribution to the movie National Lampoon's Vacation, the infectious "Holiday Road," has become an indelible cult classic.

Buckingham's solo albums

"GIFT OF SCREWS"

Release date: Sept. 16, 2008. Including: "Great Day," "Wait for You," "Gift of Screws," "Bel Air Rain." Features Fleetwood Mac band mates John McVie and Mick Fleetwood.

Said Buckingham in a recent interview: "This is probably the most rock 'n' roll album I've ever made. It probably sounds like I'm getting ready to break a string here and there."

Billboard magazine agrees, saying of the album (and of his current tour), "It's a louder, sunnier affair than 2006's intense, partly acoustic 'Under the Skin,' with a more rock 'n' roll vibe that su0used the entire show." Parts of an untitled album he was working

on were "pilfered" for Fleetwood Mac's 2003 release, "Say You Will."

"LIVE AT THE BASS PERFORMANCE HALL"

ReleasedMarch 2008. CD + DVD set was recorded in January 2007, in Fort Worth.

That stellar concert included songs from "Under The Skin" and "Holiday Road" as well as FleetwoodMac favorites such as "Go Your Own Way."

"UNDER THE SKIN"

Released 2006. Including: "To Try for the Sun," "Under the Skin," "Down on Rodeo."

It peaked at No. 7 on the Top Internet Albums chart in 2006. It was anointed in Uncut magazine's "50 Definitive Albums" and MOJO magazine's "50 Best Albums."

Wrote Rolling Stone: " 'Under The Skin' is a mesmerizing return to the side of Buckingham that birthed the proto-indie-pop strangeness of 1979's 'Tusk.' "

"OUT OF THE CRADLE"

Released 1992. Including: "Spoken Introduction," "Surrender the Rain," "All My Sorrows."

Crooned Rolling Stone: "Lindsey Buckingham lives in a wonderful world of sound, an aural playground where guitars shimmer and shriek, voices chirp and flutter and almost anything is possible for those who understand the magic of the recording studio."

"GO INSANE"

Released 1984. Including: "IWant You," "Slow Dancing," "Bang the Drum."

Often referred to as one of the most underrated albums in modern pop history, again Rolling Stone sang, " 'Go Insane,' Buckingham's second solo album, is a singular mix of '70s sheen and '80s edge, enormously inventive in every respect."

"LAW AND ORDER"

Released 1981. Including: "Mary Lee Jones," "Shadow of the West," "I'll Tell You Now."

The critics at Rolling Stone are unanimous: "Based on the evidence of 'Law and Order,' however, Lindsey Buckingham's biggest contribution to Fleetwood Mac has been his unabashed fondness for pop music at its most hokey and hooky – not just sculpting vocal harmonies but carefully designing each phrase to tickle some pleasure center, no matter what the lyrics happen to say."

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM

When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Brady Theater, 105 W. Brady St.

Tickets: start at $50, available at tulsaworld.com/GetTix or by calling (866) 443-8849. Each pair of tickets also wins a free "Gift of Screws" CD. Details at tulsaworld.com/LindseyBuckingham

Gift of Screws - LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM (Billboard Review)

Gift of Screws - LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM (Billboard Review)

 

Billboard Magazine

 

Lindsey Buckingham once sang about "Never Going Back Again," but he's backtracked—sort of—on his fifth solo album. "Gift of Screws" picks up where the rock auteur left off in the early days of this decade, before he was lured back into the Fleetwood Mac fold for 2003's "Say You Will." Mac minions will find this electric-flavored, band-sounding album pleasing, but there's also the avant ambience that's Buckingham's stock in trade. So while something like "The Right Place to Fade" knocks off Fleetwood Mac's "Second Hand News" and the title cut (one of three recorded with the Mick Fleetwood-John McVie rhythm section) is charging garage rock, "Great Day" sports the stark and primitive sonics of "Tusk" and Buckingham's early solo albums. —Gary

 

Graff

Chart Activity

Charts This week

Australia:

Fleetwood Mac's "The Very Best Of"

Re-enters the Top 50 at #50 (Sept 22nd)

United Kingdom:

Lindsey Buckingham's "Gift of Screws"

enters the Top 75 at #59 (Sept 21st)

Norway:

Lindsey Buckingham's "Gift of Screws"

enters the Top 40 at #17 (Sept 23rd)

The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band

Maui Weekly

A benefit concert for The MACC—plus dancing!

The Maui Arts & Cultural Center announces a special “MACC Benefit Concert” with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band in the Castle Theater, this Friday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. This is a great opportunity for the Maui audience to catch the famous drummer and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac with his talented blues-band members before the band heads off on a 20-city European tour in October!

The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band is comprised of Mick Fleetwood on drums, former Fleetwood Mac bandmate Rick Vito on guitar and vocals, Lenny Castellanos on bass and vocals, and Mark Johnstone on keyboards and vocals. The band was formed in 2007 as an ultimate homage to “the originators” of Fleetwood Mac. Mick wanted to build a band worthy of recreating the sound and emotions he recalled from the first days and first songs of Fleetwood Mac. Always an innovator, Mick wasn’t seeking to copy his original band, but rather pay it tribute by creating something both historically respectful yet new and reinvigorated. The result of this quest reaching back to the beginning and forward to today is the album Blue Again, representing the full circle of Mick’s love and contribution to the blues and the band that launched his career, while making him an iconic figure in music and pop culture.

In August 2008, The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band headlined the Nottodden Blues Festival in Norway. With 40,000 attendees, the band was the instant favorite and received glowing press. This Friday’s benefit concert at The MACC is your chance to catch the band before they leave for their European tour!

Tickets for this special concert are just $25, with all proceeds to benefit the Maui Arts & Cultural Center arts and education programs. All seats are reserved in the orchestra level, and there will be a dance floor in front of the stage! Tickets are available at The MACC Box Office and online, or call 242-SHOW (7469) to charge by phone, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For patron convenience 24 hours a day, purchase tickets online at http://www.mauiarts.org/.

Lindsey Buckingham The Joint Las Vegas, NV September 20, 2008

Lindsey Buckingham
The Joint

Las Vegas, NV
September 20, 2008

The Orpheum Theatre Pics

Lindsey Buckingham
The Orpheum Theatre
Phoenix, CA
September 18, 2008
More Pics

Lindsey Buckingham Humphrey's By The Bay September 16, 2008

Lindsey Buckingham

Humphrey's By The Bay

San Diego, CA

September 16, 2008

More Pics

Fleetwood Mac’s studio mastermind fleshes out his solo sound with a band

By GEORGE A. PAUL
The OC Register

Lindsey Buckingham’s return to the Grove a strong one

Review: Two years since a solo acoustic gig there, Fleetwood Mac’s studio mastermind fleshes out his solo sound with a band.

For the Lindsey Buckingham completist, this was as good as it gets.

During an exceptional, nearly two-hour show Friday night at the Grove of Anaheim, the Fleetwood Mac singer-guitarist-studio-wiz touched upon virtually every facet of his lengthy career. Buckingham’s wife and young children were present, a likely catalyst for his relaxed and chatty demeanor.

Unlike the last tour – which arrived at the Grove in late 2006 – Buckingham indulged fewer guitar showcases alone. (See “Live at the Bass Performance Hall,” released earlier this year, for a fine example of that). His tight three-piece band this time out, including keyboardist-bassist Brett Tuggle (a veteran of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks treks) and guitarist Neale Heywood, rocked plain and simple.

Since Buckingham compositions were continually given over to the Mac, 14 years elapsed between his third solo disc, “Out of the Cradle,” and the mostly acoustic effort “Under the Skin.” But this past week the impressive “Gift of Screws” (a title based on an Emily Dickinson poem) arrived in stores – the veteran musician is definitely making up for lost time.

Buckingham employs a unique, self-taught finger-picking style on electric and acoustic guitars. The result is a distinct sound that can be a wonder to behold live.

In Anaheim, half of “Screws” comprised the 20-song set, kicking off with the churning new “Great Day,” where Heywood, Tuggle and their boss traded overlapping harmonies. (Click here for a complete set list.) Solo hits from the ’80s like “Trouble” and “Go Insane” were played back-to-back, each done in full-band mode. The former had a gorgeous rhythmic sweep; the latter, an almost country-rock vibe with cascading vocals from all three guys.

Evil Buckingham cackles, tribal drums from drummer Walfredo Reyes and ominous keyboards marked a wicked “Tusk,” with Tuggle triggering the USC Marching Band horns. That prompted the first of several standing ovations.

The evolution of 1987’s “Big Love” was described “an ensemble piece before I took leave of the band to relieve my sanity.” Buckingham, 59, said refashioning it for just voice and guitar became a template for future work. “I’d been living a narrow life” until I got married. “Now the song has taken on a sense of irony.” Watching Buckingham’s manic buildup and nimble fretwork on flamenco-styled guitar during that song never gets old.

One of the evening’s oldest tunes was “World Turning” from the Mac’s self-titled 1975 album. It’s been a frequent part of that band’s gigs ever since. The crowd didn’t have to endure Mick Fleetwood’s loony human percussion shtick here, but Reyes’ extended spotlight was clearly a tribute.

Some lighthearted moments occurred during the rarely played “It Was You,” a “rock nursery rhyme written for my kids,” as Buckingham described it. Halfway through the breezy tune, with more cascading vocals, his son and daughter tentatively strolled on stage to add percussion, proud papa beaming throughout.

Buckingham also pulled out the strange and bombastic “Come,” off the Mac’s shamefully ignored 2003 reunion effort, “Say You Will.” It was a “bathroom break” tune when I reviewed them at Verizon in ‘04, but fans at the not-quite-sold-out Grove stayed seated. (I would’ve picked something more melodic off that disc, such as “Bleed to Love Her” or “Steal Your Heart Away,” and given either one a tweak).

“Gift of Screws,” meanwhile, is chock-full of potential adult rock radio hits. The yearning first single “Did You Miss Me?,” with its memorable chorus, came across even better in concert, for instance.

Once Buckingham and company reached the home stretch, the audience was on its feet, wildly clapping along to exhilarating old “Rumours” faves “Go Your Own Way” and “Second Hand News.” All told, Buckingham proved he’s still a force to be reckoned with.

Setlist:
Great Day / Love Runs Deeper / Trouble / Go Insane / Tusk / I Know I’m Not Wrong / Gift of Screws / Never Going Back Again / Big Love / Shut Us Down / Under the Skin / It Was You / Did You Miss Me / Come / World Turning / I’m So Afraid / Go Your Own Way

Encore: Second Hand News / Don’t Look Down / Treason

5th solo album for Buckingham

By Scott Iwasaki
Deseret News
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008

Lindsey Buckingham, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his band Fleetwood Mac back in 1998, said working on his fifth solo album was "effortless."

"When I did my last album, 'Under the Skin,' it was not a rock album," said Buckingham during a phone call from his home in Los Angeles. "There were no lead guitars, no drum and bass.

"With the new album ('Gift of Screws'), I came into it with songs that rocked," he said. "And that set the precedence."

From there, Buckingham let the music take the reins.

"While getting the songs together, there were a few other songs that I had written a few years ago that wanted to be part of the project. So I let them.

"It all came together easily, even though I was laying down tracks in hotel rooms on a little Korg mixer during my last solo tour," he said.

Making a solo album is a musical vacation for Buckingham.

"I don't have to make a CD for money," he said. "That's one of the luxuries I have with Fleetwood Mac.

"When I make a solo album, it's more to be away from Fleetwood Mac and examine the left side of my palette."

Still, Buckingham knows he will always be connected to the Fleetwood Mac machine. And he even has drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie as guests on his new album.

"They are on the recordings of some of the older songs that I had written for the album," said Buckingham. "The album is really a reflection of what I have done throughout my career. And having John and Mick on the album ties that part of my life into the project."
Still, another beauty of making a solo record is not having to answer to anyone but himself, said Buckingham.

"With a band there are politics," he said. "You have to work within a border. And that is challenging."

With that said, however, Buckingham said Fleetwood Mac will be doing some things next year.

"Stevie (Nicks) and I have been talking, and there is some good energy going through the band," he said.

"We've decided that we all need to be nice to each other," he said with a laugh.

Buckingham gets intimate at the Orpheum

by Michael Senft
Sept. 19, 2008
The Arizona Republic

With a new album in stores, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham returned to the Valley on Thursday, Sept. 18 for an intimate, and loud, show at the Orpheum Theatre.

Although he played many of the same tunes and featured the same three-piece backup band, Thursday night was a sharp contrast from Buckingham’s recent Valley shows in ‘06 and ‘07, which were promoting his primarily acoustic Under the Skin album. This tour featured Buckingham in full guitar god mode, peppering his two-hour set with lengthy solos and plenty of rock star heroics.

The most notable difference came on his older solo tunes Trouble and Go Insane. Both songs have been deconstructed into acoustic numbers on recent solo and Mac tours, but they were given full-band electric treatments this year. And the bombastic Mac tunes which were a little subdued the last time around, blossomed into their chaotic glory - the only thing missing from Tusk was a marching band.

Even the solo acoustic Shut Us Down, from Under the Skin, seemed a bit more powerful.

Despite Buckingham’s new CD, Gift of Screws, only hitting stores on Tuesday, most of the audience was familiar with the material, including the maniacal title track and Did You Miss Me which Buckingham noted was his new radio single. He didn’t seem too confident that it would actually get any airplay, however.

Buckingham turned down the volume in the middle of the show, offering an acoustic set which covered such Fleetwood Mac faves as Never Going Back Again. Big Love - a middling Mac tune in its original full-band form on 1987’s Tango in the Night album, blossomed in the stripped-down setting.

After the acoustic interlude, Buckingham plugged back in and deafened the crowd with a brace of heavier Mac tunes. World Turning featured an intricate drum solo from Walfredo Reyes, while Come, from Mac’s 2004 album Say You Will, featured some snarling lyrics and even more vicious soloing.

But the climax was the majestic I’m So Afraid. The tune has been Buckingham’s showcase for 30 years, and he didn’t disappoint, delivering a 10-minute guitar solo that had the entire theater on its feet. The smash Go Your Own Way was almost a letdown afterwards.

After the high-decibel finale, Buckingham brought the crowd back to Earth with a low-key encore set. The Mac classic Second Hand News was performed in an acoustic band setting, similar to his last appearances, and Don’t Look Down , from Buckingham’s 1993 album Out of the Cradle, was a welcome return to his set.

He finished up the show with a final pair of new tunes, the full band Treason and the gentle Time Precious Time. Unfortunately by that point the casual fans were heading for the parking lot, having heard the Mac hits they came for.

A shame really, because those final songs provided the perfect coda to a spectacular show.

Setlist:
Great Day
Love Runs Deeper
Trouble
Go Insane
Tusk
I Know I’m Not Wrong
Gift of Screws
Never Going Back Again
Big Love
Shut Us Down
Under the Skin
Did You Miss Me
Come
World Turning
I’m So Afraid
Go Your Own Way
Second Hand News
Don’t Look Down
Treason
Time Precious Time

Love Runs Deeper (Track Commentary)

Another Track Commentary from Lindsey's Gift of Screws.

"Stevie Nicks: Turning Rainbows into Music into Gold"

Stevie-Nicks.INFO privides us with a glimpse of the Book by Danny Goldberg where he describes how he met and became associted with Stevie...

Danny Goldberg's new book Bumping into Geniuses: My Life in the Rock and Roll Business was released today. Goldberg writes extensively about Stevie, devoting 27 pages to her in the chapter "Stevie Nicks: Turning Rainbows into Music into Gold".....

A Collection of Gift of Screws Reviews

Lindsey Buckingham’s long-in-the-works fifth solo album isn’t a huge departure for the Fleetwood Mac guitarist/vocalist, all skittering, fingerpicked guitar work and vocal overdubs by the Tusk-load.

by Julie Seabaugh
Thu, Sep 18, 2008
Las Vegas Weekly
3.5 Stars


The overdubbed acoustic and Spanish guitars in Time Precious Time are meant to affect a waterfall, and they do a marvelous job. Indeed, the guitar work here is stunning.

by Bill Robertson
The StarPhoenix
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Rating 3 1/2


“Gift of Screws” still showcases plenty of Buckingham’s mesmerizing acoustic finger-picking but there’s also plenty of thump as well, no doubt in part to the guest contributions from his FM mates Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

by Kevin O’Hare
The Springfield Republican
Thursday September 18, 2008


It’s a bravura performance, one in which Buckingham revels in all of his many skills. Those who love him for his studio wizardry will get a kick out of the wicked-cool opening track, “Great Day,” a seamless blending of muffled percussion, kitschy keyboards, spry acoustic fingerpicking, distorted vocals, and a pair of raging electric guitar solos; he’s practically a one-man symphony.

The Hurst Review
September 18, 2998


Don’t let Buckingham’s wasted, sleep-deprived look on the cover mislead you. On this rocking companion piece to his last studio album, the low-key Under the Skin, Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and visionary has never sounded more alive.

BERNARD PERUSSE
Montreal Gazette
September 18, 2008


This is probably Lindsey Buckingham’s finest effort since the heyday of Fleetwood Mac. There’s plenty of nifty hooks and blistering guitar solos here that will send people running for their old copies of Rumours.

Graham Rockingham
Metronews.ca Vancouver
September 18, 2008


Standouts include the lush, reverb-drenched “Underground,” piercing guitar riff-driven “Wait for You,” a jubilant “Right Place to Fade” (think “Second Hand News”; it’s another of the studio wiz’s layered voice extravaganzas), chiming “Did You Miss Me” and the spare, almost gospel-tinged closer “Treason.”

George A. Paul
Inland Empire Weekly
September 18, 2008

Download "Great Day" Free at Amazon.com

Yep! A freebee.... Amazon

Only available until September 22nd.

Lindsey Buckingham - Live Daily Interview

Live Daily
By John Voket
LiveDaily

These days, Lindsey Buckingham has no problem candidly revealing the precarious tightrope walk the level of fame he’s enjoyed with Fleetwood Mac can bring to an artist who constantly seeks his own true creative center.

“Fleetwood Mac has been one of the joys of my life, but that kind of success is a double-edged sword,” Buckingham states in his bio. “You’re under tremendous pressure to sell as much and as often as possible, to become an assembly line, to feed the philosophy, ‘If it works, run it into the ground.’ Artists need to take their time to breathe in and out, to take risks though it may not always be good for business.”

With this week’s release of his latest project, “A Gift of Screws,” Buckingham has produced what may be considered an exhale–a necessary, logical counterpart to a deep inward breath that inspired his 2006 release, “Under the Skin.”

“They do seem to compliment each other,” he observed.

The material on “Screws” represents a combination of elements developed a number of years ago and others that came together in late-night, hotel-room sessions on his last tour, or while working in his home studio. And he said the time was right to “clear out the garage,” because it was becoming uncomfortably full of Buckingham creative possessions.

“As an artist, I’m still, for better or worse, clinging to my idealism and to my sense that there is still much to be said. This album is a culmination of that.”

The new project not only gave Buckingham a chance to reunite with John McVie and Mick Fleetwood on his own terms and on his own turf, but also afforded an opportunity to partner with producer Rob Cavallo, who has put his stamp on material from Jewel to Green Day and the Dave Matthews Band.

In an exclusive interview with LiveDaily, Buckingham discussed assembling his new project, collaborating (or not) with members of his immediate family, and evaluating whether or not he has racked up enough mileage in the music business to pick a hit.

LiveDaily: The advance on “Gift of Screws” suggests a project steeped in contrast; some songwriting and recoding processes are simple–literally done in hotel rooms–and others are complex studio projects. It’s packed with songs full of contrasting instrumentation and rhythms, and, while some material is brand new, some songs have been refined from foundations laid years ago. Yet, at the same time, I understand you are at a pretty happy place in your life these days, so basically none of this is helping us crack the mystique of Lindsey Buckingham.

Lindsey Buckingham: [laughing] Bummer. It’s true, though. You know, I saw a lot of my friends who were not necessarily there for their families. And I wasn’t going to be one of those guys. I was lucky to meet someone after the garbage was all behind me. So having a wife and three children definitely is a major change. It probably doesn’t help the mystique, but it does provide one with a whole different way of looking at the world, which was very necessary for me, having spent many years living in what you might call a ‘post Fleetwood Mac environment.’ There were a lot of walls and focusing on the work and not much else. So it’s been a very satisfying three or four years for me, and, in fact, the last 10 years have been profound.

You’ve got your son, Will, and your wife, Kristen, leaving their mark on the new project. Does that put your two girls in the position of expecting or even pitching you to contribute to something in the future, or do they have more of a “could care less” attitude about the intricacies of dad’s work?

Kristen did contribute lyrics to a couple of the songs. But the thing about Will–he wasn’t really invested in that. He just happened to be in the garage one day when I was recording singing, ‘… great day, great day,’ and I said, ‘What is that?’ He said he just made it up, and I said I [could] turn that into a song. You know, he’s most like me, I think, because he has a very healthy disrespect for the business side of things, and for show business in general, as do the girls. So I don’t think they feel they have to leave their mark in one way or another on dad’s music.

The new album involved old friends and newer influences–Mick and John backing you on some songs, and calling on Rob Cavallo to put his stamp on others as a co-producer. Can you recall how being back in the studio recording beside your Fleetwood Mac mates affected you emotionally, and thus the final outcome on those numbers, versus getting what you were looking for in the final mix of songs you worked on with Cavallo?

You know, I think playing with Mick in particular–John came in later and laid the bass tracks down–if you focus on Mick, we’ve always had a camaraderie of spirit; we’ve always shared that sense of pushing the envelope, and he has a really animal style of playing drums in particular. So, on the title track, I think Mick just felt completely liberated to do what he loves to do best and doesn’t always get to do in the context of Fleetwood Mac, which is to present a complete male energy out there, and to not worry about whether it holds a line in terms of taste or anything else. It’s just a raw, primal expression. It’s something he and I both love to do, really appreciate, and I think he hoped ‘A Gift of Screws’ ended up on a Fleetwood Mac album so that he could have gotten to play it. But we just had a ball in the studio–it was great fun.

Cavallo’s [contribution] came about through a set of circumstances. I think he was looking for a palate cleanser of sorts. He more or less sought me out and we got along very well. He knows a lot more about music than I do. I’m basically a refined primitive. I taught myself to play and I don’t read music, so everything I do is based on instinct. Because of that, he was certainly a help in arranging things. Working with him was a lot of fun, as well. He’s a great guy.

How did getting back on the road behind “Under the Skin” help motivate you to get in there and “clear out the garage,” so to speak, revisiting songs and pieces of songs you had piled up in storage?

Buckingham: I did ‘Under the Skin,’ and that was a certain kind of album–as much about what I didn’t do as I did do. And when I went in to start recording ‘A Gift of Screws,’ with the guys from my touring band, I didn’t go in intending to record such a rock album. But, once we started cutting some tracks, it started going in a rock direction. You know, sometimes you have to go in the direction the work leads you. So, once I realized and was accepting of the lead-guitar role–a certain level of aggressiveness in my interpretation of certain songs–there were these three songs waiting to find a new home, that were meant to include themselves in this grouping.

In your advance, you talk about one of those songs, “Treason,” in terms of history, and the historical juxtaposition of good and evil. How does the apparent optimist in you, the one who suggests we have to believe there is more good in the world than bad, pollinate that message across the widest and most potentially receptive audience?

That’s a really good question. There was a time when music seemed to have much more authority and potency in terms of shaping people’s thoughts. There was a whole social world out there that would listen to music for more than just a diversion. The album was a form that, in many cases, created a certain style of listening. So, I think all you can do is try to be yourself–to try and evolve as a person. To try and not fall prey to forces that would like you to do something other than you believe in.

This goes back to the ‘Rumors,’ and ‘Tusk’ period, when we were poised to follow the expectations of the machinery, to follow the formula as it was perceived. That was to make a ‘Rumors 2.’ And, at that point, there was a line drawn in the sand. I took a lot of chances, and influenced the band to make a very different kind of album. That was a point in time for me that represents a way I still try to think: do what you love to do and, in the long term, it will pay off.

Hopefully, if you can be your own person and you have something genuine to say, just try and get the message out. The way that would translate to, say, Fleetwood Mac in an up-and-coming time is, we all realize we’ve all been down individual roads. And our mantra should be to appreciate each other more as people, and try and get out there and share what we have. You just have to present positive energy wherever you can, even if it’s on a small scale. If a lot of people do that, it tends to add up to something.

Do you think you’ve been involved in the music industry long enough to pick a hit, whether it’s for someone else, or even if it’s your own creation?

I could never do it for myself. I’d probably be better doing it with other people. You know, the definition of what a “hit” is changes. I certainly have a good sense of hearing something, when I feel a chemical reaction about something kicking in that feels right. But I can’t assume that is what will drive other people today. Definitions change, contexts change. I hear a lot of music that makes sense to someone that doesn’t make sense to me.

With that in mind, do you think music consumers, and more importantly, Lindsey Buckingham fans, would pick “The Right Place to Fade,” as the big single from “A Gift of Screws”?

It’s funny, because, when I turned over “Under the Skin” to Warner Brothers, I was very happy with that album because it succeeded on an artistic level–it represented what I had attempted to do. Warner Brothers didn’t hear it; they didn’t even distribute it that well. [Conversely], I didn’t have a particular feeling about “A Gift of Screws,” but, when I turned it in, they seemed to be really enthusiastic about it. I think, as an artist, I have to do my work and then get on to what I want to do live. If they want to pick one song or another song, that’s their job. It hasn’t had a lot to do with what I consider my solo work. I think success comes from the feeling that you have created something. People with certain ears and certain sensibilities will appreciate it, and, beyond that, the rest is not worth wasting your energy on.

WMGK Phone Interview with Lindsey (Sept 17th)

John DeBella (102.9 WMGK Philadelphia) interviewed Lindsey today (Sept 17th) over the phone about Gift of Screws, the tour and the upcoming shows in the eastern side of the US.

Download the mp3 directly from 102.9 

Billboard Magazine Review (Portland Show)

September 15, 2008
Lindsey Buckingham Brings ‘Gift’ To Portland
Jason Cohen, Portland, Ore.
Billboard Magazine

“It’s our third show … this is in support of a new album that is actually not out yet,” Lindsey Buckingham half-apologized, having begun his set with two songs from the disc in question: “Gift of Screws,” due Sept. 16.

It’s a louder, sunnier affair than 2006’s intense, partly acoustic “Under the Skin,” with a more rock’n'roll vibe that suffused the entire show. Last time around, Buckingham’s 1984 hit “Go Insane” got the brooding, slowed-down solo treatment; tonight it was restored to its full sinister pop glory. By the time the stage was flash-bombed with blue lighting for a manic “Tusk,” Buckingham, Neale Heywood and Brett Tuggle had switched out their guitars almost as many times as Sonic Youth — and it was just the fifth song of the set.

The well-drilled band — with Tuggle also playing bass and keyboards, Wilfredo Reyes Jr. on percussion and a full complement of samplers, processors and sound effects — brought everything that Fleetwood Mac could except personality.

That’s what the frontman’s for. As dark and nervous as his music sometimes is (to say nothing of his all-black wardrobe), the 58 year-old Buckingham was unstudied and warm onstage — happy to be playing, genuinely grateful to fill even a small room (the three-tiered Newmark is an especially intimate 880 seats) and sheepish about his place in the business.

“The record company is loosely calling it a single,” he said before “Did You Miss Me,” which is indeed a breathlessly harmonic, super-catchy love song. “I say that because I don’t know what that means anymore. They didn’t make a video.” Other highlights from the new record included the title track, a pure roadhouse stomp, and “Time Precious Time,” a maximalist fingerpicking ballad any Iron and Wine or John Fahey fan could love. It was certainly one of the songs Buckingham had in mind when he refers to “Big Love” as “the template for many things I’ve been experimenting and trying since then.” The 1984 Fleetwood Mac single remains a tour de force of multi-part acoustic guitar wizardry and vocal fireworks.

Best of all was “I’m So Afraid,” a track from Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled album that has become Buckingham’s “Cortez the Killer”: an ominous, exquisitely slow-paced workout that built into a mind-bending and rapturous extended solo. It left Buckingham literally gasping for breath and the crowd ecstatic on its feet.

The perfectly rousing first encore of “Go Your Own Way” and “Second Hand News” seemed anticlimactic by comparison, and when Buckingham returned a second time, the audience was just as happy to hear “Don’t Look Down,” from 1992’s “Out of the Cradle” (”and to think you had to talk me into doing that one,” he said to Tuggle), plus two more songs from “Gift of Screws.” You know you’re still doing great work after 35 years when you can play the hits because you want to, not because you have to.