Year End Lists.... Stevie Nicks | Lindsey Buckingham Albums and Songs

Published by: @Nickslive nickslive.blogspot.com for Fleetwood Mac News and Reviews

ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE
The Top 25 Songs of 2011
by: Rob Sheffield
Website

10. Stevie Nicks, "Annabel Lee"

The gypsy queen comes back to tell the world who the eff she is, with a lyric by one of her hot dead rock & roll boyfriends, Edgar Allen Poe.

ULTIMATE CLASSIC ROCK
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2011
by: Karen 'Gilly' Laney
Website

#3 "In Your Dreams" Stevie Nicks

The original witchy blonde songstress rates high on our top albums list this year, delivering the kind of quality record we’ve come to expect from her. Stevie’s voice is still superb and though she’s not breaking any new ground here, she’s dancing all over a foundation that she’s worked incredibly hard to maintain. The songs are strong, full of haunting imagery and have enough “ooooohs” to keep the sisters in leather and lace bowing down to the moon. Producer Dave Stewart is successful at keeping Nicks on track as she hammers out another worthy record for the wild at heart.

ULTIMATE CLASSIC ROCK
Top 10 Songs of 2011
by: Joe Robinson
Website

morn #4 "Secret Love" Stevie Nicks

The first single from 'In Your Dreams,' the Fleetwood Mac singer's first solo album in 10 years. She originally wrote the tune for the band's 1977 album 'Rumours,' but it didn't make the album and has been floating around as a bootleg since. The video for 'Secret Love' features Stevie and her teen-aged goddaughter Kelly hanging out in Nicks' own house and backyard. Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart co-produced.

29-95 MUSIC
Top 10 albums of 2011
By Joey Guerra / Music Writer
Website

10. In Your Dreams, Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams was a lovely surprise, a delicately layered collection of lush pop tunes with country and rock flourishes. Producer Dave Stewart (yes, the Eurythmics guy) plays up to Nicks’ vivid tales of ghosts, vampires and gothic romance without getting bogged down in the imagery.

DRAWUSLINES
Top 10 Best of 2011
by Patrick Driscoll
Website

Top 10 Records You May Have Missed While You Were Listening To Bon Iver

9: Stevie Nicks / In Your Dreams

In Your Dreams, Stevie Nicks‘ first truly great solo album since 1981’s Bella Donna, boasts one of the most ridiculous and simultaneously beautiful songs she’s ever sang. If you know the record already, I’m sure you can guess which track I’m talking about. It’s “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)” and if you’re unfamiliar, well then I’ll just say it, it’s a love song about two star crossed vampires. It is wildly absurd and yet Nicks pulls it off and it becomes the record’s most memorable moment not because of its subject matter, but because of its gorgeous chorus. The rest of the record more than lives up to the high of “Moonlight”, becoming one of the most surprisingly cool records released this year. If you bypassed In Your Dreams because you thought it was a disposable late period record from a 70’s relic, rethink your position and get lost in it’s dreamy sweep.

MORNING CALL
Top 10 Concerts
Small venues, classic artists make big impact
By John J. Moser
Website

10. Rod Stewart/Stevie Nicks, April 5, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia: If there's one thing Stewart and Nicks' show proved, it's that time, indeed, marches on. While Nicks turned slower, lighter and — dare I say it, matronly — to adjust for the limitations of voice and age, Stewart barreled forward with a damn-the-torpedoes attitude that made his set far more enjoyable, faults and all.

LONG ISLAND PRESS
Best Music of the year:
Top 50 Alubms of 2011
By Jaclyn Gallucci
Website

#47.  Stevie Nicks – In Your Dreams (Reprise)
Not content to periodically reappear on tour with Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks instead found a viable creative partner with Dave Stewart and production partner Glen Ballard. Nicks came away with her first album in a decade and best solo outing to date.

WASHINGTON BLADE
Notes from the stage
by: Joey DiGuglielmo
Website

Washington is always a big concert town — most major tours have stops here — but this year was especially teeming with gay and gay-friendly big-name musical acts. There was such an abundance of options, some evenings — like July 31 when Dolly Parton was at Wolf Trap and Britney Spears was at the Verizon Center or Sept. 1 when Stevie Nicks was at Jiffy Lube (Nissan) and Olivia Newton-John was in Baltimore — music fans had to make tough choices.

STEVIE NICKS
She doesn’t tear it up like she did in the old days, but what Stevie Nicks lacks in passion and grit, she’s made up for in pitch and finesse. Her “In Your Dreams Tour,” supporting her amazing 2011 new album (her first in a decade), found the Fleetwood Mac singer taking her time, giving her band plenty of chances to shine and balancing a wealth of cuts from the new album with trademark Mac and solo hits like barnburner “Edge of Seventeen” and “Rumors”-era wonder “Gold Dust Woman.”.

POPBYTES
Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2011
by Michael Knudsen
Website

#2 Stevie Nicks In Your Dreams
Stevie Nicks is a fucking legend, no one care argue with that. In Your Dreams is her first studio album in almost ten years, thankfully it was well worth the extremely long wait. It’s a beautifully crafted album that cuts straight to the heart, there’s something so comforting and soothing about her unique voice, if you haven’t checked out this release yet, please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy! Sadly in today’s youth-oriented world, it’s easy for Ms. Nicks to be passed over but I’m telling you this is such a solid album that’s definitely not to be missed.
Essential Tracks:

New Orleans, Italian Summer, For What It’s Worth, Secret Love, In Your Dreams

SOMETHING ELSE
Pop music, Rock music, uncategorized, Year-end Top 10 Lists
Nick DeRiso’s Top Albums for 2011, Rock and Pop Edition
Website

No. 3 - LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM - SEED WE SOW: You keep waiting for Lindsey Buckingham, the old rebel, to soften into middle-aged acceptance, to conform. This wasn’t that record. Credit Buckingham for never trading true emotion for sentiment. Seeds We Sow was as hard eyed as it is musically ambitious. Makes sense. Buckingham, for all of the things he rejects, for all of the things that piss him off and make him play the guitar in a bloody-fingered rage, was never about nothingness. Buckingham’s music, in a move that belied his era, didn’t settle for cheap thrills, quick answers — or something so obvious and easy as nihilism. And, lucky for us, it still doesn’t.

TIME OUT NEW YORK
The best concerts of 2011
By Marley Lynch, Sophie Harris, Hank Shteamer and Steve Smith
Website

Lindsey Buckingham at the Town Hall, Sept 27
Supporting a strong new solo record, Fleetwood Mac’s male lead and fingerpicking demon of a guitarist proved that he still runs on pure raw-nerve emotion.—HS

COVER ME
The Best Cover Songs of 2011
Website

38. Lindsey Buckingham: "She Smiled Sweetly" (The Rolling Stones cover)

Buckingham’s Seeds We Sow went top ten on the Billboard charts – not bad for a self-released album by a man in his early sixties. His take on “She Smiles Sweetly” trades the church-like hush of the Stones’ original for the quiet of a man alone in his room, always haunted after midnight. “Don’t worry,” he whispers, quoting her, and you know he feels her breath on the back of his neck, like a breeze from his beloved Pacific Ocean, and you can hear it brushing the sand from his spirit. – Patrick Robbins

BLOG CRITICS
Blog Critics Music Picks The Best Albums of 2011
By Glen Boyd
Website

Kit O' Toole picks Lindsey Buckingham's Seeds We Sow

Sure, Lindsey Buckingham may be best known for his tenure with Fleetwood Mac. But his 2011 release Seeds We Sow reminds listeners of his unique gifts for songwriting and guitar picking. Whether pondering love and the universe in "Stars Are Crazy," or redemption in "End of Time" and "Gone Too Far," Buckingham impresses with his philosophical musings and sophisticated guitar work. However, he still has the penchant for writing accessible pop and rock. Only he could make anger catchy on "One Take" or the "Second Hand News" sequel "Rock Away Blind" ("I could go crazy without even trying/ Fleeing the scene of the crime," he snarls).

Instead of the slick, almost robotic arrangements of his 80s singles, Seeds We Sow showcases Buckingham at his most intimate and stripped down, revealing his raw talent. "Sliding down the karma slide/ Seems like it never ends," he sings in "End of Time." "When we get to the other side/ Maybe then we'll make amends." Is he discussing his own mortality, or our uncertain times? No matter the interpretation, Seeds We Sow perfectly showcases a superior guitarist, lyricist, and rock 'n' roll survivor. The album demonstrates that sometimes a guitar, voice, and simple arrangements can say more than a full-blown production ever could.

CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE (December issue):
A-Z Best Songs of 2011

"Seeds We Sow" Lindsey Buckingham 

The lush sound of Fleetwood Mac stripped right down and laid bare. It's a haunting ode to the way the fates dictate life's path. It oozes charisma with every note, and highlights how underrated Buckingham truly is.

MAGNET
Best Of 2011: Singer/Songwriter
December 7, 2011
Website

MAGNET’s Hobart Rowland picks the best singer/songwriter releases of the year.

1. RYAN ADAMS Ashes And Fire (PAX-AM/Capitol)
2. IRON & WINE Kiss Each Other Clean (Warner Bros.)
3. LIAM FINN Fomo (Yep Roc)
4. LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM Seeds We Sow (Mind Kit)
5. JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN The Deep Field (Play It Again Sam)
6. A.A. BONDY Believers (Fat Possum)
7. RICHARD BUCKNER Our Blood (Merge)
8. MATTHEW SWEET Modern Art (Missing Piece)
9. STEPHIN MERRITT Obscurities (Merge)
10. BILL CALLAHAN Apocalypse (Drag City)

DARK FORCESS WING
Honorable-mention releases
Website

Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow"

Along with my wife, I awakened to Fleetwood Mac in a major way in 2011. The 1975 self-titled album, Rumours and Tusk have been on constant rotation this year (especially the breathtaking "Crystal", which I've started to think of as proto–Will Oldham). I loved Buckingham's fierce live show, and Seeds We Sow, the solo record he supported at that gig

Read the rest here

REVERB
Best of 2011: Songs of the year
by: Mike Long, Reverb writer
Website

10. Washed Out, “Amor Fati”
9. Lykke Li, “Get Some”
8. Real Estate, “Out Of Tune”
7. A.A. Bondy, “Rte. 28/Believers”
6. Tennis, “Long Boat Pass”
5. Lindsey Buckingham, “Gone Too Far”
4. Antlers, “No Widows”
3. Smith Westerns, “Weekend”
2. Shapes Have Fangs,”The Desert (Has A Place For You)”
1. Adele, “I’ll Be Waiting”

MUSICAL FAMILY TREE
Year-End Lists 2011: Jon's Picks
by Jon Rogers
Website

Top 10 Personal Musical Discoveries in 2011

Lindsey Buckingham was actually a pretty amazing songwriter.  Go ahead and laugh if you must, or try to deny it. But unless you’ve fully digested his songs on Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk or his 1981 solo debut Law And Order, your argument is completely meaningless to me. Discovering these two albums this year made me revisit the other Buckingham-era Fleetwood Mac albums I had only casually listened to in the past (while trying to ignore the nagging feeling that I kind of liked them), and like almost everyone else who is around age 30 and unafraid of being labeled “tasteless”, realized that those albums are incredible, largely due to Buckingham’s songs. In any case, I still hate the theme song to National Lampoon’s Vacation, but I plan to seek out whatever else I can find.

THE MIX
The Top 25 Rock Albums of 2011
by Rhapsody Editorial
Website

7. Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow"

There's something timeless about Lindsey Buckingham's musical vision. Much of this has to do with his fingerpicking and voice; neither has aged all that much since he joined Fleetwood Mac back in the mid-'70s. Recorded and released by the man himself, the thoroughly enjoyable Seeds We Sow feels particularly youthful. Numerous tracks, including "That's the Way Love Goes" and "End of Time," don't sound too different from much of what passes for modern indie pop. He closes out the record with a nice rendition of "She Smiled Sweetly," a deep track from The Rolling Stones' Between the Buttons. [J.F.]

CNET
Top 10 Music Blu-Rays
by Steve Guttenberg
Website

Lindsey Buckingham
“Songs From the Small Machine – Live in L.A.”

This show from earlier this year looks and sounds great, definitely the sort of thing you’ll want to play to wow your audiophile or home theater pals. The opening tunes feature just Buckingham alone on stage, singing and playing guitar, and you really hear his sound filling the old theater. When the rest of the band joins Buckingham the recording’s hard-hitting dynamic range struts its stuff. The set list includes his solo and Fleetwood Mac tunes. The theater’s ambience and the appreciative crowd’s cheers sound utterly natural coming from the surround channels.

ALL MUSIC
Favorite Rock Albums of 2011
by: AMG Staff
Website

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – The Tao of the Dead
Brett Anderson – Black Rainbows
Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See
The Black Keys – El Camino
Blitzen Trapper – American Goldwing
Lindsey Buckingham – Seeds We Sow
Duran Duran – All You Need Is Now
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
John Wesley Harding – The Sound of His Own Voice
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Joe Henry – Reverie
The Jayhawks – Mockingbird Time [pictured]
John Paul Keith – The Man That Time Forgot
The Kills – Blood Pressures
Nick Lowe – The Old Magic
Radiohead – The King of Limbs
Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What
Urge Overkill – Rock & Roll Submarine
Tom Waits – Bad As Me

ACCORDING 2 G
A2G’s Top 21 Songs of 2011
BY: g
Website

“In Our Own Time” by Lindsey Buckingham.  Lindsey Buckingham just gets better with age.  On his latest album “Seeds We Sow,” the songs range from reflective ballads to the rockin’ anthem “In Our Own Time,” which assets, “It wouldn’t make any difference.  We crossed the line.  From the fire we will rise again.  In our own time.”  It’s such an empowering anthem!  It was a toss up between this song and “Stars Are Crazy,” which is a reflective look at questioning yourself.


SAID THE GRAMOPHONE
Best Songs of 2011
By Sean
Website

# 47 Lindsey Buckingham - "Seeds We Sow"
I am not an engineer or a musician but if I had a studio like Lindsey Buckingham's studio, like the studio I imagine Lindsey Buckingham to have, I would never leave my house. Every single dream or wish, I would render in music. I would record a song of true love, of fulfillment, of a holiday in St Petersburg. I build up my friendships with chords, I would say my farewells with reverb. My walls would be lined with golden records, each one with a secret message in the slow fade out.

AVCLUB
Best music discovered in 2011
by: Todd VanDerWerff
Website

FLEETWOOD MAC - "TUSK"
There was a period in the summer months when pretty much all I did was listen to Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk” over and over and over again, for no particular reason. It was a song that got in my head something fierce, and it introduced me to the band’s weird, early-’80s experimental period. I can’t say I like every song out of this period, but it made me think of the group in a new way, and gave me a new appreciation for its ability to craft great hits. Plus, the song features a marching band, and I can’t think of a song featuring a marching band I haven’t enjoyed. (My other favorite discovery from my Fleetwood Mac period? “Silver Springs,” a Rumours outtake that apparently everybody but me knew about already.)

INDIE ALBANY
Top 20 Albums of 2011
2011: THE BEST OF THE REST
BY J. ERIC SMITH
Website

Lindsey Buckingham, Seeds We Sow: As always, Buckingham delivers thrilling finger-picked guitar, terrific melodies, and sweetly sung, richly-layered vocals. It’s a shame he has to hang out with Stevie Nicks to get people to pay the attention to him that he should garner on his own.

NIPPERTOWN
Best of 2011
Greg Haymes’ Top 13 Most-Listened-To Albums
Website

4. Lindsey Buckingham’s “Seeds We Sow” (Mind Kit)

CALLER.COM
Five of 2011's Most Underrated Discs
By: Jesse De Leon
Website

"Seeds We Sow" Lindsey Buckingham (42West) The former Fleetwood Mac guitar virtuoso has always dwelled on the sidelines when it came to his solo career. His penchant for quirky has always shaded his music and that left-of-center approach still infuses his own brand of pop. The catchy melodies are everywhere over the course of these eleven songs, especially "In Our Own Time," "Illumination" and "End of the World," the latter being the most autobiographical set of lyrics he's written and is easily the best song on the disc.

T MAK WORLD
Top 10 Albums of 2011 - TMAK World Style 
by: tmakworld
Website

#5 Lindsey Buckingham - "Seeds We Sow" The two front line personalities in Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks are comfortable revisiting their fabled Rumours glory when The Mac go on tour every few years. In their down time they tune the dial back a notch and produce much  more intimate solo albums that are worthy of a visit. In Seeds We Sow Buckingham puts the spotlight directly on his guitar and vocal skills. The album was produced and mixed by Buckingham himself and was self-released with no record label support or influence. Standout tracks include Illumination and the mind blowing acoustic guitar picking masterpiece Seeds We Sow. As Rumours and other Fleetwood Mac classics are best listened to with a cold beer, Seeds We Sow is better suited with a classy vintage wine.