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.

Love Runs Deeper (Live in LA Sept 14th)

Love this song!

Michael Roberts of Backbeat Online Q&A with Lindsey

Wed Sep 17, 2008
Backbeat Online

Q & A with once and future Fleetwood Mac leader Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham, the solo artist and Fleetwood Mac frontman who headlines the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on September 24 (see this Westword profile for the particulars), isn’t afraid to share. Unlike those musicians who fear that they’ll smother their muse if they speak in too much detail about their creative process, he’s ready, willing and able to examine his work, artistry and experiences in public. As a result, he’s among the most fascinating interview subjects in rock music, as he proved while chatting for a 1993 article that appears online for the first time. And he does so again in an exceedingly insightful new interview reproduced below in its entirety.

The conversation begins with a discussion of Under the Skin, a 2006 solo album that was as intriguing as it was noncommercial. His responses move from revelations about his longtime label’s disinterest in the project to his refusal to chase fame — a philosophy he established after helping to make the 1977 Fleetwood Mac album Rumours one of the best-selling albums of all-time. From there, he talks about Gift of Screws, his latest release, which contains more accessible material than its predecessor even as it displays Buckingham’s trademark idiosyncracy. He digs into a lyric in which he refers to himself as “a whore” and details the origins of the material, some of which recalls his contributions to F-Mac, with which he’s reportedly recording a new album likely to be released in 2009. Finally, he breaks down a list of favorite pop singles that he cited in the aforementioned article from fifteen years ago, acknowledging that in some ways, the synthesis of Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” and the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” define his personal aesthetic.

Full Article:
Link

Lindsey Buckingham: Extracting The Essential

By: Dennis Cook
Jambase

If he’d done nothing else outside of Fleetwood Mac people would know the name Lindsey Buckingham. As guitarist, singer and songwriter with that band since the mid ’70s, he’s been responsible for a good deal of their world wide success, including contributing heavily to the era defining, 30 million-plus selling Rumours, where he wrote three of the most recognizable pop hits of all-time – “Second Hand News,” “Never Going Back Again” and “Go Your Own Way.” But Buckingham is actually an artist, and like most of the best ones he’s kept refining his skills, finding new facets to focus his intense mind upon and working constantly, especially in recent years, to carve out an identity for himself outside the relatively safe folds of his multi-platinum band.

Which brings us to Gift of Screws (released September 16 on Warner Bros.), his fourth studio album as a solo artist, which ranges from road dust coated rockers like “Wait For You” to the positively meditative “Great Day,” which rings with steel strings and quiet heart. It’s a snapshot of a talented industry lifer still discovering fresh avenues for exploration within himself, and a positive sign for Fleetwood Mac’s recently announced reunion plans in 2009. But, to look at the ragged cover photo on Screws you’d never know that a pretty happy man awaits you inside.

“In the context of the road I’ve been down, and even in the context of Fleetwood Mac if you want to go back, the title takes on significantly more irony, and it’s meant to. It was meant to be a bit confrontational. I don’t know if the photo was meant to be that confrontational but it just worked out that way. Warner Brothers said it looked like a mug shot, but hey, what’re you gonna do?” chuckles Buckingham. “The title and the whole lyric of the chorus is actually lifted from an Emily Dickinson poem. I’m not a scholar of hers by any means but we’re always looking to see what we can rip, especially things that are public domain. Oh, I hope that’s public domain [laughs]. It’s actually a positive thing, even though it’s got an assaultive tone. She’s talking about making a fragrance or perfume and how you can’t really expect to get that from just the sun coming down and growing the flower. You actually have to have a vision and a certain amount of love, and apply that to the gifts that are given you, to turn the screws and press the petals and get the oil out. So, anything worthwhile, to some degree, is going to be some sort of synthesis of the raw materials you’re given and the vision and effort you apply.”

Full Article: Link

Wait for You (Track Commentary)

Gift of Screws TV Ad

Get Screws...Out Today

OUT TODAY!

Buckingham's new solo album
Released Tuesday September 16, 2008

Get ready for a Mac attack - Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is going to bring back the sounds of the famous rock group in his fifth solo album.

Buckingham has in the past has given up many of his own individual songs for the group to perform and produce.

But this time around he put his foot down and made the band fully aware of his intentions to release another album on his own.

'Gift of Screws' has 10 songs - some new and some written years ago - and includes playing by John McVie and Mick Fleetwood.

Buckingham is currently on tour in support of the new release.

skynews.com.au

Lindsey Buckingham's latest is a 'Gift' indeed

By Mark Brown

Rocky Mountain News
Monday, September 15, 2008

Gift of Screws has taken years and various U-turns to finally make it into stores today. The album became a bit of a legend among Lindsey Buckingham fans when bits of it were played live with Fleetwood Mac in 1997. Bits of it slipped out around 2000, five years after he'd started it.

But the album got derailed twice, first when songs were cannibalized for much of the Fleetwood Mac album Say You Will and again when a few more tracks turned up on Buckingham's solo album Under the Skin.

So, what fans hear now may be far from how this album was conceived all those years ago, but despite coming in dribs and drabs, the finished album is worth the wait.

Out of the Cradle, his third solo album, from 1992, hit the high mark for many Buckingham fans. It kept his quirky nature but mixed in more lush, traditional songwriting in gorgeous tracks like Don't Look Down and You Do or You Don't. His past couple of solo albums have been sparser and more experimental, with Buckingham at times exploring what his fingers could do on the fret board (and how fast they could do it) rather than putting melody first.

That can be fascinating on tracks like the opening Great Day, but the finger-picking style that Buckingham has become partial to over the years can be a bit excessive at times, impressive as it is.

But Gift of Screws comes closer to that Out of the Cradle sound than anything else he's done since. Love Runs Deeper could have found a spot on any Buckingham solo album (and would have sounded great on Say You Will), filled with classic acoustic guitar as well as warm harmonies and sweet, melodic electric leads. Underground could have fit on Rumours or Tusk, a sweet melody with simple voice and guitar.

Gift of Screws gives an explicit idea of where Buckingham's mind is these days. "In my younger days / I was mistaken for a whore / I guess you could say / I lived in chains," Buckingham sings in Bel Air Rain, a slap at the record industry that once championed him but of late has stymied his creativity.

He takes a look at the bigger picture in the title cut, classic off-kilter Buckingham, a rock song pierced with the occasional maniacal laugh and lyrics like "Authority makes us bleed, bleed, bleed ... Authority keeps us down, down, down," and in the equally political closing cut, Treason.

With 10 tight songs and a more focused viewpoint, Gift of Screws ends up being his second-best solo album - very good company to be in.

Lindsey Buckingham
Gift of Screws
Reprise Records
Grade: B

Lindsey Buckingham's 'Gift'

Washington Times

Lindsey Buckingham
Gift of Screws
Reprise/Warner

At every turn, "Gift of Screws" reminds the listener of Lindsey Buckingham's eclectic brand of pop songwriting.

Some of the 10 songs on this new album have been in progress for the better part of a decade. Some reprise themes of songs from the 2003 Fleetwood Mac reunion album, "Say You Will." Rather than sounding like retreads, however, the recordings feel vibrant and contemporary for the most part while retaining the familiar sounds of Mr. Buckingham's virtuosic guitar playing. It's all the more familiar because the Fleetwood Mac rhythm section (Mick Fleetwood on drums, John McVie on bass) joins in on a few tracks.

"Time Precious Time" is an acoustic ballad that opens with a frenzy of finger picking and a soaring vocal line. There is a muddled intensity to it, like a prelude struggling to transform into a theme. The rapid-fire arpeggios race harplike up and down the fret board as the singer repeatedly intones the title.

"Love Runs Deep" opens with an acoustic guitar and quick bass line - and until the electric guitar picks up, it could pass for a semisweet Coldplay song. Then the Fleetwood Mac vibe quickly intrudes in the form of harmonized vocals and a gritty guitar solo.

At 58, Mr. Buckingham seems eager to assert that he hasn't lost a step as a guitarist. He turns in another blisteringly fast acoustic picking effort with "Bel Air Rain," a speedy but downcast minor-key lament. More upbeat is "The Right Place to Fade," which opens with a cheerful cross of acoustic strumming and an electric solo.

The album's title track originally was scheduled for inclusion on "Say You Will." It's a weird, alluring mix of new-wave pop and garage rock with a peculiar squealing chorus that sounds as if it could be a B-52s outtake. It's also oddly out of step with the rest of the album, if only for its punkish bass line and shouted vocals.

"Did You Miss Me" is the most memorable track on "Gift of Screws."With its distinctively Coldplay-like intro, it's a sweet and rueful pop song with honeyed accents concealing a bitter core. (Indeed, the resemblance at times is so pronounced that it might be worth inspecting Chris Martin.) On the chorus, plucked guitar notes play over the rhythm guitar like a bell sounding over an orchestra. Mr. Buckingham sings, "Did you miss me/ In the evening/ When everyone is bound to dream?"

Fans probably didn't miss Mr. Buckingham all that much. He weighed in just two years ago with the impressive acoustic album "Under the Skin." If anything, "Gift of Screws" is a more impressive outing. It's typical of older rockers to return to the spirit of their glory days on late-career albums. It's impressive, then, that Mr. Buckingham has produced a recording that looks forward as much as it looks back.

Gift of Screws is a 'cobbled-together bunch of leftovers'

Lindsey re-gifts
Gift of Screws is a 'cobbled-together bunch of leftovers'
Winnipeg Sun

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Gift of Screws
Pop-Rock
Sun Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5

Sometimes, you have to look a gift horse in the mouth -- if you don't want to get screwed, that is.
Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham's fifth solo CD seems like one of those occasions. As he admits in a press release: "This album is a distillation of a number of periods of time, some false starts to make albums, certainly some songs that go back a number of years, that took a while to find a home here, combined with brand-new songs and a whole other outlook."

Translation: It's a cobbled-together bunch of leftovers, demos and fleshed-out ideas -- some cut at home and on the road in the wake of his 2006 CD Under the Skin, with others dating back perhaps as far as 2001, when the album title Gift of Screws became a rumour in the Lindseysphere.

But even if it's mostly secondhand news, it's not all bad news. Buckingham also claims this disc rocks more than his last one. And it does -- on the cuts that feature Mac bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood. The rest of the time, it's all about Lindsey, his spiderwebby vocals and his precise, intricate guitar work.

Sure, it has its moments. But frankly, most of these tracks sound more like technical exercises and home-studio experiments than songs. So unless you want to pay to hear Buckingham dump out his hard drive, you might want to go your own way.

Great Day 3:12
Over a bare-bones beatbox that sets a brisk pace, Lindsey layers gently throbbing arpeggios and flamenco flourishes with his acoustic guitar, crowning the affair with echoing vocals.

Time Precious Time 4:25
Buckingham fingerpicks at breakneck speed, stitching together a needlepoint backdrop for another echoing vocal line. This one sounds like Peter Gabriel and Robert Fripp.

Did You Miss Me 3:55
Finally, an actual song -- a slice of breezy, bittersweet California folk-pop complete with a suitably laid-back beat, a chiming guitar line and an actual chorus.

Wait for You 4:58
Fleetwood and McVie boogie on the bottom while Lindsey slings some bluesy juke-joint slide licks and brays like Stevie Nicks. A nice hypnotic groove in search of a bigger hook.

Love Runs Deeper 3:56
It starts out an understated, strummy little pop ditty -- then busts open on the chorus into a big Mac-style acoustic rocker. Not brilliant, but not half bad either.

Bel Air Rain 3:49
The cascading waterfall of glistening tones that flows from Buckingham's flying fingers is superb. The rainstick and soaring vocals, not so much. Enough with the echo, already.

The Right Place to Fade 4:02
Another decent acoustic rocker, with a lilting melody, memorable hooks and (we presume) another visit from McVie and Fleetwood. This one could end up on a Mac album.

Gift of Screws 2:52
A scrappy number that walks the line between British Invasion pop and garage-rock. It's not bad -- until Buckingham begins laughing like a hyena in the chorus.

Underground 2:58
Dreamy and wistful without being too ethereal, this folk-pop number features a throbbing guitar and some quietly popping percussion.

Treason 4:26
After all that frantic fingerpicking, Buckingham finally runs out of steam, lazily strumming his way through this downbeat, Dylanesque folk-rock ballad.

Gift of Screws Tour - Tour Stop #3 (Portland)

Third stop on the Gift of Screws Tour.... Newmark Theatre in Portland, OR on
September 10, 2008 (pictured right - Photo by Debra - Celtic Gypsy). No change to the setlist.

20 song set:

Great Day
Love Runs Deep
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
So Afraid
Go Your Own Way

Encore:

Second Hand News
Don't Look Down
Treason
Time Precious Time

The Big CD: Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws

By John Mulvey
The Times
4/5 Stars

It is rarely edifying to hear a multimillion-selling rock star whinge about lack of credibility. But on his previous solo album, Under the Skin, Buckingham just about got away with it. Buckingham, remember, was the man who had propelled Fleetwood Mac to their commercial zenith in the mid-1970s. And consequently, he was also one of the prime musical enemies of anyone who had invigorated their record collections with punk rock.

In the past few years, however, Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac have undergone something of a critical rehabilitation. Buckingham's obsessive perfectionism in the studio, his occasionally deranged sonic experiments, and the excruciating emotional honesty that he shares with all his old bandmates are seen as fine things. On Under the Skin, a little bit of praise seemed to have pushed Buckingham into a doggedly solipsistic display of his leftfield chops. The album began with him noting: “Reading the paper, saw a review/ Said I was a visionary, but nobody knew,” and mainly consisted of him constructing nervy guitar loops in what may well have been his bedroom. A lovely album, but one of strategically limited appeal.

Gift of Screws is a more varied affair. There are fantastic solo workouts, such as Time Precious Time, on which Buckingham yelps harmoniously over some frantically intricate acoustic guitar. But then there are also pop songs - Love Runs Deeper and Did You Miss Me - that are blessed with the same combination of stadium thump and spiritual fragility that proved so lucrative for Fleetwood Mac.

Since that band's venerable rhythm section - Mick Fleetwood and John McVie - contribute to Gift of Screws it is tempting to wonder why Buckingham did not save these songs for the next Fleetwood Mac album. But then an earlier solo album, also entitled Gift of Screws, was aborted, and a good few songs from that turned up on the Mac's Say You Will in 2003. Maybe this time, Buckingham anxiously wants to prove that he can do it all himself, from avant-garde guitar noodles to fabulously airbrushed pop. The critical acclaim is in the bag these days. Now, if only he could sell millions without the Fleetwood Mac brand name.