One morning a lng time ago [late 1982], I was driving my way to school to take a physics exam. I had just gotten a new cassette player for my beat-up 1975 Toyota Corolla, so I was playing a copy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. Since I lived in a little house on the prairie [literally] and school was about 20 miles away, I got to hear a lot of Rumours that morning. I always liked the songs Dreams and The Chain, but that morning I had a revelation. That revelation was Go Your Own Way. Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie wrote the hits for Fleetwood Mac, but Go Your Own Way was the hook. I didn't know what it was, but after hearing it [the last song I would hear before my exam], I felt very good about how I would do. I've always had test anxiety, but not that morning. I took the exam and aced it. I've been a fan of Lindsey Buckingham's music ever since.
About sixteen years ago [about 1995-ish], Lindsey Buckingham began working on a solo album. He had been out of Fleetwood Mac for almost eight years by that time, and he was working at his usual glacial pace. His previous albums, Go Insane [1984], Out of the Cradle [1992], and Law and Order [1981], were all one-man-band affairs. Each of those albums was pretty off-the-wall [my favorite was Go Insane], but each demonstrated his prowess as a producer, arranger, songwriter, and instrumentalist. This next album would be no different, except that he wanted a little help with the bass and drums. Enter Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The three of them got to working together and before they knew it, they called in Christine McVie to sing. They all got along great, called up Stevie Nicks, and decided to re-unite for a live album and a tour. Thus was born The Dance [1997]. After the tour to support The Dance completed, Christine McVie announced her retirement, and Lindsey Buckingham resumed work with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie on his solo work that was interrupted by The Dance. This music had the working title Gift of Screws.
I found an article on the internet about the abortive original version of Gift of Screws. Here’s the songlist: Someone’s Gotta Change Your Mind (Under the Skin)/Miranda (Say You Will)/Steal Your Heart Away (Best Buy presents Fleetwood Mac Tour ’97 2 CD set you could get with a coupon during the Dance Tour)/Red Rover (Say You Will)/She Smiled Sweetly (unreleased)/Come (Say You Will)/Down On Rodeo (Under The Skin)/Gotta Get Away (unreleased)/Try For The Sun (Under The Skin)/Shuffle Riff (“Wait For You” on 2008 Gift of Screws)/Murrow (Say You Will)/Gift of Screws (on 2008 Gift of Screws)/Bleed To Love Her (The Dance as a live track)/Twist of Fate (“The Right Place to Fade” on 2008 Gift of Screws)/Go Insane (this was a live version of the song from Go Insane)/Say Goodbye (Say You Will)/The Singer Not The Song (unreleased).
Apparently this was the running order as turned in to Warner Brothers by Lindsey Buckingham. Warner Brothers said “thanks, but we want Fleetwood Mac.” So like Out of the Cradle, LB stripped a bunch of his tunes to make part of what became Say You Will. Say You Will is a schizophrenic album. It’s not a bad album – I miss Christine McVie. She was the best singer in the band, and her songs were a bit more grounded than Stevie Nicks’ flights of fancy or Lindsey Buckingham’s off-the-wall craziness. Comprised of eighteen songs, it’s evenly divided between LB and Stevie Nicks, nine songs each. Say You Will feels like two solo albums smashed together to occupy the same space. Eighteen songs is a pretty big album, but LB wanted more. In Destiny Rules, the documentary of the making of Say You Will, LB says to the others he wanted a double CD to come out so that he could get more of his songs out. The rest of the band [Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks] vetoed that idea. He had lots of songs. Where did the rest of them go?
Say You Will [Fleetwood Mac]
LB’s songs: What’s the Word Coming To/Murrow Turning Over in His Grave/Miranda/Red Rover/Peacekeeper/Come/Steal Your Heart Away/Bleed to Love Her/Say Goodbye
Stevie Nicks’ songs: Illume [9/11]/Thrown Down/Say You Will/Smile At You/Running Through the Garden/Silver Girl/Everybody Finds Out/Destiny Rules/Goodbye Baby
Under the Skin
Not Too Late/Show You How/Under the Skin/I Am Waiting/It Was You/Try For The Sun/Cast Away Dreams/Shut Us Down/Down On Rodeo*/Someone’s Gotta Change Your Mind**/Flying Down Juniper
*with Mick Fleetwood & John McVie
**with Mick Fleetwood
Gift of Screws
Great Day/Time Precious Time/Did You Miss Me/Wait For You*/Love Runs Deeper/Bel Air Rain/The Right Place to Fade**/Gift of Screws*/Underground/Treason
*with Mick Fleetwood & John McVie
**with Mick Fleetwood
LB finished Gift of Screws and turned it over to his record label. They listened and asked if this could be the next Fleetwood Mac album. LB agreed, took most of the Gift of Screws songs, recorded some new songs with Stevie Nicks, and the result was Say You Will [2003]. Say You Will sounds like LB's aforementioned solo albums with the Fleetwood Mac rhythm section. Stevie Nicks' songs get the same treatment. They don't sound anything like she's done before either in her solo work or with Fleetwood Mac. It's probably their most radical departure from what one would expect to hear on a Mac album since 1979's Tusk. LB's songs are some of the best he's done. The song I like the most is Come. The lyrics [and LB’s singing] sometimes leave a lot to be desired, but this is a great headphone song. There's guitar in one ear, then another, then singing in one ear, then the other, then in both ears. The voices and instruments bounce all over the place. The Fleetwood-McVie rhythm section, rock-solid as always, is very muscular, aggressive. In when LB sings the chorus, the voice is so distorted and shrieking you can't understand it, but then LB delivers an almost two-minute long guitar freakout that would put a smile on Hendrix's face. Other favorites for me include LB's Murrow Turning Over In His Grave, Steal Your Heart Away, Bleed To Love Her, Say Goodbye, Peacekeeper, and Stevie's Everybody Finds Out, Smile At You, and Goodbye Baby.
When Fleetwood Mac finished their Say You Will tour, LB told the rest of the band he wanted three years for himself so he could put out a couple of CDs and tour as himself. LB's first solo album in 14 years, Under the Skin, emerged in 2006. This CD is a restrained affair, a singer-songwriter disc that's mostly just acoustic guitar and voice. No manic electric guitar solos here. Recorded mostly while on tour with Fleetwood Mac, the focus is on songwriting and atmosphere. Among the songs are Down On Rodeo and Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind, both of which feature Mick Fleetwood and/or John McVie. Coincidentally, they're the best songs on the CD [IMHO]. LB covers the Rolling Stones' I Am Waiting [from 1966's Aftermath] and Donovan's To Try for the Sun. Another song of note is Not Too Late, where LB laments the public's disinterest in his solo career despite critical acclaim ["feeling unseen," "feeling unheard"]. He talks of "visions deferred," a not-too-subtle complaint about having to put his solo musical ambitions on hold for the greater good of Fleetwood Mac [both Tango in the Night and Say You Will started as LB solo projects]. The CD ends on a pleasant note with Flying Down Juniper.
The electric guitars re-emerge with this year's Gift of Screws. Where Under the Skin was acoustic guitar-driven, Gift of Screws is its rocking counterpoint. Two years between studio CDs is normal for most musical acts, but considering LB's past, his current pace is frenetic. The Fleetwood-McVie rhythm section reappears on Wait For You and Gift of Screws. Mick Fleetwood appears on The Right Place to Fade with a different bassist, and drummer Walfredo Reyes from LB's road band appears on Did You Miss Me and Love Runs Deeper. Each of these songs benefit by having real people to play with rather than having LB play all the instruments himself. I saw it written in The Sunday Times that if Gift of Screws was a Fleetwood Mac album, it would "sell by the bucketload." I would have to agree with him. All of these CDs are good stuff. LB's reputation as a latter-day Brian Wilson is well-earned.
I've distilled my favorite songs from these three works onto a single CD:
Come/Down On Rodeo/Wait for You/Gift of Screws/Murrow Turning Over In His Grave/Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind/I Am Waiting/Great Day/Love Runs Deeper/Miranda/Peacekeeper /Steal Your Heart Away/Bleed To Love Her/Not Too Late/Did You Miss Me/Bel Air Rain/The Right Place to Fade/Flying Down Juniper/Say Goodbye
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