Tony's Guitarist Picks - Lindsey Buckingham

When one hears the phrase “guitar hero” many names instantly come to mind – Hendrix, Beck, Clapton, Page, Gilmour, Duane Allman, Peter Green, etc.  One guy who is especially underrated is Lindsey Buckingham.  Yup, the guy who plays pop songs in Fleetwood Mac.  Maybe he’s a guitar “anti-hero” because he’s not a household name.  Fleetwood Mac was originally a blues band and had a great blues guitarist, Peter Green.  If you’re a purist, perhaps you don’t like the pop band that Fleetwood Mac has become, and that’s ok.  I like the blues incarnation, and I like the arena rock/pop edition as well.  As the guitar player in a pop band, he’s like George Harrison in that he has a keen sense of melody that enables him to provide the right thing for the songs of Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks.  That doesn’t give him a lot of room to solo, but every now and then he can let rip a good solo – see Go Your Own Way or Sisters of the Moon.  But being the producer in addition to being the guitar player, he can pick and choose where he can make songs by the other songwriters sound the way he wants them to.

Guitars.  Before he joined Fleetwood Mac, LB’s guitar of choice was a Fender Stratocaster.  After he joined the band he needed a fatter guitar sound, so he switched to a Les Paul.  He met a luthier who worked for Alembic named Rick Turner.  He asked Turner to make a guitar that’s a cross-between a Stratocaster and a Les Paul.  The result was the Turner #1 model [see below].  That is his main electric guitar, but sometimes he’ll go back to the Stratocaster or even a Telecaster.  For some acoustic work he’ll use a Gibson Chet Atkins.  For the rest he plays various Taylor acoustics.

Style.  He never took guitar lessons and he doesn’t read music.  Most of the guitar players I like are grounded in the blues.  When he was a kid, his first guitar idol was Scotty Moore.  After the first wave of rock and roll faded [Elvis got drafted, Chuck Berry went to jail, Buddy Holly died] The Kingston Trio became his big influence.  And like The Kingston Trio, LB plays without a pick.  He combines the power of a rock guitarist with the precision of a classical nylon-string player.  To hear the former, look no further then Peter Green’s Oh Well, Part I [Fleetwood Mac Live – 1980].  Here LB wails with the best of them.  The one time LB usually gets to stretch out during a Fleetwood Mac show is on his own I’m So Afraid, where he gets to solo to his heart’s content.  On the acoustic side, there’s stuff like Landslide and Never Going Back Again.  The man has incredible technique.

Colors.   What does the song need?  LB’s dobro gives Gold Dust Woman an exotic sound.  The volume swells on Dreams are ethereal.  The National Steel Guitar on The Chain is a sound not often heard on a pop song.  Within the confines of Fleetwood Mac [what he calls “the big machine”] he can’t get too carried away with his guitar sounds.  But in his more-esoteric solo work [“the little machine”] he can indulge himself.  The center of the songs of McVie and Nicks are the vocal melody around which guitar parts are arranged.  His own songs are centered around the guitar.  Sometimes one gets the feeling that his songs are really lots of guitar parts with vocal melodies thrown in as an afterthought, but I like them anyway.  His technique is best described as “dazzling.” 

Two Guitarists Replaced Him.  After the band finished Tango in the Night LB bolted from Fleetwood Mac in 1987, the band replaced him with two guitarists to do the work of one – Rick Vito and Billy Burnette.  Both were hired to play the parts LB played by himself.  Since LB also produced the records, they had to find someone to fill that role as well.  You can do the blind taste test between Tango in the Night and Behind the Mask and judge the results yourself.  

Come [Fleetwood Mac – Say You Will] / Down On Rodeo [LB – Under The Skin].  I like to listen to these two songs as a “twofer”.  Although the songs are from two different albums, they’re from the same song cycle.  For me, these two songs best represent the two sides of LB’s musical personality.  Come is a manic electric freakout, while Down On Rodeo is a calm acoustic “after the storm” piece.

Big Love.  This song opened Tango in the Night, but since he didn’t tour with Fleetwood Mac after that album’s release, the first time he played it live with that band was for 1997's The Dance.  While the studio version of the song is a full band arrangement, from this point forward he played it solo.  Had I not seen the performance for myself, I wouldn’t have thought what I heard was played on one guitar.

Go Your Own Way [Fleetwood Mac - Rumours] - Early one morning in late 1982, I was on my way to take a physics exam.  I had a cheap cassette deck in a 1975 Toyota Corolla, and whilst driving to class I had on Rumours.  This song came on and when it ended, I heard it again, and again.  As the song has a fair amount of lyrical bile in it [in a good way, which reflected my own emotional state at the time], but the hook was the last solo.  The first solo in mid-song is good - the second solo is great.  The song and the solo hooked me on all things Lindsey Buckingham.  I suffer happily.  The physics exam?  I aced it.  I credit this song for getting me in the proper frame of mind.

I'm So Afraid [Fleetwood Mac Live] - This was the finale from the eponymous Fleetwood Mac album.  The studio has quite a few harmony guitar overdubs, but the song morphed into a beast live.  Being the sole guitarist, he's got a bigger sound with the Rick Turner electric.  There are several other live versions of this song [Live in Boston, The Dance, the Mirage deluxe set, the Tusk deluxe set].  This one is my favorite.  This live album sold me on the "Lindsey Buckingham - guitar hero" tag.

My current iPod playlist:

Come [Say You Will]

Down on Rodeo [Under the Skin]

Gift of Screws [Gift of Screws]

Wait for You [Gift of Screws]

Murrow Turning Over in His Grave [Say You Will]

Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind [Under the Skin]

Steal Your Heart Away [Say You Will]

Bleed to Love Her [Say You Will]

Rock Away Blind [Seeds We Sow]

Big Love [Tango in the Night version]

Go Insane [Go Insane version]

Tango in the Night -> Loving Cup [Tango in the Night/Go Insane]

Second Hand News [acoustic outtake version from Rumours]

Tusk [2/1/79 Outtake] [Tusk]

Wrong [Out of the Cradle]

Soul Drifter [Out of the Cradle]

Holiday Road [iTunes single]

Book of Love [Mirage]

Go Your Own Way [Rumours]

I’m So Afraid [FM Live]

The Ledge [3/13/79 Version] [Tusk]

Save Me a Place [10/18/78 Version] [Tusk]

What Makes You Think You're the One [Tusk]

That's All For Everyone [Remix] [Tusk]

That's Enough for Me [9/29/78 Version] [Tusk]

I Know I'm Not Wrong [11/2/78 Version] [Tusk] [“Shit, that’s fast” – Christine McVie]

Tusk "Stage Riff" [1/30/79 Demo] [Tusk]

Trouble [Law and Order]

I Want You [Go Insane]

Slow Dancing [Go Insane]

This Is the Time [Out of the Cradle]

Countdown [Out of the Cradle]

Caroline [Tango in the Night]

Family Man [Tango in the Night]

You and I, Pt. II [Tango in the Night]

D.W. Suite [Go Insane]

Red Rover [Say You Will]

Say Goodbye [Say You Will]

Treason [Gift of Screws]

Turn It On [Out of the Cradle]

Surrender The Rain [Out of the Cradle]

On With the Show [Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie]

Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws trilogy

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