Showing posts with label Seeds We Sow Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seeds We Sow Review. Show all posts

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Review: Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow"

Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We Sow
[Mind Kit Records/Eagle Rock (2011)]
by: TJ McGrath

Seeds We Sow is Lindsey Buckingham‘s sixth solo album since leaving Fleetwood Mac, and his first self-release effort. As a guitar player, Buckingham ranks as one of the best, and this album serves as a reminder of just how good he is. Many of the tracks demonstrate Buckingham’s glissando guitar attack, a 6-string fingerpicking method which seems to defy time and space and gravity.

The title track, a self-confessional that edges into a brittle, preachy protest song, has a blistering “sheltering sky” aura, with plenty of reverb and echo and swirling dynamics, and is faster than the speed of light almost. [Lindsay Buckingham defies laws of physics. News at 11. -ed] “Stars are Crazy”, another whirlwind of cascading notes, seduces with its angry, dangerous tone and threatens to run off a cliff with its barrage of pulsating rhythms and bouncy tempos.

Full Review at Driftwood Magazine

Friday, December 30, 2011

Street Sounds: Fleetwood frontman farms a winner - Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow" Review


Despite fronting a mega-band in his off-time, singer/guitarist Lindsay Buckingham excels in under-the-radar releases.

Seeds We Sow is Buckingham’s sixth solo album and it offers a glimpse into the musician’s creative drive. He doesn’t let his high profile alter his style.

There are Mac-isms throughout Seeds We Sow, but they’re representations of Buckingham’s personality, not derivative attempts at past creations.  Illumination and That’s The Way Love Goes are pieces of classic Buckingham-influenced Fleetwood Mac, fueled by the guitarist’s slightly wild edge.

The stately guitar work of Buckingham marks him as a premier stylist; a heavy hitter who’s also a singer/songwriter of some renown.

Guitarist/singer? Singer/songwriter? Singer who plays guitar? All of these and more.

Buckingham’s one-two punch carries over onto his instrument of choice. His spidery acoustic lines crackle along at a manic, angular pace (Stars Are Crazy, Rock Away Blind) that’s at home in Appalachia.

His soaring and skewed electric work is singular and unpredictable and hasn’t showed signs of rust. 

One Take updates Buckingham’s borderline frenzy against a straight ahead rhythm that’s cliché but tough.

There’s an under-current that mixes the melodic sunburst of The Beach Boys with the suggestive imagery of ‘80’s era Dylan and late ‘60’s Leonard Cohen.

When She Comes Down and Gone Too Far float this direction into both corners and She Smiled Sweetly connects the two sonic dots with cool logic.

Seeds We Sow = passion + precision.


By Dean Gordon-Smith

Friday, November 18, 2011

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Review: Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow" "dream-like atmosphere throughout the album ""


Lindsey Buckingham – Seeds We Sow (Eagle/Shock)

In between touring and recording with Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham has nurtured a solo career, reaching back to 1981. Following up on 2008’s Gift Of Screws, comes Seeds We Sow, Buckingham’s 6th studio solo outing.

While Lindsey is a fine singer and songwriter, it’s really his guitar playing that stands out on the 11 tracks included here. Buckingham has developed his own, unique sound, based around his delicate finger-picking and he using the technique to full advantage on songs like That’s The Way Love Goes, Stars Are Crazy and Rock Away Blind. His rippling notes seem to flow off the fretboard.

Sonically, Buckingham induces a dream-like atmosphere throughout the album thanks to his lyrics, which often refer to dreams, and his layered vocals.


by: Marty Duda
13th Floor (New Zealand)

Friday, October 14, 2011

Review: Lindsey Buckingham Seeds We Sow ★ ★ ★★★ ★ ★/10

Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We Sow  ★ ★ ★★★ ★ ★/10
By John Bergstrom
Pop Matters

Most of Lindsey Buckingham’s career has been a study in contradiction. He was the eccentric, anti-social studio rat who was fascinated by Talking Heads and the Clash. Yet he was the featured guitarist in one of the most mainstream, popular bands in the world. When Buckingham tried to inject his restlessness into Fleetwood Mac on Tusk , the result was a million-selling album that was deemed a commercial failure and brought on the wrath of his bandmates and record company alike.

Buckingham relented, saving his more experimental work for an intermittent solo career, which he financed with his day job as musical director for the Mac. But it was always a struggle. Thanks in no small part to Warner Brothers Records’ politicking, Buckingham’s solo albums became Fleetwood Mac albums, first Tango in the Night, and then, after a 15-year reprieve, Say You Will.

Finally, as the 21st Century dawned, Buckingham began to come to terms with both sides of his musical existence. As he formed his own family and relationships within Fleetwood Mac became more normal and drug-free, he was able to channel his restless energy into the band, then take the momentum back into the studio for a resurgent run of solo work. Under the Skin (2006) and Gift of Screws (2008) are widely regarded as some of the best work of Buckingham’s career, and for good reason. They showcase a musician and songwriter who is fully immersed in, and coming to terms with, his considerable gifts. And the two albums provide an ideal combination of the skilled melodicism and almost unhinged strangeness that have marked the different aspects of Buckingham’s career.

You can consider Seeds We Sow the third in a trilogy. In terms of overall feel, it is very much of a piece with Under the Skin and Gift of Screws. Maybe too much so, for some listeners. Buckingham is now free of Warner Brothers, which means Seeds We Sow is even more of a do-it-yourself effort than the previous releases. But the close, reverb-drenched atmospheres, needling acoustic guitar arpeggios, and minimal production are familiar.

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Blondie and The Cars - Ageless on new albums


Veteran rock artists like Lindsey Buckingham prove ageless on new albums
By Joe Szczechowski
Delconews Network

If there’s anything more difficult than achieving success in popular music, it’s sustaining that success. The overwhelming majority of artists and bands never sign to a national record label. Only a small percentage of signed artists ever sell enough music to make the charts. Of those that do, the majority make their mark and disappear with careers that last less than five years. For that reason alone, artists and bands that have enjoyed careers lasting 10, 20 or 30 years and more deserve respect and attention.

Rock and pop music is primarily marketed to and created by young people. With a few exceptions, established artists who pass middle age and continue to create music are often overlooked or ignored. Ironically, while the artists may be aging, their music remains ageless. Over the last few months, a wealth of "classic" rock and pop stars released new, notable albums that belied the age of their creators and deserved an audience.

In case you missed them, here are four of the best:

Panic of Girls; Blondie (Eleven Seven/EMI)
Move like This; The Cars (Hear Music)

In Your Dreams; Stevie Nicks (Reprise) –In the press release accompanying In Your Dreams, Stevie Nicks’ first album in 10 years, Nicks is quoted as saying: “This was one of the most extraordinary experiences I’ve had making a record. It is the first album that I have had this kind of collaboration since the making of Rumours. It was everything I always wished making a record would be.” Since major-label releases by major artists are often accompanied by their fair share of hype, it was clear that the album was being marketed as a “return to form” for Nicks.

Surprisingly, In Your Dreams not only meets expectations; it surpasses them. Nicks’ solo work outside of Fleetwood Mac has always been uneven. She’s capable of writing some of rock music’s most poetic lyrics and matching them to memorable melodies, but she seemed to thrive best in Fleetwood Mac’s group environment, where her individual musical excesses were reined in.

In Your Dreams was written and recorded at Nicks’ Los Angeles home and is co-produced by Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette). Perhaps Stewart’s guiding hand was needed to extract this gem from Nicks. She literally sounds reborn – her voice is as clear and strong as it was on anything she ever sang with Fleetwood Mac.

Most of the material on the album was written over the past few years, but some songs – like the album’s first single, “Secret Love” and the Edgar Allan Poe-inspired “Annabel Lee” – date back as far as the early 70s.

Album highlights include “For What It’s Worth,” an acoustic mid-tempo ballad that’s as good as anything on Tusk, the aforementioned “Secret Love” and the up-tempo title track, which proves Nicks can indeed still “rock a little.”

Elsewhere, Nicks draws inspiration from literary sources in “Wild Sargasso Sea” (from the book and movie of the same name) and “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)” (inspired by the film New Moon), as well as places in “New Orleans” and “Italian Summer” and events in “Soldier's Angel.”

With only a few slight missteps, In Your Dreams might be Stevie Nicks’ most consistently strong album to date.

B+

Seeds We Sow; Lindsey Buckingham (Buckingham Records) – Ever since the modern incarnation of Fleetwood Mac rose to popularity in the mid-70s, the band’s most valuable player has been Lindsey Buckingham. Buckingham’s contributions – solid songwriting, emotional vocals, fluid, finger-style guitar playing, and state-of-the-art production – are largely responsible for making albums like Rumors and Tusk the pop music milestones they are.

All of those attributes align once again on Buckingham’s new solo album, Seeds We Sow. While it’s by no means a stripped-down acoustic set (the route Buckingham took for the most part on Under the Skin), Seeds We Sow has a very intimate feel to it. It’s an album that’s meant to be listened to with headphones – the better to appreciate every detail of Buckingham’s musical tapestry.

Buckingham is an excellent traditional pop songwriter, but what sets his music apart from the crowd is the unexpected, sometimes quirky layers he adds to his songs – the echo effect in “Stars Are Crazy” or the intense vocal surge on the chorus of “On Our Own Time.”

Fans of Buckingham’s Fleetwood Mac contributions or his earliest solo work will find much to like on Seeds We Sow. Songs like “Gone Too Far,” “Illumination,” and especially “That's the Way Love Goes” would have fit well on Fleetwood Mac albums of the late 70s and early 80s. It helps that Buckingham’s voice hasn’t lost any of its range or power, and also that his guitar playing remains top-notch. He shows off his trademark finger-style playing throughout the album, and even pulls out a terrific shredding solo on “One Take.”

With “Seeds We Sow,” Buckingham has created an album that will be appreciated by Fleetwood Mac fans, Lindsey Buckingham fans, and if there’s any justice, lots of new fans.

A-

Friday, September 23, 2011

Lindsey Buckingham Shows his pluck - NY Daily News


Lindsey Buckingham praises his own quick guitar fingers on 'Seeds We Sow' album

Is self-indulgence always bad?

Not if the person in question has a self worth indulging.

Lindsey Buckingham's latest solo work makes a winning case for self-love. It finds the star fetishizing his own fast fingerings - those dizzying arpeggios that speak most deeply to him. To stress the disk's engaging narcissism, Buckingham played nearly all the instruments himself. He also wrote all the songs save one (the Stones' obscure "She Smiles Sweetly").

Needless to say, it's a guitar geek's dream, in which the structure of the songs - based on the dense latticework of broken chords - steals more attention than the melodies, vocals or lyrics.

It's the perfect album to bolster a solo tour by the star, who stops by Town Hall Monday.

"Seeds We Sow" represents the least Fleetwood Mac-minded work Buckingham has issued under his own name. You can feel the sense of liberation that must have excited in him. It shows not only in his guitar flights but in his vocal tics, which center on little oohs and ahs - on sucked breaths and gasped exhales.

That's not to say the tunes themselves aren't catchy or that the lyrics aren't to the point - many of them dealing with the rapid passage of time. But the core of the songs rests on their execution - on the thrill of strings plucked precisely, quickly and with love.

NY Daily News
by Jim Farber

Review: Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow" put on the headphones and settle in for a beautiful ride


For some reason, Lindsey Buckingham's solo career has flown under the radar. As he released his third studio recording in 6 years, he seems to get better with age….

"Seeds We Sow" is his first album away from Warner's umbrella as he created his own label, "Mind Kit Records". It was also recorded in his home studio, which in this case is a good thing. For those who are used to listening to Buckingham however, it is a huge departure from anything he has recorded. Many of the songs have been stripped down to his voice, his guitar, and drums. I've read critics complain that it's under produced, but the vibe created with this music/lyric marriage is perfect. He even took an old Rolling Stone deep cut (She Smiles Sweetly) and made it his own.

Continue to the Full Review at Associated Content - Yahoo

By: Caston Countz

Review: Lindsey Buckingham "challenging yet melodic songs on Seeds We Sow"

Buckingham continues to go his own way
By Jesse De Leon
Caller.com

"Seeds We Sow still echoes with the signature musical imprint of one of rock's most influential architects"

CORPUS CHRISTI — When Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac on New Year's Eve 1974, they had no idea how their relationship would affect the group's musical direction. They were a couple at the time, and their eventual breakup, as well as the dissolution of the marriage between fellow band members John and Christine McVie, ended up being the inspiration for many of the songs on the band's masterwork, 1977's Rumours. Buckingham's finest moment on that album was the blistering pop/rock of "Go Your Own Way," a fiery kiss-off to Nicks. That song was just one of the highlights of the group's many successful albums.

After several multiplatinum discs and sold-out tours, Buckingham announced he was leaving Fleetwood Mac, only to return for a much-hyped reunion in 1997. Whether he was in the band or not, he still released several solo albums that displayed his own brand of quirky pop music more sharply than it did on past Mac projects. He returns with another batch of challenging yet melodic songs on Seeds We Sow (Mind Kit Records).

Amazingly, Buckingham's voice seems to have transcended time, as his vocals sound as if they could have graced some of Fleetwood Mac's best 70s work. But it's obvious that he's a little worse for the emotional wear and tear and he cleverly juxtaposes his take on the disturbing state of the world against a lovely, deceptively engaging melody on "End of Time." While that is far and away the best song here, several of the other performances are layered with Buckingham's multi-tracked voice and assured, meticulous guitar lines.

"Illumination" is a song that finds Buckingham displaying his gray haired wisdom in a lyrically clever way. "In Our Own Time" and "That's The Way Love Goes" are melodic cautionary tales in a similar vein and they perfectly balance the less innocuous reflections like the eerie "When She Comes Down." All the songs are originals except for an acoustic cover of the Rolling Stones' "She Smiled Sweetly" that sounds as if Buckingham ran through this tune in a casual, offhand way and liked the end result. On the other end of the spectrum is "Stars Are Crazy," the one track that sounds like it could have been on Rumours, as it tears through the emotional wreckage of what's left of a relationship. In a sense, that song brings it all full-circle for Buckingham, as Seeds We Sow still echoes with the signature musical imprint of one of rock's most influential architects.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow" ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Stars

Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We Sow
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Stars

Seeds We Sow really could be an analogy for the life of Lindsey Buckingham. He is seen as successful, supremely talented, driven but with that little edge that has been the subject of many a Rock documentary.

Seeds We Sow is the sixth solo album by the man more known as the creative force behind some of Fleetwood Mac’s finest moments including the fantastic Go Your Own Way, Second Hand News, the brutal sounding Tusk and Caroline. Some of the most personal moments of his life have been recorded for posterity and listened to millions of times over world-wide and in Seeds We Sow, it seems as though that incredible trend continues.

The gentle sounding opening of the title track hides the vision of the macabre, don’t let the refinement of Lindsey’s finger skills on the guitar fool you, to understand the man, sometimes you have to go beyond the aural and pour over his carefully placed words, there can’t be too many musicians who will invoke the name of Edgar Allen Poe alongside the ghoulish Medicine Man in any of their songs.

That’s the point of Lindsey’s music though; it demands that you take in every aspect, not just the playing of one of the top rated musicians of his and other generations but the feeling, the depth that pours out of his sole and into people’s rooms throughout the world. At this, he is one of the finest exponents of his craft.  

From the downbeat  title track ofSeeds We Sow, the album has its buoyant moments that just sing and even venture in the realms of whimsy, especially on the childlike bedtime song That’s the Way That Loves Goes. The beautiful mental picture that Lindsey perfects with his guitar is raised as he goes out of the subtle whimsy into full blown rock, the song is a modern masterpiece in the vein of Steve Hackett.

For those that hanker for the type of recording that he produced on the Gift of Screws which had the bonus of having fellow Fleetwood Mac cohorts John Mcvie and Mick Fleetwood appear on the album are missing the point, sometimes you have to make a personal statement away from those you grew up with, it may be the hardest thing you do but in the end the results speak for themselves.

Seeds We Sow is a genuine modern masterpiece, outstanding in every department and the best thing Lindsey has done since the classic line up of Fleetwood Mac.


by: Ian D. Hall
Liverpool Student Media

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Review: Lindsey Buckingham Seeds We Sow - a solid album with strong hooks and irresistible vocal harmonizing


Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We Sow
(Mind Kit)
Written by Ernie Paik


Demonstrating one of the most successful band reboots ever, Fleetwood Mac evolved irregularly, going from a good-to-great British blues-rock group to a staggeringly popular rock/pop phenomenon, with the inclusion of Americans Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in the mid-’70s.  For the current generation of listeners, understanding why other ’70s phenomena were huge and important may be easier to fathom—ABBA spawned modern pop, and Led Zeppelin bridged the transition from blues-worship to hard rock.

But, understandably, Fleetwood Mac likely brings to mind, to vaguely informed youngsters, middle-of-the-road Californian soft rock and Stevie Nicks’s earthy long-dress mysticism.  The multi-multi-platinum-selling album Rumours got most of the attention, but this writer maintains that the true masterpiece of the Fleetwood Mac reboot is the ambitious 1979 double-album Tusk, largely due to Lindsey Buckingham’s contributions; with home recording experimentation and bent pop conventions, his tracks were always a little off-center but never unpalatable.

Decades later, it’s comforting to know that Buckingham hasn’t rested nor given in to mediocrity, and his latest, Seeds We Sow, is actually the third in a run of solo releases in the last half-decade, following the excellent Under the Skin and Gift of Screws.  With Buckingham’s own reboot (there’s a 14-year gap between Under the Skin and its predecessor), he has emerged with a style that highlights his acoustic guitar fingerpicking chops; this is apparent on the opening title track and throughout the album, like on “Stars Are Crazy,” with cascades of echoing note patterns.

As possibly hinted by its title, “In Our Own Time” is hard to place in a certain time period, with drum machine beats, jarring string-ensemble hits, and the trademark Buckingham pop-song nervousness.  He shows a D.I.Y. spirit, releasing and recording Seeds We Sow by himself, and his home recordings are stark and clean but not shiny-slick, with everything up front.  It may come as a surprise—a solid album with strong hooks and irresistible vocal harmonizing, showcasing Buckingham’s vitality as a veteran who refuses to go through the motions.



Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Buckingham's brilliant again...


Edmonton Journal September 13, 2011

Lindsey Buckingham
"Seeds We Sow"

Seeds We Sow is the sixth solo release from this legendary Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter-guitarist and features some of his most intimate and personal lyrics in his critically-acclaimed career.

The songs here cover a wide swath of styles - beginning with the simple, cascading guitar and floating vocals of the opening title track and the rockier style of "That's The Way Love Goes" to the hook-y pop fun of "Illumination," or "When She Comes Down" that contains some complex harmonic arrangements. Naturally, the album features Buckingham's distinctive guitar picking style as well as his instantly recognizable voice. But despite all of these divergent musical styles, he wanted his orchestral guitar to be the unifying sound on this project. The CD was recorded in his Los Angeles studio and Buckingham played the majority of the instruments himself, as well as handling the mixing and producing duties.

From the soft melodic pop/rock tinge of "End of Time," continuing on through the album's most blistering rock track, "One Take," and ending with the hushed tones of "She Smiles Sweetly," a lovely Rolling Stones' cover, this CD showcases the full compliment of Lindsey Buckingham's formidable skills.

Lindsey Buckingham will be bringing this new music, along with some classic Fleetwood Mac tunes, to our area when he plays at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside on Thursday, Sept. 22. Tickets and more information is available at 215-572-7650, or online at www.keswicktheatre.com

By SEAN HICKEY
Dailylocal

Monday, September 12, 2011

Review: Lindsey Buckingham “Seeds We Sow” deserves to be heard

Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We Sow
(Mindkit Records)
3 ½ stars.
By Kevin O'Hare
Masslive

Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham is on this list as one of the Top 10 guitarists in the game, and certainly one of the most underrated.

His solo career has included several outstanding efforts like “Go Insane” and “Out of the Cradle” that have also often flown under the radar. “Seeds We Sow” deserves to be heard.

Buckingham’s sixth solo album and first self-release, features plenty of his fretboard virtuosity, whether it’s the rippling acoustic beauty heard on the title track or the finger-picking wizardry that rises to the top of “Stars Are Crazy.”

For fans of the mighty Mac, Buckingham offers several selections that will evoke echoes of the band that brought him to fame, namely the rockin’ “Tusk” styled “One Take,” the uptempo “That’s the Way That Love Goes” and the hook-filled big throttle of “Rock Away Blind.”

Guitar aficionados will find a lot to like about the first single, “In Our Own Time,” while the disc finishes with an imaginative cover of the Rolling Stones’ “She Smiled Sweetly.”

Tracks to download: “One Take” “In Our Own Time.”

Saturday, September 10, 2011

REVIEW: "Seeds We Sow" Lindsey Buckingham "simple melody enriched by incredible instrumentals"


LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Seeds We Sow
Whitney Tolar

Fleetwood Mac fans get excited – Lindsey Buckingham’s new album, “Seeds We Sow,” is now available for download and as a whole, it is definitely praiseworthy.

Even for generations too young to remember Buckingham’s pre-solo career, the album should resonate with anyone who appreciates a simple melody enriched by incredible instrumentals on the acoustic guitar.

The overall tone of the album is nostalgic and tranquil, yet one or two songs stray slightly from Buckingham’s characteristically understated sound into a louder, fast-paced style that has a more rock 'n roll feel, which is not necessarily pleasant.

“One Take,” for example, is out of place in the otherwise calming collection of songs, but this does not detract from the quality of the album as a whole.

A few especially great songs are  “Seeds We Sow” and “End of Time.”

The album’s title track, “Seeds We Sow,” offers beautiful, intricate instrumentals on the acoustic guitar, creating a calming sound reminiscent of classic Fleetwood Mac.

This song is definitely the standout of the album, featuring subdued yet powerful vocals and touching lyrics making for a catchy melody that is sure to get stuck in your head (in the best way possible).

While the vocals and lyrics are impressive throughout, Buckingham’s awe-inspiring expertise on the acoustic guitar is what truly makes the album exceptional, unique, and definitely worth a download.

For the most part, “Seeds We Sow” maintains a refreshing folk sound few artists can achieve as well as Buckingham.

Friday, September 09, 2011

Review: New York Times - "Seeds We Sow"


Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We sow
By JON PARELES

When Lindsey Buckingham sings, “I woke up in the middle of the night/with you on my mind,” it’s hard to avoid thinking he means his many guitars, acoustic and electric. Throughout his solo album “Seeds We Sow” (Buckingham Records) his fingers fly, often in layers of fast, restless finger-picking that he clearly couldn’t wait to assemble. He played, produced and mostly wrote the songs all by himself, except for one songwriting collaboration and a version of the Rolling Stones’s “She Smiled Sweetly.” While Mr. Buckingham obviously selected every buzzing or pinging guitar tone carefully, the production has the low-fi informality of a demo. He maintains the sense of pop melody he brought to Fleetwood Mac, and he sings in an expressively frayed latter-day version of his old high tenor. His lyrics philosophize about love, loss and passing time. But his guitar geekery is the album’s governing force, and it’s usually for the better.

New York Times

Review Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow" sheer gorgeous pop genius, highly recommended

Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We Sow
Guy.com by Jeb Delia

"Buckingham continues to amaze with not just the technical brilliance of his guitar playing, but the sheer variety of different tones and stylings"


It’s surprising how easily Buckingham seems to slide back into the retro mode when there’s a Fleetwood Mac tour on the horizon. Yeah, the money’s good, but I doubt he needs it, and the man we meet in his solo recordings seems so content with his new life (happily married, three kids), that it feels odd to see him retreat back into the role of “touring past glories” hitmaker. Fortunately, though, neither domestic bliss or the glow of nostalgia are blunting his considerable talents as composer, producer, and guitarist.

On his third album in five years, Buckingham handles not only the writing and producing, but plays nearly every instrument himself, and self-released Seeds We Sow through his own new label. Perhaps more than any of his peers, Buckingham continues to amaze with not just the technical brilliance of his guitar playing, but the sheer variety of different tones and stylings: “One Take” is busy and blistering, “In Our Own Time” glows with shimmering harmonies, and “Rock Away Blind” recalls his clean, epic fretwork on Mac classics like “Go Your Own Way.” And while it can be argued that his old band’s turbulent times caused him to dig deeper with his songwriting than he does today, he’s still able to inhabit a song like “Stars Are Crazy” or “That’s The Way Love Goes” as though he were still burning with the flames that stoked the sexual carousel that was Mac in its heyday. For sheer gorgeous pop genius, highly recommended.

Review: Lindsey Buckingham Seeds We Sow "It is his most interesting and varied work since '84's “Go Insane"

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Seeds We Sow
George Lang
NewsOK.com

Following two solo albums of gauzy beauty suggesting that placidity had settled upon Lindsey Buckingham's restless mind, “Seeds We Sow,” his sixth solo studio disc, indicates that the Fleetwood Mac guitarist still has demons to exorcise. Indeed, “Seeds We Sow” finds Buckingham alternating between moments of pop transcendence and exhilarating songs in which he sounds like he might come unglued. It is his most interesting and varied solo work since 1984's “Go Insane,” the last time he behaved as if he could take breaks from carrying the standard for Fleetwood Mac's musical legacy and just be a freak.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Reviews: Lindsey Buckingham "Seeds We Sow" This follow-up is a more typical Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We Sow


There’s a reason Lindsey Buckingham is portrayed as the aloof-and-silent type on Saturday Night Live’s “What’s Up With That?”: In real life, he’s always seemed that way. Yet his songs with Fleetwood Mac—many of which he sang—remain some of the most heartrendingly intimate ever committed to mass consciousness. His solo work since Mac’s prime has been hit or miss, but 2008’s Gift Of Screws was a beautiful reminder of Buckingham’s bygone directness and warmth. His new album, Seeds We Sow, sees him shying away again. But not always in a bad way.

Seeds’ biggest barrier is one Buckingham has always shielded himself with: the studio. Otherwise stunning folk-rock gems such as “Stars Are Crazy” and the disc’s title track drown stark, naked folk in staccato reverb and air-conditioned acoustics. Often, though, Buckingham elicits gooseflesh for the right reasons. “Illumination” is a sharp, accusatory screed that vibrates like a Tusk outtake, and “In Our Own Time” wrings sorcery out of Buckingham’s signature finger-picked arpeggios and haunted swathes of harmony. But where Gift Of Screws showcased the unforced and immediate passion of his voice, even the best moments on Seeds feel as though they’re being heard through a stethoscope placed upon Buckingham’s chest.

One thing Buckingham has never forgotten, though, is how to construct albums with the consummate balance and gravity-defying magic of an architect. After laying a foundation of sprawling airiness and sumptuous overdubs, he tops Seeds with “She Smiled Sweetly,” a bittersweet, almost medieval-sounding love song that falters and quivers like collapsing lungs. And when he closes the track—and the album—with what might be the soft, breathy aftershock of a kiss, he once again cuts through all the effects and atmospherics to deliver a little raw piece of his heart.

By Jason Heller
A.V. Club


Lindsey Buckingham
Seeds We Sow (Mind Kit)

With 2008’s Gift of Screws, Lindsey Buckingham proved he could make a vintage Fleetwood Mac-sounding album all (largely) by himself. This follow-up is a more typical Buckingham solo set — meaning that the pop mastery is still here, but the overall feel is darker and more insular. He does seem in a more downcast mood than usual, whether that’s due to romantic troubles, advancing age, or the state of the nation (the foreboding “End of Time” alludes to all three). And the best moments here are indeed melancholy: “When She Comes Down” echoes the soaringly sad feel of Mac’s “Walk a Thin Line,” and the closing cover, “She Smiled Sweetly,” has a verge-of-tears vocal that makes it more affecting than the Rolling Stones’ original. With nobody else in the studio, Buckingham alternates stripped-down acoustic numbers with full-band facsimiles. That said, even the loudest songs here — like the topical “One Take,” which includes one of his most ferocious guitar solos ever — don’t detract from the album’s late-night, down-there mood.

BY BRETT MILANO
Sound and Vision