Showing posts with label Gift of Screws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gift of Screws. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Lindsey Buckingham's "Gift of Screws" and Fleetwood Mac's '75 LP part of @wbr Vinyl Site Relaunch

Warner Bros. Records relaunch online vinyl record store in advance of Black Friday



Both Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac are represented with the site relaunch. Lindsey's 2008 album "Gift of Screws" and Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self-titled album "Fleetwood Mac" otherwise known as the white album are both available on vinyl. The 1975 vinyl comes either in a 2LP 45 RPM 180 Gram set or the single 33 & 1/3 RPM Vinyl album.

To relaunch the site Warner Bros. is giving 15% off your purchase for Black Friday weekend (Nov. 29th through Dec 1st) with an additional 10% off discount code to email subscribers. If you want the "Gift of Screws" vinyl, you could receive a 30% discount if you wait until December 10th during the "12 days of vinyl Daily Flash Sale" where 30% is taken off that days targeted album.  Lindsey's album will be the selection on December 10th.

Check it out at Because Sound Matters.


Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Enter To Win Autographed - Gift of Screws

Enter to WIN an Autographed copy of Gift of Screws

Apple QuickTime is currently featuring Lindsey Buckingham behind-the-scenes videos.

Watch Lindsey give in-depth, personal takes on songs from his latest album, Gift Of Screws.

Watch the videos here: http://otmg.net/qt/lb/lb.html One lucky winner will also receive a signed copy of Gift Of Screws, which is available now on Reprise Records.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

Lindsey Buckingham: “Fleetwood Mac still have a lot to say”

MusicRadar.com
The MusicRadar interview
by: Joe Bosso
Monday September 29, 2008

“Rumours was like climbing Mount Everest,” says Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham. “Once you’ve done that, you can’t go any higher. You just have to find other places to go.”

And in the three decades since the release of that worldwide favorite (which has racked up sales of over 30 million copies), Buckingham has indeed followed his own erratic muse. There have been band breakups, reunions, solo albums, and a general understanding that Fleetwood Mac will only come together only when the mood is right.

“We’ve been through it all,” Buckingham says. “I think the fact that we’re still standing is proof of how strong our bond is. It’s taken a while to get to this point.”

Buckingham states that 2009 will be a Fleetwood Mac year, but before he reunites with the band he’s on the road to promote his strongest solo effort in years, Gift Of Screws.

Back to the amps

Unlike 2006’s Under The Skin, which was a largely acoustic work, Gift Of Screws is a more rocking affair. “It just felt right,” says the guitarist. “For me to put out Under The Skin II wouldn’t have made any sense. It was time for me to amp things up again.”

While the new album is resplendent with moments of ethereal beauty and intensity - and virtuosic fingerpicking that will drop jaws to the floor - there are also cuts that recall the Fleetwood Mac at their most rhapsodic. Not surprisingly, on these songs, Wait For You and The Right Place To Fade, Buckingham is backed by one of the finest rhythm section in rock, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

Lindsey Buckingham recently sat down with MusicRadar to discuss Gift Of Screws and to give us the lowdown on Fleetwood Mac.

“It’s been a twisty little road for the band,” Buckingham admits. “But nowadays things are a little easier and the line is a lot straighter. To be in this place is quite a relief.”

Lindsey Buckingham: Q&A

How does Gift Of Screws relate to your last solo album, Under The Skin? Could you have released this one without having released that one first?

“I could have. In fact, Warner Brothers would have much preferred this one. [laughs] When I turned in Under The Skin, their general response was ‘Yeah we’ll put it out, but don’t expect us to do too much.’ But Under The Skin was an approach I’m very interested in, which is to take the kind of energy that a single guitar and voice have and apply the manner in which they succeed on stage in a studio situation.

“So I would use one or two guitars and have them do the work of the bass and drums and lead guitars pretty much throughout. I was very happy with that album. In retrospect, it functions as an opening act for Gift Of Screws.”

You went through many years between solo releases, but Gift Of Screws and Under The Skin happened in rapid succession. Is this the sign of a new wave of productivity?

“To some degree. Some of that is reflective of my personal life, and a certain stability that I have been able to find, having gotten married and having had children. But it also is about the fact that I put a three-year boundary in terms of Fleetwood Mac. I basically said, ‘Guys, I need these three years to do solo work and tour. But the band has had a pattern of coming into the picture anyway. [laughs]

“That’s happened several times, the most recent being when I was poised to release a solo album and the band wanted to record, and so almost all of my solo material got folded into the 2003 album Say You Will. And I’ve just kind of made it under the wire here because I think Fleetwood Mac may start rehearsing some time in January.”

The return of Fleetwood Mac

Are Fleetwood Mac going to record an album as well as tour?

“We’ll do some dates and get comfortable again. And assuming all goes well, we’ll make an album and then tour. So we have a rough, long-term sketch going and everyone’s very excited about it. I think Fleetwood Mac still have a lot to say musically.”

Tell me about Sheryl Crow’s supposed involvement at one point. Did you guys rehearse with her?

“No. [laughs] That whole thing has been blown up so far out of proportion to anything that was real. The reason that there was even any consideration in bringing in someone like Sheryl was that Stevie, having gone through a tour in 2003 without Christine McVie, missed that female camaraderie on stage, and so she was looking for someone else to kind of share that with.

“We’re all acquainted with Sheryl and Stevie brought up Sheryl’s name. I was fine with the idea, hypothetically speaking. I did have some private reservations about it that I didn’t voice, like, ‘Hmmm, are we now going to be doing Sheryl Crow songs in a Fleetwood Mac set?’ [laughs] That would be something of a mixed message. So the idea sort of sat there and there was no decision on it.

“Then Sheryl had an album come out and, as I understand it, during interviews she took it upon herself to announce it to the world that she was joining Fleetwood Mac! [laughs]

“That was something I was distanced from, but I guess it bothered Stevie a great deal. It was weird, and I think it led to Stevie having a bit of friction with Sheryl. Plus, Sheryl then realized that we weren’t just talking about 40 dates; we were talking about three years. So, after that…it just kind of went away.

“To me, the best way to approach Fleetwood Mac is to take the four core people and work on our dynamic, and there are many positives to that. I think this is going to allow Stevie and I to explore a lot, musically and emotionally.”

How do you and Stevie maintain a relationship? She’s said in interviews that you’re still the great love of her life. Does that make you uncomfortable?

“One of the things about Fleetwood Mac is, when we’re not together, we don’t talk a lot or keep in touch. We keep a healthy distance. But a good part of what we need to approach this time around is the dynamic between Stevie and me. It’s intense. We’ve been down a long road and we’ve known each other since we were about 16. We need to honor that and dignify that story, and I think that we’ll do that on our next recordings.”

Guitars and production

On the new album’s song Great Day, you have a wonderful mix of acoustics, and you play a blazing electric solo. What guitars did you use?

“I use a Rick Turner Renaissance gut-string for playing those little bluesy kind of drop-D riffs. The solo is the normal Turner stage guitar. I like that song a lot because it’s almost like a potpourri of everything that follows on the album.”

Tell me about the Rick Turner guitar, your mainstay instrument. When did you start using it and what do you like about it?

“It was brought to me probably after Rumours and during the making of Tusk. Its funny, because I don’t play with a pick, and before joining the band I had used a Telecaster which was appropriate for my playing style, and yet the Telecaster didn’t blend with the existing sound of Fleetwood Mac - the fatness of Christine and John’s instruments. So I had to switch over to a Les Paul to get the tone that seemed to work. A Les Paul is not a very good fingerpicking guitar, though, so I asked Rick to make me something that was somehow a cross between a Les Paul and a Telecaster. The guitar he came up with delivered in every area and it’s worked for me since.”

On the song Time Precious Time your fingerpicking is unbelievable. Are there any particular exercises you practice?

“I don’t practice per se. I learned to play on my own, taught myself how to play. I’ve never really had a lesson and I don’t read music. So all the stuff that I do doesn’t come from the normal set of disciplines that they teach you where you sit down and run through scales for a particular number of minutes a day.

“I’m not that knowledgeable with the guitar - I just find ways that are pretty creative, but it’s all within the framework and the limitations of what I can do. As they say, it’s not what you got, it’s what you do with what you got.

“On that song, the actual finger pattern of the right hand is just an arpeggio back and forth between the thumb and three fingers. It sounds like a waterfall to me - that was the idea, at least. In order to get that, I had to find a tuning that was specifically geared towards the notes that I wanted to use and then to find the new thumb notes that needed to be used with those, which were a root and a fourth.

“I figured out a tuning that was more or less open so I didn’t have to do a lot of fretting. And then I taught myself the positions all the way up and down the neck that would that would get to those things. It was an interesting exercise.”

Some of the sounds on the album recall the edgy production techniques from Tusk (1979). Your fascination at the time with punk and new wave was a very big deal. Did that have a negative impact on the band?

“Yes and no. I always made the joke that I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Warner Brothers first put Tusk on and listened to it in their boardroom as a follow-up to Rumours. That was an interesting, defining moment for me. The idea of subverting the formula that led to the success of Rumours, because clearly we were poised to follow that same formula to try and recreate the same success.

“And yes, a lot of new kinds of music had flooded in during that time and I was quite intrigued by a lot of it and loved a lot of it and it reinforced a lot of my belief system anyway.

“For me, it still defines the way I think, which is to try and follow your own instincts and not the expectations of external forces that may be wanting you to do certain things for the wrong reasons.

“In terms of the band, it did have a negative impact in a way. There was kind of an arc in the whole process where they were a little bit alienated from what was going on because at first I was working at home and bringing stuff in, and I think they were a little bit threatened by the lack of status quo at that point. As the album unfolded and people became aware of what it was I think everyone got pulled into what it was and got enchanted by the fact that it was different and experimental.

“Of course, when it didn’t sell 16 million albums there was a backlash from within the band. Basically, it became, ‘Well, we’re gonna put it back on track and work in the manner in which we made Rumours.’ If you want to call that an in adverse effect on the band I guess you could.”

How do you feel now about the belated regard to Tusk? Now people are calling it a masterpiece…

“All of those events never affected my feelings on the album and what it was. It only affected my feelings for the politics and it gave me a little sense of disappointment in the sense that I guess I was feeling at the time. It drove in the point that not everyone in the band were doing things for the same reason. But that’s fair enough too because Fleetwood Mac as a fivesome was a very unlikely group of people to be together in the first place.”

On a couple of the new songs on the new record, you’re joined by Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. How aware are you that whenever they play with you, it immediately sounds like Fleetwood Mac?

“I’m a little too close to it to be completely aware. It’s really hard to hear because on some level I am close to it and maybe take it for granted a little bit. But I have so much regard for Mick, especially as a drummer. He’s completely unique. Nobody else in the world sounds like him.”

Of all of your solos, I’m So Afraid is a show-stopper. What goes through your head every night you play it? And how much room for improvisation do you give yourself?

“I’m no Jimi Hendrix. I don’t have the level of proficiency to just let myself go off into something completely different every night. Nor do I think I would want to. I am someone who values musical themes. Someone who feels there should be a consistency from night to night with something. I’m not one of those people that can slam out a completely different solo every night because I don’t have the skill to do that.”

Buckingham and Nicks

Let’s go back to you and Stevie. What do you think would’ve happened if the two of you never joined Fleetwood Mac?

“That’s a good question! [laughs] I don’t know what we’d be doing now. But there was a period of time where we both wondered what would have happened if we had passed on the offer from Mike Fleetwood, because after Stevie and I had done that one album together we started to play some shows in the South - and things started to happen for us there!

“It was weird: we lived in LA and we were starving, but in the South we were headlining for three and four thousand people a night, which is more then I can play to now! [laughs] To be honest, I don’t really don’t have any answers to that question. Who knows where we’d be?”

Fleetwood Mac became famous for the soap opera - the fights, the squabbles, the walkouts. Do you think you have all mellowed with age and the things that used to bother you don’t seem so important now?

“I think one of the reasons why everyone is looking forward to next year is that we’re at a point where we’re feeling the same thing, which is to go out and acknowledge that there is a great deal of caring and love between us and acknowledge that we’ve accomplished something significant; and to acknowledge that everything we do needs to be come from the perspective of us sharing something and enjoying that thing and keeping that particular individual agenda down to a minimum.

“Just to relax into it and have a good time. What I think is going to happen out of that is that feeling is going to translate on stage. So yeah, I think we have gotten there. We’ve mellowed, but we’ll still rock!”

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Lindsey Buckingham: Official Soundscan Numbers - 1st Week Gift of Screws

Lindsey Buckingham's Gift of Screws was released on September 16th.

It came in at #48 on Billboards Top 200 Albums chart in the US.

First week sales are 9,588


Previous Albums on Billboard and Peak Positions:
Law and Order - Released October 1981
#32 - 24 weeks on

Go Insane - Released July 1984
#45 - 16 weeks on

Out of The Cradle - Released June 1992
#128 - 9 weeks on

Under The Skin - Released October 3, 2006
#80 - 1 week on

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Gift of Screws - LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM (Billboard Review)
 
Billboard Magazine
 
Lindsey Buckingham once sang about "Never Going Back Again," but he's
backtracked—sort of—on his fifth solo album. "Gift of Screws" picks up
where the rock auteur left off in the early days of this decade,
before he was lured back into the Fleetwood Mac fold for 2003's "Say
You Will." Mac minions will find this electric-flavored, band-sounding
album pleasing, but there's also the avant ambience that's
Buckingham's stock in trade. So while something like "The Right Place
to Fade" knocks off Fleetwood Mac's "Second Hand News" and the title
cut (one of three recorded with the Mick Fleetwood-John McVie rhythm
section) is charging garage rock, "Great Day" sports the stark and
primitive sonics of "Tusk" and Buckingham's early solo albums. —Gary
 
Graff

Chart Activity

Charts This week

Australia:
Fleetwood Mac's "The Very Best Of"
Re-enters the Top 50 at #50 (Sept 22nd)

United Kingdom:
Lindsey Buckingham's "Gift of Screws"
enters the Top 75 at #59 (Sept 21st)

Norway:
Lindsey Buckingham's "Gift of Screws"
enters the Top 40 at #17 (Sept 23rd)

Monday, September 22, 2008

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Fleetwood Mac’s studio mastermind fleshes out his solo sound with a band

By GEORGE A. PAUL
The OC Register

Lindsey Buckingham’s return to the Grove a strong one

Review: Two years since a solo acoustic gig there, Fleetwood Mac’s studio mastermind fleshes out his solo sound with a band.

For the Lindsey Buckingham completist, this was as good as it gets.

During an exceptional, nearly two-hour show Friday night at the Grove of Anaheim, the Fleetwood Mac singer-guitarist-studio-wiz touched upon virtually every facet of his lengthy career. Buckingham’s wife and young children were present, a likely catalyst for his relaxed and chatty demeanor.

Unlike the last tour – which arrived at the Grove in late 2006 – Buckingham indulged fewer guitar showcases alone. (See “Live at the Bass Performance Hall,” released earlier this year, for a fine example of that). His tight three-piece band this time out, including keyboardist-bassist Brett Tuggle (a veteran of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks treks) and guitarist Neale Heywood, rocked plain and simple.

Since Buckingham compositions were continually given over to the Mac, 14 years elapsed between his third solo disc, “Out of the Cradle,” and the mostly acoustic effort “Under the Skin.” But this past week the impressive “Gift of Screws” (a title based on an Emily Dickinson poem) arrived in stores – the veteran musician is definitely making up for lost time.

Buckingham employs a unique, self-taught finger-picking style on electric and acoustic guitars. The result is a distinct sound that can be a wonder to behold live.

In Anaheim, half of “Screws” comprised the 20-song set, kicking off with the churning new “Great Day,” where Heywood, Tuggle and their boss traded overlapping harmonies. (Click here for a complete set list.) Solo hits from the ’80s like “Trouble” and “Go Insane” were played back-to-back, each done in full-band mode. The former had a gorgeous rhythmic sweep; the latter, an almost country-rock vibe with cascading vocals from all three guys.

Evil Buckingham cackles, tribal drums from drummer Walfredo Reyes and ominous keyboards marked a wicked “Tusk,” with Tuggle triggering the USC Marching Band horns. That prompted the first of several standing ovations.

The evolution of 1987’s “Big Love” was described “an ensemble piece before I took leave of the band to relieve my sanity.” Buckingham, 59, said refashioning it for just voice and guitar became a template for future work. “I’d been living a narrow life” until I got married. “Now the song has taken on a sense of irony.” Watching Buckingham’s manic buildup and nimble fretwork on flamenco-styled guitar during that song never gets old.

One of the evening’s oldest tunes was “World Turning” from the Mac’s self-titled 1975 album. It’s been a frequent part of that band’s gigs ever since. The crowd didn’t have to endure Mick Fleetwood’s loony human percussion shtick here, but Reyes’ extended spotlight was clearly a tribute.

Some lighthearted moments occurred during the rarely played “It Was You,” a “rock nursery rhyme written for my kids,” as Buckingham described it. Halfway through the breezy tune, with more cascading vocals, his son and daughter tentatively strolled on stage to add percussion, proud papa beaming throughout.

Buckingham also pulled out the strange and bombastic “Come,” off the Mac’s shamefully ignored 2003 reunion effort, “Say You Will.” It was a “bathroom break” tune when I reviewed them at Verizon in ‘04, but fans at the not-quite-sold-out Grove stayed seated. (I would’ve picked something more melodic off that disc, such as “Bleed to Love Her” or “Steal Your Heart Away,” and given either one a tweak).

“Gift of Screws,” meanwhile, is chock-full of potential adult rock radio hits. The yearning first single “Did You Miss Me?,” with its memorable chorus, came across even better in concert, for instance.

Once Buckingham and company reached the home stretch, the audience was on its feet, wildly clapping along to exhilarating old “Rumours” faves “Go Your Own Way” and “Second Hand News.” All told, Buckingham proved he’s still a force to be reckoned with.

Setlist:
Great Day / Love Runs Deeper / 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 / It Was You / Did You Miss Me / Come / World Turning / I’m So Afraid / Go Your Own Way

Encore: Second Hand News / Don’t Look Down / Treason

5th solo album for Buckingham

By Scott Iwasaki
Deseret News
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008

Lindsey Buckingham, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his band Fleetwood Mac back in 1998, said working on his fifth solo album was "effortless."

"When I did my last album, 'Under the Skin,' it was not a rock album," said Buckingham during a phone call from his home in Los Angeles. "There were no lead guitars, no drum and bass.

"With the new album ('Gift of Screws'), I came into it with songs that rocked," he said. "And that set the precedence."

From there, Buckingham let the music take the reins.

"While getting the songs together, there were a few other songs that I had written a few years ago that wanted to be part of the project. So I let them.

"It all came together easily, even though I was laying down tracks in hotel rooms on a little Korg mixer during my last solo tour," he said.

Making a solo album is a musical vacation for Buckingham.

"I don't have to make a CD for money," he said. "That's one of the luxuries I have with Fleetwood Mac.

"When I make a solo album, it's more to be away from Fleetwood Mac and examine the left side of my palette."

Still, Buckingham knows he will always be connected to the Fleetwood Mac machine. And he even has drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie as guests on his new album.

"They are on the recordings of some of the older songs that I had written for the album," said Buckingham. "The album is really a reflection of what I have done throughout my career. And having John and Mick on the album ties that part of my life into the project."
Still, another beauty of making a solo record is not having to answer to anyone but himself, said Buckingham.

"With a band there are politics," he said. "You have to work within a border. And that is challenging."

With that said, however, Buckingham said Fleetwood Mac will be doing some things next year.

"Stevie (Nicks) and I have been talking, and there is some good energy going through the band," he said.

"We've decided that we all need to be nice to each other," he said with a laugh.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Buckingham gets intimate at the Orpheum

by Michael Senft
Sept. 19, 2008
The Arizona Republic

With a new album in stores, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham returned to the Valley on Thursday, Sept. 18 for an intimate, and loud, show at the Orpheum Theatre.

Although he played many of the same tunes and featured the same three-piece backup band, Thursday night was a sharp contrast from Buckingham’s recent Valley shows in ‘06 and ‘07, which were promoting his primarily acoustic Under the Skin album. This tour featured Buckingham in full guitar god mode, peppering his two-hour set with lengthy solos and plenty of rock star heroics.

The most notable difference came on his older solo tunes Trouble and Go Insane. Both songs have been deconstructed into acoustic numbers on recent solo and Mac tours, but they were given full-band electric treatments this year. And the bombastic Mac tunes which were a little subdued the last time around, blossomed into their chaotic glory - the only thing missing from Tusk was a marching band.

Even the solo acoustic Shut Us Down, from Under the Skin, seemed a bit more powerful.

Despite Buckingham’s new CD, Gift of Screws, only hitting stores on Tuesday, most of the audience was familiar with the material, including the maniacal title track and Did You Miss Me which Buckingham noted was his new radio single. He didn’t seem too confident that it would actually get any airplay, however.

Buckingham turned down the volume in the middle of the show, offering an acoustic set which covered such Fleetwood Mac faves as Never Going Back Again. Big Love - a middling Mac tune in its original full-band form on 1987’s Tango in the Night album, blossomed in the stripped-down setting.

After the acoustic interlude, Buckingham plugged back in and deafened the crowd with a brace of heavier Mac tunes. World Turning featured an intricate drum solo from Walfredo Reyes, while Come, from Mac’s 2004 album Say You Will, featured some snarling lyrics and even more vicious soloing.

But the climax was the majestic I’m So Afraid. The tune has been Buckingham’s showcase for 30 years, and he didn’t disappoint, delivering a 10-minute guitar solo that had the entire theater on its feet. The smash Go Your Own Way was almost a letdown afterwards.

After the high-decibel finale, Buckingham brought the crowd back to Earth with a low-key encore set. The Mac classic Second Hand News was performed in an acoustic band setting, similar to his last appearances, and Don’t Look Down , from Buckingham’s 1993 album Out of the Cradle, was a welcome return to his set.

He finished up the show with a final pair of new tunes, the full band Treason and the gentle Time Precious Time. Unfortunately by that point the casual fans were heading for the parking lot, having heard the Mac hits they came for.

A shame really, because those final songs provided the perfect coda to a spectacular show.

Setlist:
Great Day
Love Runs Deeper
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
I’m So Afraid
Go Your Own Way
Second Hand News
Don’t Look Down
Treason
Time Precious Time

Thursday, September 18, 2008

A Collection of Gift of Screws Reviews

Lindsey Buckingham’s long-in-the-works fifth solo album isn’t a huge departure for the Fleetwood Mac guitarist/vocalist, all skittering, fingerpicked guitar work and vocal overdubs by the Tusk-load.

by Julie Seabaugh
Thu, Sep 18, 2008
Las Vegas Weekly
3.5 Stars


The overdubbed acoustic and Spanish guitars in Time Precious Time are meant to affect a waterfall, and they do a marvelous job. Indeed, the guitar work here is stunning.

by Bill Robertson
The StarPhoenix
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Rating 3 1/2


“Gift of Screws” still showcases plenty of Buckingham’s mesmerizing acoustic finger-picking but there’s also plenty of thump as well, no doubt in part to the guest contributions from his FM mates Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

by Kevin O’Hare
The Springfield Republican
Thursday September 18, 2008


It’s a bravura performance, one in which Buckingham revels in all of his many skills. Those who love him for his studio wizardry will get a kick out of the wicked-cool opening track, “Great Day,” a seamless blending of muffled percussion, kitschy keyboards, spry acoustic fingerpicking, distorted vocals, and a pair of raging electric guitar solos; he’s practically a one-man symphony.

The Hurst Review
September 18, 2998


Don’t let Buckingham’s wasted, sleep-deprived look on the cover mislead you. On this rocking companion piece to his last studio album, the low-key Under the Skin, Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and visionary has never sounded more alive.

BERNARD PERUSSE
Montreal Gazette
September 18, 2008


This is probably Lindsey Buckingham’s finest effort since the heyday of Fleetwood Mac. There’s plenty of nifty hooks and blistering guitar solos here that will send people running for their old copies of Rumours.

Graham Rockingham
Metronews.ca Vancouver
September 18, 2008


Standouts include the lush, reverb-drenched “Underground,” piercing guitar riff-driven “Wait for You,” a jubilant “Right Place to Fade” (think “Second Hand News”; it’s another of the studio wiz’s layered voice extravaganzas), chiming “Did You Miss Me” and the spare, almost gospel-tinged closer “Treason.”

George A. Paul
Inland Empire Weekly
September 18, 2008

Download "Great Day" Free at Amazon.com

Yep! A freebee.... Amazon

Only available until September 22nd.

Lindsey Buckingham - Live Daily Interview

Live Daily
By John Voket
LiveDaily

These days, Lindsey Buckingham has no problem candidly revealing the precarious tightrope walk the level of fame he’s enjoyed with Fleetwood Mac can bring to an artist who constantly seeks his own true creative center.

“Fleetwood Mac has been one of the joys of my life, but that kind of success is a double-edged sword,” Buckingham states in his bio. “You’re under tremendous pressure to sell as much and as often as possible, to become an assembly line, to feed the philosophy, ‘If it works, run it into the ground.’ Artists need to take their time to breathe in and out, to take risks though it may not always be good for business.”

With this week’s release of his latest project, “A Gift of Screws,” Buckingham has produced what may be considered an exhale–a necessary, logical counterpart to a deep inward breath that inspired his 2006 release, “Under the Skin.”

“They do seem to compliment each other,” he observed.

The material on “Screws” represents a combination of elements developed a number of years ago and others that came together in late-night, hotel-room sessions on his last tour, or while working in his home studio. And he said the time was right to “clear out the garage,” because it was becoming uncomfortably full of Buckingham creative possessions.

“As an artist, I’m still, for better or worse, clinging to my idealism and to my sense that there is still much to be said. This album is a culmination of that.”

The new project not only gave Buckingham a chance to reunite with John McVie and Mick Fleetwood on his own terms and on his own turf, but also afforded an opportunity to partner with producer Rob Cavallo, who has put his stamp on material from Jewel to Green Day and the Dave Matthews Band.

In an exclusive interview with LiveDaily, Buckingham discussed assembling his new project, collaborating (or not) with members of his immediate family, and evaluating whether or not he has racked up enough mileage in the music business to pick a hit.

LiveDaily: The advance on “Gift of Screws” suggests a project steeped in contrast; some songwriting and recoding processes are simple–literally done in hotel rooms–and others are complex studio projects. It’s packed with songs full of contrasting instrumentation and rhythms, and, while some material is brand new, some songs have been refined from foundations laid years ago. Yet, at the same time, I understand you are at a pretty happy place in your life these days, so basically none of this is helping us crack the mystique of Lindsey Buckingham.

Lindsey Buckingham: [laughing] Bummer. It’s true, though. You know, I saw a lot of my friends who were not necessarily there for their families. And I wasn’t going to be one of those guys. I was lucky to meet someone after the garbage was all behind me. So having a wife and three children definitely is a major change. It probably doesn’t help the mystique, but it does provide one with a whole different way of looking at the world, which was very necessary for me, having spent many years living in what you might call a ‘post Fleetwood Mac environment.’ There were a lot of walls and focusing on the work and not much else. So it’s been a very satisfying three or four years for me, and, in fact, the last 10 years have been profound.

You’ve got your son, Will, and your wife, Kristen, leaving their mark on the new project. Does that put your two girls in the position of expecting or even pitching you to contribute to something in the future, or do they have more of a “could care less” attitude about the intricacies of dad’s work?

Kristen did contribute lyrics to a couple of the songs. But the thing about Will–he wasn’t really invested in that. He just happened to be in the garage one day when I was recording singing, ‘… great day, great day,’ and I said, ‘What is that?’ He said he just made it up, and I said I [could] turn that into a song. You know, he’s most like me, I think, because he has a very healthy disrespect for the business side of things, and for show business in general, as do the girls. So I don’t think they feel they have to leave their mark in one way or another on dad’s music.

The new album involved old friends and newer influences–Mick and John backing you on some songs, and calling on Rob Cavallo to put his stamp on others as a co-producer. Can you recall how being back in the studio recording beside your Fleetwood Mac mates affected you emotionally, and thus the final outcome on those numbers, versus getting what you were looking for in the final mix of songs you worked on with Cavallo?

You know, I think playing with Mick in particular–John came in later and laid the bass tracks down–if you focus on Mick, we’ve always had a camaraderie of spirit; we’ve always shared that sense of pushing the envelope, and he has a really animal style of playing drums in particular. So, on the title track, I think Mick just felt completely liberated to do what he loves to do best and doesn’t always get to do in the context of Fleetwood Mac, which is to present a complete male energy out there, and to not worry about whether it holds a line in terms of taste or anything else. It’s just a raw, primal expression. It’s something he and I both love to do, really appreciate, and I think he hoped ‘A Gift of Screws’ ended up on a Fleetwood Mac album so that he could have gotten to play it. But we just had a ball in the studio–it was great fun.

Cavallo’s [contribution] came about through a set of circumstances. I think he was looking for a palate cleanser of sorts. He more or less sought me out and we got along very well. He knows a lot more about music than I do. I’m basically a refined primitive. I taught myself to play and I don’t read music, so everything I do is based on instinct. Because of that, he was certainly a help in arranging things. Working with him was a lot of fun, as well. He’s a great guy.

How did getting back on the road behind “Under the Skin” help motivate you to get in there and “clear out the garage,” so to speak, revisiting songs and pieces of songs you had piled up in storage?

Buckingham: I did ‘Under the Skin,’ and that was a certain kind of album–as much about what I didn’t do as I did do. And when I went in to start recording ‘A Gift of Screws,’ with the guys from my touring band, I didn’t go in intending to record such a rock album. But, once we started cutting some tracks, it started going in a rock direction. You know, sometimes you have to go in the direction the work leads you. So, once I realized and was accepting of the lead-guitar role–a certain level of aggressiveness in my interpretation of certain songs–there were these three songs waiting to find a new home, that were meant to include themselves in this grouping.

In your advance, you talk about one of those songs, “Treason,” in terms of history, and the historical juxtaposition of good and evil. How does the apparent optimist in you, the one who suggests we have to believe there is more good in the world than bad, pollinate that message across the widest and most potentially receptive audience?

That’s a really good question. There was a time when music seemed to have much more authority and potency in terms of shaping people’s thoughts. There was a whole social world out there that would listen to music for more than just a diversion. The album was a form that, in many cases, created a certain style of listening. So, I think all you can do is try to be yourself–to try and evolve as a person. To try and not fall prey to forces that would like you to do something other than you believe in.

This goes back to the ‘Rumors,’ and ‘Tusk’ period, when we were poised to follow the expectations of the machinery, to follow the formula as it was perceived. That was to make a ‘Rumors 2.’ And, at that point, there was a line drawn in the sand. I took a lot of chances, and influenced the band to make a very different kind of album. That was a point in time for me that represents a way I still try to think: do what you love to do and, in the long term, it will pay off.

Hopefully, if you can be your own person and you have something genuine to say, just try and get the message out. The way that would translate to, say, Fleetwood Mac in an up-and-coming time is, we all realize we’ve all been down individual roads. And our mantra should be to appreciate each other more as people, and try and get out there and share what we have. You just have to present positive energy wherever you can, even if it’s on a small scale. If a lot of people do that, it tends to add up to something.

Do you think you’ve been involved in the music industry long enough to pick a hit, whether it’s for someone else, or even if it’s your own creation?

I could never do it for myself. I’d probably be better doing it with other people. You know, the definition of what a “hit” is changes. I certainly have a good sense of hearing something, when I feel a chemical reaction about something kicking in that feels right. But I can’t assume that is what will drive other people today. Definitions change, contexts change. I hear a lot of music that makes sense to someone that doesn’t make sense to me.

With that in mind, do you think music consumers, and more importantly, Lindsey Buckingham fans, would pick “The Right Place to Fade,” as the big single from “A Gift of Screws”?

It’s funny, because, when I turned over “Under the Skin” to Warner Brothers, I was very happy with that album because it succeeded on an artistic level–it represented what I had attempted to do. Warner Brothers didn’t hear it; they didn’t even distribute it that well. [Conversely], I didn’t have a particular feeling about “A Gift of Screws,” but, when I turned it in, they seemed to be really enthusiastic about it. I think, as an artist, I have to do my work and then get on to what I want to do live. If they want to pick one song or another song, that’s their job. It hasn’t had a lot to do with what I consider my solo work. I think success comes from the feeling that you have created something. People with certain ears and certain sensibilities will appreciate it, and, beyond that, the rest is not worth wasting your energy on.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

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!