Sowing the Seeds
Lindsey Buckingham releases sixth solo release after inspiring Fleetwood Mac tour
By Alan Sculley
Two years ago, as Fleetwood Mac was getting ready to launch its “Unleashed” world tour, the band members were talking up the possibility that the tour might be a prelude to a new CD from the group.
The game plan at the time was to do the “Unleashed” and then maybe get into the studio, and if a CD came together, another round of touring was possible.
The only thing that happened was the “Unleashed” tour. But Fleetwood Mac fans got a pair of welcome consolation prizes instead. First came Stevie Nicks’ latest solo CD, “In Your Dreams,” and now Lindsey Buckingham has released his sixth solo CD, “Seeds We Sow.”
At least in Buckingham’s case, his solo CD is a direct result of Fleetwood Mac not doing a new CD. This opened a window of time he hadn’t expect to have, and so he did what came naturally. He started writing songs.
“I had no preconceptions going in on this one,” Buckingham said in a phone interview this week. “I didn’t even really have an completed songs or anything that was fleshed out in terms of material.”
With no game plan for “Seeds We Sow,” Buckingham found himself coming up with songs that further delved into musical territory he had explored over the past half decade.
“I think what it (not having a plan for the CD) did was just make for kind of culmination of maybe all of the things I’ve been interested in and the approaches I’ve taken and whatever I’ve learned in the course of the last say, six or seven years, and put it in one place,” he said.
That assessment seems accurate. “Seeds We Sow” offers songs that are stripped back and almost all acoustic (Seeds We Sow” and “She Smiled Sweetly”) as well as a couple of uptempo tunes (“One Take” and “End Of Time”) with more elaborate instrumentation and harmonies.
Some of the songs (“Stars Are Crazy” and “Rock Away Blind”) highlight the idiosyncratic – even esoteric – side to Buckingham’s songwriting, while others (“Illumination” and “That’s The Way That Love Goes”) have the kind of easy going melodic pop charmthat has been common in the material he has written for Fleetwood Mac.
The dualistic sides to Buckingham’s music first surfaced on the landmark 1979 Fleetwood Mac “Tusk.”
The CD contained some of the melodic folk-pop that had made Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled CD and 1976’s “Rumours” huge hits. But it also featured nervy Buckingham rockers like “Not That Funny,” “The Ledge” and “That’s Enough For Me,” the quirky acoustic tune “Save Me A Place” and of course the title song (famous for including the USC Trojan Marching Band).
After “Tusk,” Fleetwood Mac leaned back toward more accessible pop, while Buckingham started using his solo albums to stretch out musically.
Ironically, while Buckingham went into “Seeds We Sow” with a clean slate, the songs ended up having a theme about the choices on makes in life and the consequences that emerge as a result down the road.
Some of Buckingham’s choices were musical. For instance, he feels the artistic gambles he first took on “Tusk” have opened the door for further experimentation and growth on his six solo CDs.
Other choices have been profound on a personal level, such as his decision not to marry young and take a chance that he’d find the right woman later in life.
“When I was in my mid-40s, say, the odds start to decrease that maybe that will ever happen for you,” the 61-year-old said. “And I was just lucky enough to meet someone and to start having a family relatively late. But it came to me when I’d gotten all of that other garbage out of the way…It turned out to be something which has worked out just beautifully for me and has been just a great gift in my life.”
As for the future, Buckingham anticipates that Fleetwood Mac will tour in 2012, and making a new album with the band is a possibility.
For now, though, he’s touring behind “Seeds We Sow,” playing a show that should appeal to fans of both is solo work and Fleetwood Mac.
“We’re doing a really good chunk of the new album,” Buckingham said. “I’m happy with the album, but I’m also very happy with the way the stuff’s coming off on stage and the way it’s been received so far.
““I’m coming out in the beginning and I’m doing like five numbers just by myself,” he said. “That style of playing has become increasingly important to me, just the one guitar doing the work of a whole track and trying to cover a lot of ground with an orchestral style of playing. So I’m doing that sort of as a concentration in the beginning. And then you’ve got a nice blend of older, of solo stuff from previous albums and of course a few Fleetwood Mac things thrown in there as well. I don’t know, I think it’s a really strong set.”