Entertainment For Lively Minds
Fleetwood Mac, but mainly Lindsey Buckingham
Went to see FM in Wembley this past Friday and had a great time. They're touring on the premise that they have no new album to promote (translation:"we'll only play some old") and although I'd have happily paid extra to get all 20 tracks from Tusk played in order, the setlist hit all the buttons. I had seen them only once before in 2003, and what surprised me then and now is how great Lindsey Buckingham is.
He is rightfully lauded for his studio skills, but the FM primer will tell you that Stevie Nicks is the star. However last Friday LB played some incredible guitar and on-stage he has tons of good, old-fashioned presence.
But has there ever been such a discrepancy between the fame of a band and the fame of their creative force? 1980's Roger Waters comes to mind. I'd guess more people in Wembley knew Mick Fleetwood's name than Lindsey's name.
Anyway, I came away thinking that the Mac would be perfect Friday night headliners for the Pyramid stage next year. They'd go down a storm.
Here's a little iPhone recording from Friday night...
http://audioboo.fm/boos/74745-fleetwood-mac-big-love-earlier-this-evenin...
Was anyone else there?
- More from DrJ.
- Login or register to post comments
-
on the telly
my beloved and I watched the recent programme on BBC1 about them. She was not clued in on Fleetwood Mac's history (poor women only listens to music, she doesn't obsess) and was in hysterics about how much they obviously loathe each other. It was rather funny. Great music though.
"I'd guess more people in Wembley
knew Mick Fleetwood's name than Lindsey's name".
Given they were watching Fleetwood Mac, I'm guessing you're right. Now if the gig had been at Buckingham Palace...
I take your point though. Brand name band names sell because amazingly few people actually take note of who is in the group beyond maybe knowing the name of the singer, even in bands that have pretty obsessive fanbases.
It never made sense to me that Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford released great solo albums in 1979/80 to almost no interest at all, before Genesis' "Duke" went straight to number one. Both albums were at least as good as "Duke", but nobody investigated beyond the group name. Collins achieved fame, fortune and alimony by being something altogether unGenesislike.
Don't know about that
As a sometime Genesis fan, I have to say both Rutherford an Banks's solo efforts left me cold. But then we've gone our separate ways a bit since Steve Hackett left.
Lindsey Buckingham is a superb guitarist. His solo re-reading of Big Love on the Chain tour was mesmeric - how he let that song get smothered in 80s 'oohs' and 'ahhs' on the late 80s album is beyond me.
I think the public probably gets it right 90% of the time - show me the Lindsey B solo album that would have resonated with a wide audience the way Rumours did.
Tusk
was, to all intents and purposes, a LB solo album. It (comparative to Rumours) stiffed.
Well
I wouldn't agree with the statement that Tusk is a Lindsey solo record in disguise, rather it's a mixtape of solo Lindsey with regular Mac.
And I should have stated my opinion that Lindsey Buckingham is the un-rockingest name in the history of Rock.
I shouldn't say this but...
I loved Big Love when it first came out. Got it on 7" (still got it). And I didn't even know who the Mac were at the time.
Ahem, talk amongst yourselves.
Camper van Beethoven...
covered Tusk for no apparent reason...
"They're touring on the
"They're touring on the premise that they have no new album to promote". Not quite true, The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac http://www.fleetwoodmac.com/news/2009/09/23/very-best-fleetwood-mac was released on 19 October 2009.
Bucks
Bucks has long been my favourite guitarist, if only for two seconds of inspired magic on You Make Lovin Fun. But I found his solo albums dull. As was last Mac album, Say You Will. What made Mac great was the balance of the three superb songwriters. Though Bucks really shines on the criminally underrated Fleetwood Mac Live album. Especially on the versions of Never Going Back Again and Not That Funny.
Hmmm
I would have thought that 99% of F Mac fans are well aware of Mr Buckingham. For me Christine McVie was the secret weapon in the band, being of a slightly lower profile that the American stars who changed the band's fortune back in the 70s.
Don't stop
Fleetwood mac Don't Stop was on bbc4 last week. I think you can still see it on iplayer. Really good interviews with Mr Buckingham and the rest of the group [esp the Tusk period imo].