| Issue #50, March 23, 2007 |
Lindsey Buckingham at Westhampton Beach
by Sabrina C. Mashburn
It’s not often that you can get to see of one of Rolling Stone’s Top 50 “Essential Albums” of 2006 performed live in the Hamptons. So when the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center announced that Lindsey Buckingham would be performing songs from Under The Skin, on Saturday, March 24, I ordered my tickets right there and then. Though this is only his first solo tour, audience response has been tremendous. Along with his three-piece band, Mr. Buckingham delivers the same caliber of guitar and vocal work that brought him fame and fortune alongside Stevie Nicks as part of one of the greatest folk rock bands of all time, Fleetwood Mac. Embarking on a solo career has been the culmination of Mr. Buckingham’s successes as a singer, songwriter and multi-talented musician.
Lindsey Buckingham grew up in the Bay Area of California as the youngest of three boys. All three brothers were competitive swimmers, and Lindsey’s brother Greg eventually went on to win a silver medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Although his brothers pursued swimming throughout their youth, by the age of thirteen Lindsey had discovered folk music and was soon finger-picking guitar by ear and playing with folk groups. However, Lindsey was to meet his musical match a few years later at Menlo Atherton High School, a young girl named Stevie Nicks. With Stevie’s sultry, haunting vocals and Lindsey’s ability to learn how to play any instrument he picked up, their band, Fritz, became a local success, opening for Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana. Since finger-picking didn’t lend itself to playing rock guitar, Lindsey played the bass for Fritz, perhaps warming up for his most ambitious and well-known role as the bass player for Fleetwood Mac.
In 1972, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks formed the group Buckingham Nicks and moved to Los Angeles together to pursue their dream of making music professionally. Although this first attempt did result in a yearlong record deal with Polydor records and critical acclaim, poor sales from their debut album prompted Polydor to drop the duo as quickly as they had signed them. At this time, Mick Fleetwood heard the Buckingham Nicks song “Frozen Love” and decided that Buckingham’s guitar and bass were exactly what Fleetwood Mac was missing. On New Years Eve of 1974, Buckingham Nicks and Fleetwood Mac decided to join forces. Their first album was a self-titled affirmation of the two groups’ musical chemistry and debuted some of their most-loved songs, “Rhiannon” and “Landslide.” By the time their second album, Rumors, was released, the romantic relationship between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks was over. At this point, Fleetwood Mac had turned the two into superstars and every detail of their personal lives was at once fodder for the media, stressing their relationship and eventually causing the breakup of the band. Musically, Nicks and Buckingham were still unrivaled in their ability to complement each other and their next album, Tusk, which Buckingham directed, went double platinum despite its avant-garde composition. Although he may have reached his musical pinnacle with Fleetwood Mac’s 1987 album, Tango in the Night, playing every instrument on five of the tracks, the pressures of being part of such a monstrously successful band took its toll on him and he decided to leave Fleetwood Mac before Tango in the Night’s release.
Because Lindsey had built a solid solo career by recording tracks on the side for films and other artists during his time in Fleetwood Mac, his transition to solo artist was a quick and easy one, and by 1981 he had released his first solo album, Law and Order. Go Insane followed in 1984, and the sudden deaths of his brother, Greg, and his father sparked his third solo effort, Out of The Cradle. This alblum was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Production, and brought the spotlight on to Lindsey Buckingham as VH-1 decided to follow him on the subsequent tour to film the TV special “Lindsey Buckingham: Behind the Music,” which aired in 2001. That same year, executives at Warner Brothers/Reprise records convinced Lindsey to re-record tracks meant for his fourth solo album with Fleetwood Mac. The result, Say You Will, was well-received. This was not the first time Buckingham had come together with his old band-mates – in 1992, President Bill Clinton asked the band to reunite to play at his inaugural ceremony, which then sparked collaboration that led to their record-breaking reunion tour, “The Dance.”
Some of the songs from Lindsey’s shelved solo effort have been polished and added to his latest album, Under The Skin. Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center audiences will hear these and other tracks the artist has been perfecting over his musical past during the March 24 performance. Reviews have touted Buckingham as a mesmerizing solo performer, and this Westhampton Beach performance will allow fans to get closer to this talented musician than they have ever been before. Far from the stadium-filling, effects-laden music of Fleetwood Mac’s recent tours, Under The Skin is an intimate compilation of hushed vocals and intricate guitar melodies that will draw you in and hold your attention until the curtain falls.
Lindsey Buckingham will be performing at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 24 at 8 p.m. For more information, call the box office at (631) 288-1500, visit www.whbpac.org or stop by the 76 Main Street box office in Westhampton Beach.
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