I always dug Fleetwood Mac, we all did. My heavy metal college roommate had all metal music and oddly, two Fleetwood Mac albums. I was a little young for ‘Fleetwood Mac,’ the first LP to feature the dynamic duo of Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. I remember  hearing practically every song on ‘Rumors’ at the swimming pool over the loud speakers when I was kid. Those songs were everywhere. I always felt like Christine McVie was the unsung hero in that group. Who hasn’t sat up late at night, after a break up, weeping to the song “Songbird”?

In the 80s, Lindsay Buckingham called it quits to pursue his curious solo career. The “classic” line up reunited for the live LP, ‘The Dance’ twenty years after Lindsay’s departure. That reunion was short-lived as Christine McVie developed an intense fear of flying and “retired” to her country English manor home to putter in her garden. A few years ago she got over it and rejoined Fleetwood Mac, and was welcomed with open arms, I might add, for an extended tour.

Having been on the sidelines for so long, she was raring to go. Apparently she was sitting on a stack of songs, a backlog like George Harrison had after being stuck behind Lennon and McCartney. After the tour it was time to head to the studio. Christine had the songs and Lindsay always has songs. The problem it seems was coaxing Stevie Nicks back into the studio. Stevie is under the mistaken impression she’s going to recapture the solo glory of her ‘Bella Donna’ days. Ah, Stevie… I like to think of her as the Mistress of a Generation.

Lindsay, Christine along with Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass went into the studio without Nicks. They have apparently had the songs that make up this record in the can for quite some time. Tired of waiting for Stevie, somebody just said “fuck it” and they released the LP under Buckingham and McVie’s name. I guess they didn’t want Stevie to think they’d moved on without her and it’s always nice to leave the door open.

Yesterday, the first single from this new album came out, “In My World.” I have to admit I’m scratching my head a little bit. It’s not a bad song, it’s just not a first single. Its a mid tempo, understated thing. Coincidentally I listened to Dan Auerbach’s new solo single, “Shine Me On,” and with its bold acoustic guitars bumping up against his vocals and a nice electric guitar riff, he sounds more like “Go Your Own Way” than “In My World” does.

I expected this album to be like the 1997 Fleetwood Mac LP helmed by Buckingham and Nicks, “Say You Will,” in that each singer/songwriter would take the lead vocal/songwriting duties. I didn’t expect it to be a duets album. I did expect perhaps some harmonizing between Lindsay and Christine, as they done within Fleetwood Mac on songs like “World Turning.” I guess I was thinking Robert Plant and Alison Krauss type harmonies. Lindsay and Christine have a great vocal chemistry and I would have liked them to explore that a bit more, and who knows, maybe they do on other tunes. You won’t however, find those harmonies on this song. It’s all Lindsay. If Christine plays on this song, I don’t hear her. Not even keyboards.

As I said, it’s a good song. I had to listen to it a number of times (thank God for the patience of the Rock Chick, as I hit “repeat” again and again) and it’s definitely catchy and it definitely grows on you. It’s a grower not a show-er. This song could have easily been lifted off Lindsay’s solo album, “Gift of Screws.” That record is his only solo album recently that has instrumentation outside an acoustic guitar and percussion from him slapping the body of his guitar. Lindsay’s into that cascading acoustic guitar thing. This is a straight forward, mid tempo song. It has a very Fleetwood Mac vibe set to a more modern feel. The lyrics are mostly upbeat with Lindsay singing about all the bad things that won’t happen “In My (his) World.” And lets face it, to him, it’s Lindsay’s world, we all just live in it.

The actual LP, creatively titled “Lindsay Buckingham & Christine McVie” will come out in June. I’ll have more thoughts on the album then. For now, kick back and enjoy the single. It’s as close as we’re going to get to a full fledged Fleetwood Mac album for a long time…