Review: ‘Buckingham Nicks’ Finally Sees Re-Release After Decades Out of Print – I Got My Copy In ’87

*Picture of my original copy of Buckingham Nicks, obtained in 1987, taken by your intrepid blogger

A few weeks or perhaps a few months ago I started seeing strange posts on Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and even Mick Fleetwood’s social media with the track “Frozen Love” playing in the background. There were many who were speculating that maybe Fleetwood Mac had reconciled with Lindsey and the band was getting back together, perhaps to tour. I knew immediately – despite Mick Fleetwood being involved – that this signaled the long awaited re-release of 1973’s Buckingham Nicks album. The Buckingham Nicks album has been out of print and unavailable for literally decades. Unless of course you were lucky enough to stumble across a used copy at your local used music store. I mean, since we sadly lost Christine McVie, there’s little chance of Fleetwood Mac returning outside of wonderful live vault releases, like last year’s from the Mirage tour.

The Buckingham Nicks album has a considerable mystique. The whole story is now the thing of legend. Lindsey and Stevie had put out the debut album on Polydor who didn’t support them at all… record companies, sigh… The record turfed and Polydor dropped them. That debut album, despite it’s failure in the marketplace, which is baffling to me, was the reason Stevie and Lindsey were hired by Mick and the rest of Fleetwood Mac. Of course, by late 1974 the only members of Fleetwood Mac left were Mick (drums), John McVie (bass), and Christine McVie (vocals/keyboards). Bob Welch had split after Heroes Are Hard To Find. Fleetwood Mac was looking for a new guitarist, a new producer and a new studio to record in. Mick visited Sound City Studios and the in-house engineer Keith Olsen, who had produced the Buckingham Nicks album played “Frozen Love” to give Mick an idea of what sounds could be had in that studio. Mick immediately decided to hire Lindsey as his guitarist – and the story goes that Lindsey would only join if Stevie came too – and Olsen as his next producer. I’ve recently heard that it wasn’t Buckingham who insisted on including Nicks but actually it was Olsen. Either way, Lindsey & Stevie were a package deal. They all met at a Mexican restaurant and just…clicked. The rest, as they say, is rock n roll history.

Personally, I’d gotten on the Fleetwood Mac bandwagon early in my music collecting journey. I actually traded my brother Supertramp’s Breakfast In America (great album) for the Mac’s Rumours. I listened to that thing incessantly. I also taped Tusk, from my brother’s collection, on cassette. Before I knew what was happening Stevie had put out the solo album, Bella Donna, which I snapped up after hearing her duet with Petty, “Stop Dragging My Heart Around.” Although I’ll admit, it wasn’t until seeing Stevie on tour for her second album, the great Wild Heart, that I ended up buying 1975’s Fleetwood Mac album, which saw Stevie & Lindsey’s debut with the band. When I first moved to Ft. Smith, Arkansas out of college, my exile years, I became obsessed with the Mac and finally bought Tusk and Mirage. I think the obsession stemmed from the 1987 release of Tango In The Night, which I really liked despite it’s flaws. I had read about the Buckingham Nicks album in Rolling Stone magazine which only inflamed my desire to find and buy the album. I don’t know why it hadn’t become more popular after Stevie and Lindsey’s explosion in popularity after that Fleetwood Mac album. I blame the record company.

Opportunity for me, however, came in the form of a good friend’s heartbreak. A dear friend, who shall remain nameless, came to visit me in Ft. Smith and we drove down to Dallas for the weekend because… well, if I’m being honest Ft. Smith sucked. Well, that and his college girlfriend lived in Dallas… the relationship had gone from wonderful, to long distance to… well you know the story, it’s happened to everyone. We went to Dallas to drink and help my friend find closure. I’ll never forget sitting in the car in the parking lot of her apartment while he was up there, breaking up for good. “Go Your Own Way,” indeed. When it was over, to cheer ourselves up… or maybe because I’m a selfish bastard, we drove to a used record store. I know I certainly felt better after browsing used vinyl. At the time, used vinyl was usually less than $10. But this place in Dallas had Buckingham Nicks, the very copy pictured above, but were charging $20… They must have seen me coming because I couldn’t peel a twenty dollar bill out fast enough. At last it was mine.

My heartbroken friend, once he heard the record upon our return to Ft. Smith, was unimpressed but I’ve always thought that was because he just wasn’t in the right state of mind to receive new music. He probably should have been drinking whiskey in a dark bar, listening to country music songs about losing his dog and his truck…which would have fit in perfectly for Ft. Smith. Personally, I was delighted. Of course, I was familiar with a few songs, some of which had been appropriated by the Mac itself. The album has the original version of “Crystal,” which the Mac redid for Fleetwood Mac. They also covered “Don’t Let Me Down Again,” the great rockabilly-esque rocker on their 1980 album, Live. Knowing those tracks were from the BN album had just made me want that debut album all the more fervently.

Now that it’s out, I finally have the chance to rave about Buckingham Nicks. It’s a classic debut album, like Springsteen’s Welcome To Asbury Park, or Jackson Browne’s Saturate Before Use in that we find a hugely talented artist who lays down the blueprint for a sound that would be hugely popular, but maybe not quite there yet. This is straight up wonderful folk rock. Like most debuts, like say, the Faces’ First Steps, there are two instrumentals, the beautiful “Stephanie,” penned by Lindsey for Stevie (her given name is Stephanie) and a cover of John Lewis’ “Django.” Of the two, I’m more partial to “Stephanie.”

Nicks’ material just shines here. Her songwriting was starting to really take off. “Crying In The Night” starts he album on a very promising note. I need to add that one to my Playlist: Songs About Crying. “Long Distance Winner” is another great track with some intricate acoustic guitar work from Lindsey. Longtime friend/collaborator Waddy Wachtel also plays guitar and longtime session guy Jim Keltner plays drums. It’s another song about a fraught relationship which was the Mac’s stock in trade after these two joined. “Races Are Run” is a wonderful ballad with some great harmonizing and acoustic guitar. I need to add that to my Playlist: Songs About Running/Running Away.

Lindsey acquits himself well. Both “Crystal” and “Don’t Let Me Down Again,” already mentioned, are great tunes. I love how much the latter rocks although the live version by the Mac might be definitive. “Without A Leg To Stand On” features a chiming guitar that evokes the Byrds to me. Stevie harmonizes with Lindsey on the choruses. “Lola” is the only clunker on the album… Buckingham’s misogyny on full display. Much of Lindsey’s guitar work on this record points toward what he’d do in the future with Fleetwood Mac.

The final track, “Frozen Love,” the one Olsen played for Mick, is one of my favorites. It’s a mini-epic and the only song co-written by both members. It includes strings, which some critics felt was an overreach, but I’ve always felt the strings help to build drama that eventually leads to Buckingham’s great guitar solo, his best on the record.

It’s hard not to hear this album and not think that this is music that would have fit right in on 1973 radio. The only question I wonder about is whether Buckingham Nicks could have made it without joining the already established Fleetwood Mac. Sure, they’d been dropped by their record company but they’d already written “Rhiannon” and “Monday Morning.”  Nicks already had “Without You” revisited and finally released on the Fleetwood Mac’s 2013 Extended Play, and “It’s Alright” which appeared in a country rock version on Mirage. Sure it would have been tough to get re-signed to a record deal, but this duo had tremendous potential even prior to joining Fleetwood Mac. Of course, they did and we’re all the better for it. Buckingham, while difficult, helped shape Christine McVie’s songs. Of course when their romantic relationship ended, it’s hard to imagine Stevie and Lindsey staying in a band together like they did with Fleetwood Mac…by the time that went down they were too big to quit.

While it was decades coming, the world is a better place with the Buckingham Nicks in the universe now widely available to everyone via vinyl, CD or streaming. Tee this one up tonight for a wonderful, laid back, folk rock listen. Each repeated listen will reap benefits. Even if you’re down and out, heartbroken and find yourself in Ft. Smith, Arkansas…

Cheers!