Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie is the first-ever full album collaboration from Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie. Surely the two have worked on lots of music together, but this marks the first time for an exclusive duet from these two giants of hit making.
After coming back into the Fleetwood Mac fold in 2014 for a concert tour, McVie took tentative steps worked to write and record with Buckingham. The stalwart rhythm section of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie came in to add to some of the music the duo was working on. All along the intent was to have Stevie Nicks join in this process to create a new Fleetwood Mac album, but she headed off on her own tour. McVie and Buckingham decided to carry on without Nicks, and this album is the result.
What we get, whether you consider it good or bad, is lots of Buckingham. To be sure, the man is a great songwriter, consummate guitar player, wonderful producer, and a unique singer. His heavy hand is felt throughout the album’s 10 songs (he is either co-writer or sole writer of six songs). “Sleeping Around The Corner,” a tune that appears as a bonus track on Buckingham’s 2011 solo album Seeds We Sow, suffers from the overuse of drum programming, with lots of kinetic guitar picking and more of that signature Buckingham breathy vocal than McVie’s warmer tones. I couldn’t help but feel that for a good percentage of this record, it’s more like a Linsey Buckingham solo album that Christine McVie just happens to be guesting on.
“Red Sun,” with McVie’s vocal upfront and Buckingham’s guitar placed effectively but not overrunning the production, is one of the true collaborations, while “Too Far Gone,” the heaviest song on the record, sees lots of Buckingham’s guitar under a McVie vocal. This mélange brings us back to Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk days. “Game of Pretend” could have been a gorgeous, McVie piano ballad, but it doesn’t truly spark. “Carnival Begin” is probably the best song on the album with McVie singing lead and Buckingham breaking out with a wailing lead at the end that actually fits in well. If you’re wondering what a new Fleetwood Mac album with the classic hit lineup might sound like, it’s hard to say if Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie is it. Until then, if ever, it might be all we have.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
