by JAY WATTS III

Now that the forward-thinking amongst the sweater-clad have moved on to reviving the reputation of Steely Dan (De La Soul beat you to that, bub), Fleetwod Mac’s Tusk has earned a place in the revisionist canon, held in esteem as much for biographical details—cocaine ingested in a fashion that might even turn the stomachs of some Mirror readers, Lindsey Buckingham’s recording drum tracks on Kleenex boxes—as for the aesthetic qualities of the album itself. But hey, that’s rock music, right? If one is digging for visions of Buckingham’s mastery, one will be disappointed to find that his post-Mac highlights are: 1) the theme song from National Lampoon’s vacation films (“Holiday Road”), 2) a finger-picking track from Cameron Crowe’s snooze-worthy film, Elizabethtown, and, what the hell, 3) that song from Back to the Future. The rest, I label tepid pop-rock pap.

The way to go, rather than forward from Tusk, is backwards. Ignoring the blues-heavy trappings of Peter Green-led Mac, the real nugget from the archives is Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s debut. Recorded shortly after they graduated from high school, Buckingham Nicks proves to be a meatier listening experience than that extra disc of Tusk outtakes. Tracks like “Don’t Let Me Down Again,” later adapted by the Mac—a barreling-down-the-highway kinda song, set to insistent duelling guitars between Buckingham and California journeyman guitarist Richard “Waddy” Wachtel—and “Long Distance Winner” are perfect templates for the dominant sunshine and high-times Canyon-folk rock mentality that would soon balloon into a swamp of coke-hounds and ego-driven twats flying around in Lear jets and buzzing the plebes like demented Mr. Toads. Download the entire out-of-print album here: www.buckinghamnicks.net/bn/buckinghamnicks/.

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