In 2006, Lindsey Buckingham finally finished the album he had been working on ever since the mid 90's. All other attempts at finishing this album had been ditched, so once Fleetwood Mac's world tour ended, Lindsey was free to create a disc of his own.
Lindsey Buckingham, as you may or may not know, has always seemed to be a very gifted guitarist, singer, and lyricist. That is basically all this album is (sans a guest appearance from John McVie and Mick Fleetwood). Just plain acoustic guitar with some singing. Each song is quite raw, which could be a very nice thing. Stripped down versions of songs I think are more enjoyable than overproduced garbage.
This album's strength is Lindsey's ability to create simple songs with crafty lyrics and brilliant guitar lines. Each song appears to be focused and well played. Lindsey also adds a nice hook in just about every song, which is all that is necessary. Taking the first track for instance, Not Too Late, we can all decipher Lindsey's message. The finger picked acoustic sounds very nice, as it is picked very fast. The chorus, however, seems to jump out. It is quite catchy, but not in a Panic! At The Disco way. It's not the type of thing that gets annoying, just wonderful sounding. Songs like Down On Rodeo and Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind are the same way, with huge choruses. Shut Us Down and Under The Skin are more subtle but just as warm and gentle sounding.
What I think really hinders this album is its softness. Although this is a collection of great, soft acoustic songs, it would be nice to have some more energy at times. I'm into a more heavier style of music, so it can be a little tough to listen to this much soft music. Another thing that bugs me about this album is that while the production is very clean and raw, there are too many strange things he does to make his voice sound worse. The echo effect you hear on some songs does not do any of these songs justice. His voice sounds great on the album, but he could have used his nice tone to his advantage instead of tainting it.
So when it comes down to whether or not to buy this CD, I think its best to say that fans of softer music will enjoy it a lot more than fans of hard music. If you are really big on Fleetwood Mac or any of Lindsey's previous work, this is probably worth getting. As for people not interested in any of this man's music, well, you will find this just as uninteresting. Lindsey knows his audience and does a good job of speaking to them. While this album is somewhat flawed, Lindsey Buckingham showed a massive amount of potential at an unexpected time.
