CD Reviews

Lindsey Buckingham | Gift of Screws

Reprise

By MIKAEL WOOD | September 16, 2008

3.0 Stars

Midway through his follow-up to 2006’s Under the Skin, Lindsey Buckingham drops a gallop-grooved melody bomb called “The Right Place To Fade” that can’t help conjuring fond memories of Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News.” “Right Place” is precisely the kind of big pop tune Buckingham avoided putting on the experimental Skin (which at points could’ve passed for a Sufjan Stevens disc), so there’s a temptation to consider Gift of Screws that album’s more streamlined counterpart. It isn’t quite: opener “Great Day” and “Time Precious Time” are built around weird Fahey-flavored acoustic-guitar figures; Buckingham sings “Did You Miss Me” in a whispery croak that shades the song’s sunny beat with menace; and the romantic promise in “I Wanna Wait for You” is undermined by talk of tarantulas and suicide. The great thing about Buckingham, of course, is that even his experiments are catchy (consider “Never Going Back Again”), and this ensures that Screws doesn’t buckle under the weight of his pop-savant ambition. Rumours earned him more capital than he can spend, but he’s running up an impressive bill anyway.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM | Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass Ave, Boston | October 17 @ 8 pm | $46.50-$61.50 | 617.931.2000 orwww.ticketmaster.com

Related: Lindsey Buckingham, Rock therapies, A voice from on high, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Berklee Performance Center, Fleetwood Mac, Sufjan Stevens, More

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