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Lindsey Buckingham
Under The Skin Reviews
Lindsey Buckingham, Under the Skin
(Reprise)
The Guardian (UK)
Mat Snow
Friday September 29, 2006
*****
Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac's dominant songwriter for 32
years, is a pop genius: his sunny harmonies pull you one way while
an undercurrent of anguish tugs you the other. His extra-curricular
work has always been intriguing, and this fourth solo album is a
small masterpiece of tightly balanced musical contrasts.
Buckingham's filigreed melodies echo such heroes of his youth as the
Byrds and Donovan; in a voice more echo-drenched and multi-tracked
than any since John Lennon's, he tremulously exhales such lines as
"My children look away, they don't know what to say," only to burst
into the yearning rapture of "It's not too late." As spacious as
Buckingham's native California yet as fraught with unease, this is
another gripping postcard from the edge of paradise.
--
Lindsey
Buckingham , Under the Skin (Reprise )
The Times (UK)
September 29, 2006
Pop
*****
The Fleetwood Mac guitarist's stripped-down acoustic album is
luxuriant rather than austere. Sparse arrangements boast lush
harmonies, while the imaginative production drapes Buckingham's
whine in eerie reverb. It works, though. High spots include the
frenetic fingerpicking of Not too Late, the sunny Show You How and
the howling Flying Down Juniper, evocative of Fred Neil and Tim
Buckley.
STEVE JELBERT
--
Lindsey Buckingham
Under the Skin (Reprise) £12.99
The Observer
Sunday October 1, 2006
If Fleetwood Mac are a guilty pleasure, enjoying a solo album by
their former guitarist should be a heinous crime. But there's little
MOR bombast on Lindsey Buckingham's fourth solo record; these are
dusty redemption songs which draw on the sparest of elements. 'Show
You How' summons and sustains a groove with little more than a
guitar and cleverly layered vocals. And 'Under the Skin' builds on a
simple, strummed motif with Buckingham's voice shimmering
beautifully like a heat-haze. When he does at last display his knack
for the heroic chorus, he unleashes another aspect of a singular
musical talent.
Ally Carnwath
--
Entertainment Weekly
October 6, 2006
Issue 900
Section: THE REVIEWS: MUSIC 'Skin' Tight
CHRIS WILLMAN
A gloriously unhinged return from Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham.
Lindsey Buckingham Under the Skin (Reprise) Rock
In the opening minutes of Under the Skin, Lindsey Buckingham sings
of "visions always deferred," alluding to 14 years passing since his
last solo album. He's griped that every time he gets one under way,
Fleetwood Mac bandmates rope him into another reunion, cannibalizing
his song stockpile. So if these songs lean toward his eccentric
side, maybe that was intended as an early defensive measure against
any further Mac attacks.
Skin is high-concept in that it's theoretically stripped-down,
consisting almost entirely of Buckingham's voice and acoustic
guitar. But he's too much the Brian Wilson-worshipping studio
maestro not to multitrack that voice into nearly choral rounds of
oddly punctuated pop harmonies, and he'll certainly use the marvels
of engineering to make those nylon strings sound deliriously big. It
might be acoustic, but the last thing you'd call it is unplugged.
Unhinged? Sure. Some lyrics recall his most neurotic LP, 1984's
aptly titled Go Insane; other times, he's a newly placid family man,
or trying ("a madman... looking for paradise"). But on this album,
quieter means less gentle: His fingerpicking is impossibly frantic
in its nervous virtuosity, and each near-whisper is miked to sound
like a scream. It's the spartan-yet-gonzo sound of a guy remembering
he can go his own way. B+
--
LINDSEY
BUCKINGHAM
Nashville Scene
Saturday 7th Oct 2006 live at The
Ryman Auditorium
Our Critics Picks:
Lindsey Buckingham is at once a driving force behind one of the most
successful commercial enterprises in rock music and an idiosyncratic
cult artist. As a singer, songwriter and producer in Fleetwood Mac
for most of the last 32 years, he wrote classics like "Go Your Own
Way" and "Second Hand News," while helping to shape the songs of
bandmates Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie into irresistible ear
candy. But the eccentricity of his work on Mac albums like Tusk and
Say You Will only hints at the singularity of vision heard on his
first solo album in 14 years. On Under the Skin, Buckingham
buttresses his reputation as a pop visionary by orchestrating very
basic elements, mainly voice, acoustic guitar and percussion, to
create a textured sonic picture unlike any he could have painted at
his day job. Casual fans, i.e., you own Rumours but not Tusk, might
want to wait this one out: Buckingham is planning a more
rock-oriented album and tour next year, followed by a Fleetwood Mac
road trip in 2008. (
www.lindseybuckingham.com )
CHRIS NEAL
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