Once again, a new Fleetwood Mac album has pushed solo projects to the back burner for Lindsey Buckingham — but perhaps for the last time.
In a new talk with Tavis Smiley, Buckingham discusses a tenure that started four decades ago in Fleetwood Mac, the genesis of a batch of collaborative songs with the returning Christine McVie, and the idea that the group’s forthcoming studio album could be its swansong.
That last revelation tends to obscure the rest, as Buckingham concedes the new project “would be a beautiful way to kind of wrap up this last act.”
McVie’s participation in these sessions marks the first time the classic-era band has been in the studio together since 1987’s ‘Tango in the Night.’ Buckingham missed 1990’s ‘Behind the Mask,’ he and Stevie Nicks were absent for 1995’s ‘Time’ and Christine McVie sat out for 2003’s ‘Say You Will.’ Buckingham and McVie worked on songs in the run up to their on-going reunion tour. Fleetwood Mac aims to complete the album in 2015.
“Before we started rehearsing the show with Christine, she came over and said, ‘Lindsey, I’ve got some rough ideas for new songs,'” Buckingham tells Smiley. “She gave me a bunch of stuff to take home after we saw her in England when we played there. And I worked on it at home, took lots of liberties, came back. She loved it. We went in the studio for two months and came up with probably the best group of songs that were co-written that we’ve done in years. So we are going to continue working on a new album and (my) solo stuff will probably take a back seat for another year or so.”
As for turning 65 amidst this flurry of activity, Buckingham adds, with a laugh: “I feel the same physically as I did 25 years ago. I think I’m mentally, somewhat in arrested development — y’know, in a good way, I hope!”
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