Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie
Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie
Atlantic
by David Chiu

The recent days have seen some high-profile album releases by Katy Perry, Lorde as well as the return of Taylor Swift on the streaming services, but the certainly this latest collaborative effort by Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie is undoubtedly one of this year’s musical highlights. In a way, it’s a Fleetwood Mac album in all but name as it not only features the aforementioned principals but also Mick Fleetwood and John McVie backing them up along with co-producer Mitchell Froom. The result is something quite sublime and brilliant that hearkens the best of the parent group with catchy southern California pop/rock with some contemporary flourishes. In either their own individual songs or co-writing collaborations, Buckingham and McVie turn in some of their strongest material to date: “In My Own World”; “Lay Down For Free,” (whose subject content matter of romantic trials and tribulations could’ve easily been on Rumours); the lovely “Red Sun”; and the elegant “Feel About You.” Frankly, tthere’s not a dud on the track list. More importantly is the return of Christine McVie, who hasn’t released new material since her 2004 solo record, and collaborating once again in the studio with her Fleetwood Mac bandmates—it’s like being reacquainted with an old, long-lost and dear friend. Not only McVie’s voice and melodic love songs still sound timeless, but so does Buckingham’s soaring guitar work, especially the magnificent solo at the end of the album’s closing “Carnival Begin”. A colleague of mine recently posted on Facebook in calling Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie ‘album of the year’—he’s totally not far off from that assessment.