As much as I love Fleetwood Mac’s music, I’ve not followed the solo careers of its members. However, my very recent sampling of Lindsey Buckingham’s latest album ‘Seeds We Sow’ released this September had me intrigued enough to buy the CD from Amazon. What can I say but that it’s now on endless loop in my playlist – at home, on my computer, in my car. I’m awash in the wonderfulness of this album. Very pleasingly, this makes it at least two artists who’ve been around for a while, have enjoyed enviable success with bands, have nothing to prove and yet continue to produce fantastic music as evidenced by their solo albums released this year. The other I’m referring to is Paul Simon with the fabulous ‘So Beautiful Or So What’.

I do not know how many instruments Buckingham plays but the two that I know he does are in fine fettle – his distinct voice and a delightfully resonant guitar. The guitar (I could barely make out what looked like ‘Carruthers Guitars’ on the head) sounds like a rich acoustic but in the photos on the album looks a solid electric. Of no consequence really, because it plays notes divine.

There are people who’d debate the production technique on this album, some running it down, others praising it. I find it very interesting in that there are many sound layers especially of the guitar and what to me is very peculiar, the guitar seems to be at the forefront while Buckingham’s voice has the effect of coming out of a space above and behind it. And yes, I’m a known sucker for reverb 🙂 There are very few people and instruments on the songs – other than the two I mentioned, there’s just a bass and drums except for ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’ which features keyboards. Yet with such minimal instrumentation, the songs remarkably occupy a vast soundspace. I have no single favourite from this album. I love every one of the songs and to me this is one of the best releases of the year. That the accompanying audio file has samples from all the songs only reflects that belief.

Return To Splendour.mp3

Song List:

1. Seeds We Sow
2. In Our Own Time
3. Illumination
4. That’s The Way Love Goes
5. Stars Are Crazy
6. When She Comes Down
7. Rock Away Blind
8. One Take
9. Gone Too Far
10. End Of Time
11. She Smiled Sweetly

P.S.: Just a few days after I received this album, I also bought ‘Gift Of Screws’ released prior to ’Seeds We Sow’. A very different sounding work, but thoroughly enjoyable again.