The Beat Surrender

Lindsey Buckingham is the generally unsmilling guitarist from Fleetwood Mac, who makes up for his outward demeanour by crafting some fine tracks. In fact a large part of his catalogue of writing got pinched by the group when they reunited a couple of years ago for the album at the time.

It seems though that he has plenty of songs stashed away in that locker and has called the favour back in by getting some of his bandmates to provide a rhythm section for him on some of the tracks on here. Gift Of The Screws is only the second album i’ve heard by him and I have to say it’s a massive leap from the previous.

Where Under The Skin was bogged down a little in introspection this latest long player is a more open album, tracks like Love Runs Deeper, The Right Place To Fade and Did You Miss Me may or may not be about his relationship with Stevie Nicks but it certainly opens up the possibilty with some of the lyrics.

Musically his bandmates don’t let him down on the tracks they contribute to, they underpin his vocals with some staunchly rock blues, in other places things are more stripped back, this though just adds to the variety. One of the best male solo albums this year certainly and someone who now probably deserves a lot more credit than he ever gets.