Now streaming
Nearly Fleetwood Mac
The first duet album from Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie is nearly Fleetwood Mac, with only Stevie Nicks missing from the band’s classic lineup.
In the pipeline for a while, its development began even before McVie rejoined the band after 16 years for the 2014-2015 On With the Show tour, when Buckingham recorded several songs with the Mac rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, who also contribute to the finished, selftitled album (★★★).
More layers were added when Buckingham worked on snippets of chords, lyrics and melodies he was sent by McVie and a couple of their writing collaborations – the vocals-soaked pop of Red Sun and Too Far Gone, with a Knopfleresque, bluesy guitar riff and pounding drums – are among the highlights of the self-titled album.
Game of Pretend is a trademark McVie piano-led ballad which starts with great promise, but turns to mush on the refrain.
If the album was meant to be part of a full Fleetwood Mac comeback at some point, the Buckingham tunes have more of a solo album feel.
Still, the track sharing a name with the last Mac tour reveals both the beauty and apparent inescapability in the life of a musician like Buckingham – ‘‘As long as I stand, I will take your hand, I will stand with my band/ There’s nowhere to go, but on down the road, let’s get on with the show.’’ – Pablo Gorondi, AP
Booker aims to matter
On only his second album, 27-yearold Benjamin Booker has convinced legendary soul singer Mavis Staples to duet on a wonderful protest song; the title track of the album, Witness (★★★★).
It’s an angry tirade against the injustice that the Black Lives Matter movement sees when yet another person without a gun is taken down by police.
It’s angry yet, at the same time, it’s asking questions, just as the track Motivation does. Booker questions his own motivation: ‘‘Can I find something better? Am I fated to roam?’’
Best of all, Booker, who is in possession of one of those rustbucket, two-pack-a-day voices that’s unforgettable, traverses all the genres from soul to blues and onto to funk in the style of Gary Clark Jr.
In a year when the world is starting to re-discover the writing of James Baldwin and his black polemics, it’s worth listening to this album and realising that little has changed in America for the disenfranchised.– Colin Morris