Lindsey Buckingham

Solo Anthology: The Best Of Lindsey Buckingham

Erstwhile Fleetwood Mac notso-secret weapon shows off his wares. As is tradition for anyone releasing an anthology or ‘best of’ set, there’s usually the enticing prospect of an extra new song or two to entice a hitherto undecided purchaser to part with their cash. For completists of the former Fleetwood Mac man, there are two unreleased studio endeavours to be found on this three-disc, 51-song retrospective run through the Buckingham back catalogue, which includes material he contributed to the band that made him famous, selections from his solo albums and various songs contributed to soundtracks (National Lampoon’s Vacation and Back To The Future) along the way.

The first of the ‘new’ songs is the upbeat Hunger, which, with shades of the jaunty Everywhere to it, could easily belong on the Mac’s 1987 album Tango In The Night, while the other, Ride This Road, is a gentle, finger-picked, harmonydrenched lullaby.

Curiously, and possibly due to rights reasons, the familiar Mac material is primarily represented by live versions, the majority taken from Buckingham’s 2011 live album Songs From The Small Machine, but overall this set is a fine illustration of what a quality songwriter (and massively underrated guitarist) he is.