Shindig! #168 – Buckingham Nicks

The 1973 debut album by the architects of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, BUCKINGHAM NICKS’ self-titled, is back in print for the first time in 47 years.

CAMILLA AISA follows Lindsey and Stevie’s trail from teenage hippies to the dawn of mega-stardom

Keith Olsen was able to secure Buckingham Nicks a record deal. He had signed the duo to his own production company, Pogologo Productions, and had been making relentless introductions to people in the industry until Polydor signed them. Soon they found themselves in Studio A of Sound City, a studio in the Van Nuys neighbourhood of LA, ready to christen a recently purchased custom made, soon-to-be-legendary Neve 8028 mixing console. They were surrounded by in-demand professionals: Ron Tutt and Jerry Scheff, from Elvis Presley’s backing band, recorded drums and bass for the album’s driving lead single, ‘Don’t Let Me Down Again’. Jim Keltner, rock’s busiest drummer, was featured on the opener, the quintessentially Nicks-ian ‘Crying In The Night’. Former members of The Electric Prunes and Blood, Sweat & Tears were also deployed. The duo found particular affinity with guitarist Waddy Wachtel who had recently played (under Warren Zevon’s recommendation) on The Everly Brothers’ Stories We Could Tell. Wachtel would remain at Nicks’ side for the decades to come. “We had a taste of the big time,” she reflected in ’94. “We had great musicians in a big, grand studio. We were happening. Things were going our way.”

They also had songs. From the post-Laurel Canyon should-have-been classics ‘Races Are Run’ and ‘Long Distance Winner’ to the exquisitely arranged ‘Crystal’ and the epic orchestral pop of ‘Frozen Love’, the self-titled Buckingham Nicks captured two unique voices asserting themselves in the singer-songwriter era. Nicks already oozed an unearthly mystique, while Buckingham was bursting with the urgency of a guitarist and sonic craftsman to be reckoned with. He was at his best on ‘Stephanie’, an instrumental love song. The couple’s relationship had been rocky from the start, and soon the world would grow used to hearing them say unpleasant things about each other in songs. For ‘Stephanie’ to be wordless and exude love so sincerely makes Buckingham Nicksquite special in retrospect.

If the recording sessions represented a joyous moment, the album cover’s photo shoot was more akin to a harbinger of doom. Having spent most of her savings on a beautiful blouse for the occasion, Nicks instantly hated the idea of a topless portrait of the couple. But she found herself posing anyway (and shedding tears in between takes) in front of photographer Jimmy Wachtel’s camera, after Buckingham reportedly insisted on getting on with nudity in the name of art. The image Nicks favoured eventually ended up on the back of the sleeve: it shows the couple standing together, caught in spontaneous laughter. Next to it, is a sweet note: “Dedicated to A.J. Nicks, the grandfather of country music”. The man who had taught his baby granddaughter how to sing harmonies would pass away a year later.

When Buckingham Nicks was released in September ’73, Polydor did not promote it much further than featuring the album at the centre of a “Treasure Map” ad it took out in a few music magazines, surrounded by John Mayall, Millie Jackson and less notable releases. The album was soon a clear failure. “We were quite poor,” Buckingham recalled to Q in ’92. “We used to bounce cheques to buy breakfast. Our record company thought we should be writing novelty songs like Jim Stafford’s ‘Spiders And Snakes’, the hit du jour, and our managers were trying to get us to play the steakhouse circuit, the ticket to oblivion.” Still, the two soldiered on and kept working on new material for a second full-length. They’d go to Sound City whenever Olsen alerted them to a hole in the schedule. Nicks, in particular, still felt confident. “I knew that we were going to be somebody,” she confided to Rolling Stone in ’97. “I think that he [Buckingham] had a little bit less belief in the fact that we would really make it big. I always knew.”