(Credits: Far Out / Steve Proctor)
Thu 26 March 2026 6:00, UK
When Mick Fleetwood landed on Lindsey Buckingham as the suitable replacement for Peter Green, I don’t think he realised just how drastically the American would change his band.
Up until 1974, Fleetwood Mac had been a gritty blues group, contributing to the powerful London scene which platformed some of the wild greats of rock and roll. Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton rubbed shoulders with the band’s former leader, Peter Green, and helped develop a scene that ultimately turned Fleetwood Mac into a raucous rock and roll outfit.
But then, came the downward spiral of the band’s enigmatic frontman, Green, and the subsequent crossroads that Fleetwood Mac found themselves at, a sharp change beckoned. Fleetwood searched high and low for a worthy suitor, and finally stumbled upon him in December ‘74, when he met Lindsey Buckingham.
A wild guitar player and songwriting visionary, Fleetwood immediately knew that he could deliver the creative goods when it came to the band, but I doubt he quite foresaw the sonic change that would result in them becoming masters of the dream rock realms. It was a fitting soundscape for them to adopt. Buckingham’s vocals were far more delicate than the gravelly blues notes of Peter Green, and along with his vocal bandmates Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie, the band could suitably explore softer rock ideas.
Despite his troubling, uncompromising nature, Buckingham’s voice was best suited when placed alongside his bandmates, and so when a solo career finally beckoned, come the break-up of Fleetwood Mac, it was time for the American to rediscover his artistry as an individual. His ‘92 album Out Of The Cradle was the first showcasing of that new chapter, and it showcased a diverse range of musical styles from country and pop, while the more heavy sounds of rock and roll were completely left behind as a deliberate way to spark sonic innovation.
Buckingham said, “Part of making this record was in rediscovering music that seemed to be coming into its own again, with people like Natalie Cole and Harry Connick who have completely bypassed R&B. There seems to be a new audience for that kind of music.”
Clearly disillusioned by the modern adaptation of rhythm and blues, which by the early ‘90s had become heavy rock and roll, Buckingham wanted to delve further back in time, even further beyond the beginnings of his career and to music that inspired him in the more conservative ‘50s.
He continued, “The soundtrack for South Pacific was one of the first albums I ever heard, when I was three years old. It was my father’s favourite song, so it’s personal. There’s an element of family in this record, my personal history, that I think was important for me to get out into the open. I’ve spent three years relying on my own judgment, and now I’m ready to find out what someone else thinks about it all.”
While it was something of a passion project for Buckingham, the legacy of his ‘92 album goes to prove that his creativity was best placed in the sort of R&B worlds that he had become disillusioned with. Whether he liked it or not, in the ‘70s, he invented a world of dream rock that defined an era of music.
