CRYSTAL VISION

The partnership between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks began when they were both students at Menlo-Atherton High School, about half way between San Francisco and San Jose. From the outset their bond was music: the emotionally infused songwriting of Nicks and the guitar playing and Brian Wilson studio perfectionism of Buckingham. After playing in a local band the pair moved south to Los Angeles to pursue the shared dream of musical stardom. Buckingham focussed on honing his arranging and producing skills while Nicks worked menial day jobs as a waitress and housecleaner. Success proved elusive.

They recorded demos in spare bedrooms, developing a sound that fused California folk-rock with Fleetwood Mac–style melodic precision—before Fleetwood Mac ever entered their orbit. Perseverance paid off when producer Keith Olsen heard their home recordings and brought them into Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, LA.

The result was Buckingham-Nicks, released on Polydor Records in September 1973. Recorded with top Los Angeles session musicians including drummer Jim Keltner and bassist Jerry Scheff, the album captured the duo’s romantic and musical partnership in full bloom. Buckingham’s intricate fingerpicking and layered harmonies combined with Nicks’ sultry vocals and poetic lyrics to create something intimate yet ambitious.

At the time, however, Buckingham-Nicks failed to find an audience. Polydor’s promotion was minimal; the album received little radio play and was soon deleted from the label’s catalogue. Critics offered scattered praise for its craftsmanship but noted a lack of clear identity amidst the crowded singer-songwriter field. The disappointment was crushing—the duo were dropped by Polydor and found themselves back struggling to pay the rent.

This was the point at which producer Keith Olsen indirectly intervened in a life-changing way. He played Buckingham-Nicks to Mick Fleetwood who, at the time, was seeking a new guitarist for Fleetwood Mac following the departure of Bob Welsh. The tall drummer was impressed, and invited Buckingham to join the band. Buckingham was interested, but on one condition: that his partner Stevie Nicks join too. They were a unit. The rest is history, leaving us with the pre-Mac LP, and album that has become something of a cult classic*.

The album opens with a shimmer of acoustic guitar and Stevie Nicks’s alluring, bittersweet vocal on "Crying in the night." Its themes of independence and romantic uncertainty foreshadow much of her later songwriting. Buckingham’s brief instrumental "Stephanie" is next, dedicated to Nicks and showcasing Lindsey’s intricate fingerpicking style. It is a lovely interlude that demonstrates you don’t necessarily need words to write a love song.

The most muscular track on the album, “Don’t Let Me Down Again,” features Buckingham in full rock mode: sharp guitar riffs, urgent harmonies, and a driving rhythm section. It’s a glimpse of the sonic clarity and tight arrangement style he would later bring to Fleetwood Mac classics like “Go Your Own Way.” Fleetwood Mac performed the song live in 1975^~, confirming its status as one of the duo’s strongest compositions.

The LP’s dramatic closer, “Frozen Love,” unites both voices in a sweeping, seven-minute journey from acoustic subtlety to electric intensity. Buckingham’s guitar solo, both elegant and explosive, was the one that impressed Mick Fleetwood so much. It remains the album’s most ambitious track.

Buckingham-Nicks has musical variety and sonic clarity; it ranges from vulnerability and longing to precision and power. Although it may have been overlooked at the time, distance has served the album well, providing a glimpse of two artists on the cusp of taking mid-70s AOR to a new level. This 2025 re-issue will be welcomed by followers of Fleetwood Mac as well as fans of Stevie and Lindsey.

* The album has never been officially released on CD, though it appeared on 8-Track cartridge and cassette at the time.

^~  It appears on the 1980 album Fleetwood Mac Live.

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References

Fleetwood, Mick. Play On: Now, Then, And Fleetwood Mac. Little, Brown, 2014.

Davis, Stephen. Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks. St. Martin’s Press, 2017.

Rolling Stone archives: 1981 and 2017 interviews with Nicks and Buckingham.