Lindsey Buckingham - Songs From The Small Machine
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Performance
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Lindsey Buckingham - Songs From The Small Machine
Performance
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I was only nine years old when Lindsey Buckingham (and Stevie Nicks) joined Fleetwood Mac and they released the self-titled Fleetwood Mac album in 1975. The album went to #1 in the U.S. and sold over 5 million copies, and their 1977 follow up, Rumours, also hit the top spot and went on to sell over 40 million copies worldwide. During those tween years I would tune into the radio every waking moment when I wasn't in school, because there were still plenty of great (and free) stations back then, and songs from those two albums, along with 1979's Tusk, accounted for about every third song you'd hear on the radio back in the late '70s. attribute At one point during the performance, Lindsey eloquently describes his career as being a couple of machines: Fleetwood Mac is the big machine, the one that gave him his fame and fortune, and functions on a higher level; and his solo career is the small machine, which was made possible by the income and notoriety from the big machine. Hence the title of his excellent new concert video, Songs From The Small Machine. Lindsay also did a lot of talking between most of the songs, giving it a VH1 Storytellers kind of vibe. This concert was filmed in high-definition at The Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, California on April 22nd, 2011 and showcases songs from Buckingham's critically acclaimed new solo album, The Seeds We Sow, as well as songs from his entire solo career - and of course a few from the big machine. The show opens with Lindsay performing a five-song solo acoustic set that kicks off with "Shut Us Down," from his 2006 album Under the Skin, and you are immediately drawn to the crispness and clarity of the audio mix, especially the DTS Master Audio track, which emphasizes every little nuance of Lindsey's incredible finger picking technique. He then takes you back in time to the title track of his 1984 gem, Go Insane, before going all the way back to his first solo album, Law and Order, for a gorgeous rendition of "Trouble." He closes out the acoustic set with masterful performances of the Fleetwood Mac tunes, "Never Going Back Again," and "Big Love." The latter song is always a highlight of any Fleetwood Mac or Lindsey Buckingham show, and it most certainly was here too. When the rest of the band, Brett Tuggle (bass & keyboards), Neale Heywood (guitar), and Walfredo Reyes Jr. (drums & percussion), join Lindsey for the sixth song, "Under The Skin," the wonderful audio mix becomes even more apparent, and the extra stage lighting also brings out more of the detail and clarity of the impressive hi-def picture. During the rest of the show, Lindsay hits the rest of his solo catalog with a couple of tracks from his 1992 album Out of the Cradle, as well as one from his 2008 release Gift of Screws. As you can imagine, though, it is Lindsey's Fleetwood Mac hits that really bring the house down, and the towering performance of "Tusk," midway through the first set, was one of the coolest versions I have ever heard. They also close out the main set with the incredible one-two punch of "I'm So Afraid," and "Go Your Own Way," which brings the ecstatic crowd to their feet, begging for more, as the band heads backstage for a short break. The band returns to the stage to rapturous applause and then treats the crowd to a three-song encore. I've never understood why a band would close out their main set with a huge hit that gets the crowd dancing in the aisles, only to come out for the encore and play a couple of sit-back-in-your-seat inducing ballads to close out the show - and that is exactly what Lindsay does here. Out Of The Cradle's "Turn It On", is a rollicking number that kicks off the encore well enough, and the acoustic ballad "Treason" makes for a nice segue, but then he ends the show with a solo acoustic performance of "Seeds We Sow," the title track ballad from his new album. Kind of a downer, if you ask me. It's not that these weren't all fine songs - just not to close out an amazing show with. Either "Tusk" or "Go Your Own Way" would have made for a real mind-blowing closer. As I already hinted at earlier, the production quality of
this Blu-ray disc was outstanding. The three audio tracks, DTS-HD Master Audio
5.1, Dolby Digital 4.0, and LPMC stereo were all mixed by Lindsey Buckingham and
guitarist Neale Heywood and the results are incredibly pleasing, especially the
DTS mix. The picture was remarkably sharp and detailed, especially the
close-ups, where you could see every bead of sweat on Lindsey's brow, but many
of the really long shots were lacking in the same level of detail and looked
rather bland. Songs From The Small Machine is a very intimate and beautifully filmed concert video that every Lindsey Buckingham fan needs to check out. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - February 2012 |
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Running Time: 108 Minutes |
Blu-ray Release Date - November 2011 |