One guitarist made Lindsey Buckingham feel insecure: “Didn’t want to be shown up”
Every single incarnation of Fleetwood Mac always prided itself on having some of the best guitar players in the business. Even though the band could never hold onto members throughout their first years as a band, artists like Lindsey Buckingham helped them transform from a humble blues band into one of the greatest sonic forces in the world, along with the songwriting magic of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie.
To be a lead guitarist is to have a lot of guts. Aside from the lead singer, the lead guitarist is always in the spotlight. Add to that being a songwriter and a singer, there was a lot riding on Buckingham when he joined Fleetwood Mac. While Buckingham may have had a singular voice behind his instrument, one artist made him feel insecure in the studio.
Granted, no one could hope to play the guitar like Buckingham. As opposed to the bluesy tradition expected with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham was known to play without a pick for most of his career, often scraping his fingers across the strings or fingerpicking to be more attached to his instrument. It brought a softer edge to the band that had been missing. The group transcended their origins to provide a more mainstream sound that appealed worldwide.
Although this involved a massive restructured approach to the band’s celebrated tunes like ‘Oh Well’, it would become their greatest asset when working on the album Rumours. Instead of making the same driving rhythm on every track, Buckingham would fly off the handle with different styles that went against the grain of rock and roll tradition, including the delicate sounds of ‘Never Going Back Again’ or the folk-tinged intro of ‘The Chain’.
While the accompanying album Rumours resulted in the band achieving success beyond their wildest dreams, they were equally determined to follow up with something equally brilliant. Going into the album Tusk, Buckingham would take complete control whenever the band worked on one of his songs, taking cues from artists like Brian Wilson when painting his masterpieces.
Although the songs may have taken more effort to get down in the studio, Buckingham would eventually feel uncomfortable when an old friend greeted the band. Halfway through the sessions, original guitarist Peter Green would show up, which mortified Buckingham when they started to jam together.
As the rest of the band had a good time, Buckingham would leave the sessions early, not wanting to be outdone. While he could have easily wanted to rest before returning to the studio, engineer Ken Caillat remembers how tense Buckingham felt when seeing the band with Green at the helm.
As Caillat recalled, Buckingham seemed insecure at the studio, remarking in Fleetwood Mac FAQ, “I remember [Fleetwood Mac guitar tech] Ray Lindsey was jamming with Peter because Peter wanted to have a guitar player to play with him. But [Lindsey Buckingham] just kinda took off like he didn’t want to be bothered or didn’t want to be shown up. I don’t know.”
It wasn’t unusual for members of Fleetwood Mac to leave the studio on a whim. The group was held together with sticky tape and often fell apart. But it would appear that the appearance of the great Peter Green was enough to send Buckingham out of the studio and off in a huff. “To the point where a guitar player, Ray Lindsey, stoned out of his brain, was playing,” continued Caillat. “I remember [co-producer Richard Dashut] was playing drums by the time Mick was too screwed up to play”.
Though much of the jam session would be salvaged into McVie’s song ‘Brown Eyes’, Green’s contributions would be minimal, with Buckingham’s tracks being far more prominent in the mix. While Buckingham insisted that Mick Fleetwood had total control over what was included in the final mix, there may be a chance that he wouldn’t relinquish guitar duties to one of his predecessors.
