Carrie Courogen, Social Media Manager at Condé Nast Entertainment, and writer for her blog, Bed Crumbs:
Buckingham Nicks, Buckingham Nicks
Before they joined Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were just two kids who moved to LA together with a shared dream to be rock stars, but for a long time, they really struggled. They recorded this labor of love album as a duo thinking they’d make it big, but instead, it got mixed reviews and was dropped after a few months. Buckingham Nicks remains elusive and relatively unknown primarily because, aside from rips on YouTube or bootleg CDs on the internet, it’s technically unavailable in any format other than vinyl. The only reason this album is considered a collector’s find and not a dollar bin regular these days is because of a phone call on New Year’s Eve, 1974 — but that’s another story. My copy once belonged to my father, who bought it as a 17 year old kid who heard it at a friend’s house and wanted his own copy. I don’t think he anticipated that he would have a daughter who loved music, let alone one who looked to Stevie Nicks as one of her heroes. He eventually let me have it and it was the first record I played when I got a turntable of my own. It’s interesting to hear what themes and styles are present that end up occurring in their later work, but I also marvel at the strength of the music and lyrics Buckingham Nicks crafted when they were so young. To me, the instrumental “Stephanie” is what total love and infatuation sounds like, and everything about “Frozen Love” — from the lyrics to the frenzied guitar solo — gives me chills.
