Can and Cannot
With this latest release from former Fleetwood Mac superstar, it is easy to see why the band cannot live without him but can live without him. This little oxymoron can only apply to the pop-incarnation of the group, especially when considering the signature sound of Rumours as a template for Buckingham’s influence and control. This album like Seeds We Sow is the melodic as both perfect and profligate, the former an AOR feature of The Mac’s major commercial success of so many years. It is in the latter that we might understand how this influence is unwelcome, though most reporting on Buckingham’s dismissal from the supergroup would suggest tensions are far more personal than musical. One track of this release exemplifies the point: I Don’t Mind is 'pretty' sounding par excellence, and it is embraced in the classic harmonious chorus of the title, that is until after two bars of it are sung and there is the sudden follow-on of a quite playful but obnoxious descending bit of vocal something, technically aided to be such, and a seeming compulsive proclivity from Buckingham on the album as similar occurs elsewhere. A clever musician, just too much so indulgence in this at times. There is similar on Swan Song, but On the Wrong Side is a Fleetwood Mac song, if it was played by them. And full disclosure, Blind Love has a beautiful old-school harmonious chorus.
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