Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! With a new year is a new beginning 2007 is a blank slate which I hope will be filled with personal happiness for all. To start off this year, I have a new review of the recent Lindsey Buckingham CD and will continue my countdown of favorite CD's. This is going to be a double shot of So Cal laid back 70's style rock starting with Mr. Buckingham.

Under The Skin is Lindsey Buckingham's fourth solo disc in his long running career. Mainly known as the guitarist / singer / producer of Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has periodically popped out a solo album in between Fleetwood Mac projects. His last solo disc was Out of the Cradle (1992), a whole 14 years ago. Cradle was the definitive Lindsey Buckingham album and ranked at Number 98 of my favorite 100 CDs. Now he's back with another great CD.

Like many of his contemporaries, Under The Skin carries a theme of aging. Much of the tone is about settling down, appreciating what you've got while reminscing about the past. Amid the relaxed vibe, Buckingham also makes it clear he has more to offer and is not ready to retire. Musically, Skin also has some of Buckingham's most intricate guitar playing. While his other solo discs had a heavily produced studio sound, Under the Skin features many tracks focusing on Buckingham's voice and guitar. There is some additional percussion and instrumentation, but it's minimal. The stripped down approach and personal lyrics (plus tasteful covers) make this the most intimate album of his career.

Other Buckingham trademarks pop up during the song cycle, such as stiff rhythms and multiple vocal overdubs, but that's to be expected. Stand out tracks include the single "Show You How" with it's bopping overlapping voices in the chorus and the excellent "Cast Away Dreams" with it's atmospheric sonics and wistful style. "Down On Rodeo" is the obligatory Fleetwood Mac guest spot, though even with McVie and Fleetwood on board the rhythm is surprisingly light. Under the Skin is a fine CD that shows both maturity and adventerousness in it's concept and execution. I give it a 9 out of 10.

Another contemporary of Lindsey Buckingham comes in at Number 57:

Jackson Browne - The Next Voice You Hear (1997)

Jackson Browne, that's 70's Icon of laid back Southern California singer/songwriter navel gazing, has had a long and successful career at making personal albums with universal appeal. During the 70's, the quality of his songwriting and the tastefulness of his production were faultless. In the 80's, Browne changed his focus from the personal to the political. The change in the approach caused his music to change from personal and relatable to strident and condescending. Though Browne has since tried to reclaim his past sound, he had clearly missed his moment. Add to the fact that Browne tended to use the same melodies repeatedly made his albums a hit and miss affair. As a rule, I long held that if he released a greatest hits disc I would pick it up. In 1997, he did.

The Next Voice You Hear features Browne's biggest hits. Heard in this context, I found that the first 10 songs on the CD were some of the best songs I've ever listened to. Browne's lyrics gave a portrait of a person I could relate to, a guy who is well meaning, idealistic, selfish and cynical all at once. Jackson Browne, more than any other artist, wrote music that I heard and thought it sounded like me. If he had varied his song melodies a little more, he probably would have been my favorite musician. As it stands, he rates pretty high with me.

Voice features Browne's signature songs such as "Running On Empty", a song that evokes Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way", , Springsteen's "Born To Run" and Eric Clapton all at once. The lyrics about forging ahead while you are out of inspiration is, ironically, inspirational to me. "The Pretender" with its incisive wit about selling out on the ideal dreams of the 60's peace movement also grabbed me. And of course, "Somebody's Baby" will always bring back memories of adolescence and the movie Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982).

I hate to say it, but I do subscribe to the general notion that Browne hasn't done anything significant since the 70's (he joked about this during a Simpson's cameo). The last third of the disc which covers 1985 to present is just OK. Also, there were a number of hit songs missing, such as "The Load Out / Stay", "Boulevard" and even "You're A Friend Of Mine". A two disc set was released years later to rectify this oversight.