When the bullet hits the bone

Under The Skin - Lindsey Buckingham (2006)

Perhaps one of rock's most underrated guitarists, Lindsey Buckingham dropped his first solo album in fourteen years with 2006's Under The Skin. Buckingham has often used his solo albums to showcase some of his quirkier or more ambitious musical ideas, not suitable for a pop chart juggernaut like Fleetwood Mac. On Under, he also gets to work his acoustic chops, creating an album somehow both enthusiastic and easy-going.

Pondering the strange dichotomy of a critically lauded but commercially unsuccessful solo career, Buckingham opens the album by reassuring himself it's "Not Too Late", (80/100). He does so poignantly, looking into the eyes of his children, with a more sobering awareness that it likely is. The rumination simmers over wavy, sparkly guitar and, while one would hope Buckingham's blues would be tempered by having also been in a hugely prosperous band and all, the longing resonates with anyone who has ever felt unseen or unheard at one time and/or another.

The pace picks up on the next number, "Show You How", (88). The stripped down feel of the album is embodied by this track, with its so slight instrumentation and whisper-like vocals drenched in Buckingham-trademark harmonic echo. "Resurrection will come" when whatever shadows lurk in the past stay there. The reverb-steeped wispy vocals of the title track, (84), also strive to chase away shadows and doubt. Speaking as one who has been there, the singer offers empathetic support and "I'll shepherd you" is a sound salve for spiritual unrest.

The ethereal "I Am Waiting", (86), is the first of two covers on the album. Originally appearing on the Rolling Stones' 1966 Aftermath, this song traverses the strenuous, rambling, labyrinthine terrain of "waiting for someone to come out of somewhere." The waiting seems to pay off, however, in a lively "It Was You", (85). Delirious back-up vocals celebrate the long-awaited arrival of real love. Buckingham drops the names of his three children in this song, in each case an indication of the past's insignificance.

"To Try For The Sun", (88), features the sound of a guitar having a seizure. Buckingham's spastic playing lends palpitating energy to the album's second cover, this one a Donovan tune from 1965's Fairytale.

Even melancholy sounds sunny on Buckingham's fretboard. In "Cast Away Dreams", (92), (http://www.mediafire.com/?l2h6p9166it2g6u), the singer bemoans leaving a situation he would rather not have. Realizing just how rarely anything turns out the way it was planned doesn't make it easier to accept, however. "Hearts will break," Buckingham writes, "with choices we must make," but even on those faithless days where regret rules, he is reminded the "sun will rise in your newborn eyes."

Still, in "Shut Us Down", (95), (http://www.mediafire.com/?61i17l6d9vn6kcl), the singer is possessed by the singular determination to not leave ever again. The intensity manifest in the frenzied vocals and finger-picking are the efforts of a man fighting nothing less than fate itself and builds to tenacious crescendo incited by raw and desperate emotion. There is an extended version on Elizabethtown: Music From The Motion Picture, (2005).

With its slick background harmonies, "Down On Rodeo", (86), sounds the most like Fleetwood Mac of anything on Under. Not too surprising then is the appearance on this song by the rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. Fleetwood also sticks around for the next track, "Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind", (90), but other than those cameos, Buckingham plays everything on this album himself. The sounds of children playing embellish this ardent tune along with brass orchestration.

Lastly, "Flying Down Juniper", (84), rides a flamenco-esque rhythm to the place where even the harshest realities of the past finally do not eclipse the hope for the future.

Only a liar goes through life with a smile fixed to his face; likewise, only a liar never smiles. Just as only a fool embraces pain; likewise, only a fool ignores it. Lindsey Buckingham executes a good balance Under The Skin, dealing gut-level with the messy blood and bone of life without neglecting its very vitality.

Under The Skin (album): 87/100.