Mac-less Lindsey Buckingham back on road

Asked how his relationship with the others is these days, he beams, replying cheerfully, "It's good."

So good there is talk of another reunion toward the end of next year, after he's finished his "Under the Skin" tour and knocked out another album, a hard rocker. He's been carrying the tunes for it around in his head for some time now.

"Obviously it would take a few more tours to regain the sense of trust and unity" that the band once had, Buckingham says, adding he and Nicks, who have known each other since junior high school, still have differences.

"She has a lot of issues with my style, not musically but just as a person," he says. "I get things done but it's not always in the most diplomatic way."

It was Nicks' ethereal vocals and seductive stage presence, coupled with Buckingham's sense of orchestration and swift, finger-picking guitar playing (a style rarely heard in rock) that propelled Fleetwood Mac to superstar status almost overnight.

"Rumours," the group's second album with the newcomers, was one of the most popular recordings ever made, selling nearly 20 million copies and producing such hits as the anthemic "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop." Bill Clinton appropriated the latter for his 1992 presidential campaign song, something that led to the group's first reunion, at Clinton's 1993 inauguration.

'Tusk' an experiment gone bad
Buckingham had bolted Fleetwood Mac in 1987, unable to tolerate the creative differences he says began after "Tusk," the experimental, heavily orchestrated follow-up to "Rumours."

Although critically praised, the album sold only 2 million copies, and Buckingham says he has heard that the first time the record label's executives played it they talked of having visions of their Christmas bonuses flying out the window.

"We had a meeting," he says of the band. "And they were saying, 'Well, Lindsey, you're still producing, but we're not going to let you do that anymore."

Several hit albums and tours followed, but Buckingham never got over the reaction. He mentions musicians like the Beatles and Brian Wilson when he speculates what the band might have achieved had it stayed on the experimental path he had taken with "Tusk."

"It certainly kept me from staying in the band longer," he says.

Nearly 20 years later, he's witnessed two successful reunion albums and tours, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and released a handful of acclaimed albums of his own.

Still, the thought of another Fleetwood Mac tour excites him as much as anything.

"I think there's quite a long run left in the band," he says. "It would be a shame to come to the end of our time as a band — whenever that would be — and not have it be a proper finish."

MORE FROM ROCK

Pearl Jam boxes up shows for June release

Pearl Jam boxes up shows for June release Courtney Love plans to auction Cobain items McCartney CD ambles down ‘Memory’ Lane Motorcycle Club roars back to rock origins   Add Rock headlines to your news reader: