"I've saved Steal Your Heart Away for last, because I'm completely in love with this song. It hooked me instantly, and gave me great hope that I will, indeed, gorge myself on his next album. I loved the intro to the song immediately--it's got a country flavor--but then, showing his continued maturity, brilliance, whatever, he wisely throws in some bongos underneath to add texture and tense counterpoint to the melodic guitar. It's a great and surprising stroke, and it works perfectly.

Then, I admit, I have to get the oxygen, as he starts singing "All alone, we go" in that Lindsey tone that I find so intoxicating. It's the perfect pitch for his voice, and when he takes on that Texas twang, we're off into Lindseyland.

I love it when he says "All alone, we suffer," and he softens the "suffer" part. I picture him closing his eyes to sing this word. Again, when he sings "It's the same old thing (or thang; I think he was born in Texas)/In the same old way," the lyrics aren't exceptional, but the delivery is. I could listen to this guy sing forever. Then he changes the sound of the vocal when he gets to the chorus, almost like he's singing through a pipe ("The light was creepin'/Down, down down/While we were sleepin'/Suddenly we hit the ground"), which keeps the song fresh and interesting. The guitar solo is gorgeous too--an acoustic beauty that shifts unexpectedly halfway through.

Can't say enough about the background vocals, yet again. When he sings "Steal your heart away," he's got this great chorus (himself, I'm sure) backing him up. Great.

By the time he says "So come on, let's go/Let's ruuuuun away," I don't even care what the hell he's singing about. I just know this song has attached itself to my emotional catalog of reasons why I can't seem to get enough of this guy. I love the song more every time I play it.

And so finally, I must address the embarrassing question, to myself, of how I've become a Lindsey groupie. I'm a boy, after all, and I'm grown up, so I'm not supposed to get TOO wrapped up in the sound of a singer's voice and his musical stylings. Society tells me this, anyway.

So I'll include part of what I wrote to somebody today:

I AM a groupie, no doubt. I don't think it's a bad thing, but it's a strange thing. In my case, it is perhaps symptomatic of the creative void in my life (I write for a living, but I hate everything I write; the stuff I love to write is stuff I don't have the time or energy to polish and sell), so the creative me perhaps feels empty, searching for something of value.

Something about Lindsey's musical integrity and guitar playing and experimentation and, yes, even the tonal quality of his voice has struck an odd, heretofore unstruck chord in my soul somewhere. At the ripe young age of 36, I admit that I feel a bit foolish, but I cannot help what I feel. I've found the whole Fleetwood Mac story, and his involvement therein, compelling beyond my normal disaffection for all things pop-cultural (or, for that matter, for all things--period). So instead of resisting it, I'm going with it and enjoying the ride. It's like my little addiction, guilty pleasure--call it what you like.

The truth is, I've developed no real affection for much of anything in this world, aside from my wife and kids. I have no real hobbies, I hate politicians and the business elite because I see right through them...the oppression and bigotry that are rampant throughout this world and throughout history have left me hopeless for this whole planet, and I look at everything with a cynicism that often annoys my wife and those around me.

Enter, unexpectedly, Lindsey Buckingham. His approach to his music and musical life (i.e., not only what he does, but how he chooses to package it), and his talent, have opened some wide pocket of great joy and discovery that I don't want to close. I really don't."

http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/archive/ledge5.htm,