Fleetwood Mac, Extended Play (LMJS Productions) * * * 1/2
Fleetwood Mac’s first new music since 2003’s Say You Will is short on Stevie Nicks, who resisted recording a full album with the group. The resulting four-track EP, released to iTunes as a digital download, makes you wish for more on the strength of Lindsey Buckingham’s three new songs.
Nicks contributes the folksy “Without You,” a reject from the 1973 sessions for the Buckingham Nicks LP. The pair harmonize over Buckingham’s tinny acoustic strumming. Meh.
Much better: Buckingham’s fresh songs in which he returns to writing crisp, accessible, engaging California pop/rock, like the infectiously melodic and rhythmically driving “Sad Angel” and the breezy “Miss Fantasy,” a piquant taste of Mirage-era Mac that makes great use of the famed rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.
His stark solo piano ballad, “It Takes Time” — imagine Christine McVie’s “Songbird” as its closest cousin — intrigues the most because it’s unlike anything the guitarist has released.
Howard Cohen / Miami Herald / Friday, May 3, 2013
