Buckingham Nicks to re-release rare debut album, after decades out of print
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's rare debut album is being reissued after being out of print for decades.
Buckingham Nicks, the only studio album by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks as a duo, is being reissued for the first time.
Originally released in September 1973 and unavailable for decades, the album has been sourced from the original analog master tapes for its long-awaited return to vinyl, as well as hi-res digital files for its CD and digital release.
After the LP's release, Buckingham Nicks quickly faded from commercial view but never disappeared from the cultural conversation.
Recorded at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles and produced by Keith Olsen, the album introduced Nicks and Buckingham’s tightly wound harmonies and sharply contrasting songwriting voices across 10 tracks, ranging from the folk-rock shimmer of Crystal to the sun-kissed strut of Don’t Let Me Down Again.
Its legend only grew with time. In late 1974, Mick Fleetwood visited Sound City while scouting studios to record Fleetwood Mac’s next album. To showcase both his production work and the studio’s sound, Olsen blasted Frozen Love for Mick in Studio A.
The song reflected the full scope of the album’s ambition and chemistry - and immediately caught the drummer’s attention.
Soon after, when Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch left the band, Mick reached out to offer Buckingham the spot. Instead of agreeing, Buckingham insisted that he and Nicks were a package deal. Fleetwood agreed, and on New Year’s Eve 1974, the two officially joined Fleetwood Mac - launching one of the most celebrated chapters in the band’s history.
Though their work with Fleetwood Mac would eclipse it commercially, Buckingham Nicks endures as a testament to what came just before: a partnership in full creative bloom.
“[We] knew what we had as a duo, two songwriters that sang really well together. And it was a very natural thing, from the beginning,” Nicks recalls in the Rhino High Fidelity liner notes, written by longtime music journalist David Fricke.
They may have been inexperienced when they made the album, Buckingham says, “but it stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work".
Buckingham Nicks was cut by Kevin Gray from the original masters and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal.
Available exclusively at Rhino.com and internationally at select Warner Music Group stores, the album is limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies.
A special version (limited to 2,000 copies) includes two replica 7-inch singles featuring the original single mixes of Crying In The Night and Don’t Let Me Down Again.
The record opens with a Nicks original, Crying In The Night, an earthy preview of what was coming for Fleetwood Mac with cascading harmonies. The track is available digitally ahead of the full release and you can Listen here
Buckingham Nicks will be available from Rhino on CD and digitally with remastered sound by Chris Bellman, who also cut lacquers for several 1LP color vinyl variants: Custard (Amazon), Baby Pink (indie stores), Violet (Books A Million, and Baby Blue (general retail).
Buckingham Nicks full tracklisting:
Side One:
Crying In The Night
Stephanie
Without A Leg To Stand On
Crystal
Long Distance Winner
Side Two:
Don’t Let Me Down Again
Django
Races Are Run
Lola (My Love)
Frozen Love
