Probably best known as the album that got Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks the Fleetwood Mac gig, this low-key release was the first recorded outing for a couple of then unknowns who somehow convinced a record label to record and release their commercial debut.
Buckingham Nicks features ten songs which range stylistically from ballad to uptempo to showcasing a blistering guitar solo. It was that blistering guitar solo on the album's final track, "Frozen Love," that impressed Mick Fleetwood enough for him to extend invitations to both the guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and his partner Stevie Nicks to join his band. Although
Buckingham Nicks would see multiple repressings once its creators had joined their new outfit, it eventually went out of print and has never seen an official CD release, with the rumor mills suggesting that Stevie Nicks is not fond of it. As a result, the album has been widely bootlegged on CD and vinyl for years, with
more than 80 different versions of the album listed on Discogs as of this writing. Out of these, at least two competing unofficial "Deluxe Editions" have made their way into the market. One purports to feature nine Lindsay Buckingham solo tracks from his unreleased
Law And Order album as well as an additional two tracks from a 1977 Walter Egan LP.
Another "deluxe" version - the one reviewed here - features the single mixes of album cuts "Crying in the Night" and "Don't Let Me Down Again" as bonus tracks, followed by an additional six acoustic demos and three live recordings (themselves widely available via numerous other bootleg releases). How does this version compare to the legitimate release?
Note: This is a comparison of the original album tracks and singles only, not the additional demo or live recordings included on the bootleg. The overall volume of the LP transfer has been normalized, with dynamics between songs retained.
Crying in the Night
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Stephanie
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Without a Leg to Stand On
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Crystal
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Long Distance Winner
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Don't Let Me Down Again
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Django
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Races Are Run
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Lola (My Love)
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Frozen Love
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
1973 Polydor LP
Crying in the Night (single version)
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
Original 1973 Polydor 45 RPM single
Don't Let Me Down Again (mono single version)
2016 "Deluxe Edition" bootleg
Original 1973 Polydor 45 RPM single
And the winners are: Original Polydor LP and 45 RPM singles.
The bootleg CD's transfer sounds thin and oddly lacking in bass. To my ears, it sounds like some kind of digital processing has been applied, possibly in an attempt to clean up LP surface noise, but possibly also to alter the overall sound for whatever reason. I don't think it's the result of the specific release of the album that was used, as I have an official 1973 pressing of this disc and it doesn't sound like this. The bootleg version is notably devoid of audible pops and clicks, which further suggests that digital enhancement was applied to it. A close look at the fade outs of individual songs seems to confirm this, and this is confirmed further by my own listening comparisons. Vinyl copies of this album's many pressings aren't especially rare in the secondhand market, though the selling prices are higher now than when I bought my copies in the late '90s. One of those is the way to go here.
As far as the single mix of "Crying in the Night," which is a worthy extra and arguably better than the standard album version, the original 45 RPM disc is the way to go as well, if you can find it in good condition.
The bootleg disc also includes the shortened, mono single version of "Don't Let Me Down Again," a song which resurfaced in 1980 in a live version on Fleetwood Mac Live!
