Gift of Screws

A kind friend bought MSS a CD for Christmas. It had, he said, been in the billboard charts for a lot of the year yet had made little impact in this country. If we didn't like it he would have it back as he wanted to hear it.

We take a break to applaud the courage of someone who would buy a friend a CD he hadn't heard himself. That said, this particular friend quite often buys books we've already read so it makes a change.

The album is Lindsey Buckingham's solo album Gift of Screws. He was with Fleetwood Mac for some years during which time they had legendary bust-ups, complicated inter-band male-female relationships and produced the album of the year back in about 1976. Just as punk was getting going almost every one in town possessed a copy of Rumours.

It's great. Totally contemporary, distinctive style and yet could have been recorded the day after Rumours was finished and production polished in 2008. The songs are the laments of a guy who has been down and got back up very slowly. Hurt and recovered. Naughty now nice. Mainly up-tempo. Enjoy.