“It stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work”: Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks’ 1973 album is getting a long-overdue re-release

It’s official. After a week of (pun fully intended) Rumours, the Buckingham Nicks re-release is on, and you can listen to the first ‘single’ from the album, Crying In the Night, right now on your favourite streaming platform.

A new release of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks’ hard-to-come-by, 1973, pre-Fleetwood Mac album has been teased all week, and while fans will doubtless be delighted at the long overdue digital re-release, it's safe to say that were hoping for a little more.

Buckingham Nicks will appear on 19 September on a newly remastered CD and will make its debut on streaming platforms. Plus, Rhino High Fidelity will be releasing limited edition vinyl versions, one featuring bonus replicas of the album’s 7” singles.

Buckingham Nicks - Crying In The Night (Official Audio) - YouTube

Watch On

Released in 1973 and now the prized property of vinyl collectors (and the target of boot sale hopefuls), the album landed on 5 September 1973. It marked the moment that both artists effectively laid out their stall to the music biz, catching the ear and attention of Mick Fleetwood, who invited the pair to join Fleetwood Mac the following year.

While the duo’s album release went relatively unnoticed at the time, the story goes that Mick Fleetwood was scouting for studios at which to record the next Fleetwood Mac album and, when visiting Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, was played Frozen Love from the album, as a demonstration of some of their recent work.

Impressed not only by the sound of the production but also the quality of the music and the artists responsible (and spurred on by the departure of Bob Welch from the band), Fleetwood reached out to Buckingham to offer him the role soon after.

However, faithful to Nicks, Buckingham resisted, insisting that he and Nicks came only as a pair.

Thus, on New Year’s Eve 1974, the two officially joined Fleetwood Mac, effectively reshaping the band for their critically well-received 10th, self-titled album (often referred to as their White Album) released in 1975, and setting the scene for their enduring mega-smash, Rumours, which followed in 1977.

Over the years the album that first sparked Mick Fleetwood’s interest has only ever grown in stature.

“[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.

“It stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work,” adds Buckingham.

Last week Buckingham and Nicks stirred fans into a frenzy when out of nowhere Nicks posted the word “And if you go forward…” to her Instagram.

A post that was followed up with an “I’ll meet you there” from Buckingham, completing a line from Frozen Love.

The pair then posted a pic of a new Sunset Boulevard album poster, seemingly confirming a 19 September release for the album, with the poster’s location, close to Sound City Studios where the 1973 album was originally recorded, only providing further evidence of what was afoot.

So with hell seemingly frozen over and Nicks and Buckingham possibly on better terms, could a ‘full’ Mac reunion (with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie but without the sadly departed Christine McVie who died in 2022) now be on the cards?

Last year Nicks appeared to dismiss the notion: “There’s no chance of putting Fleetwood Mac back together in any way without her,” she told Rolling Stone, adding that the last time she spoke to Buckingham was at McVie's memorial service “for about three minutes... I dealt with Lindsey for as long as I could. You could not say that I did not give him more than 300 million chances.”

You Can Go Your Own Way

The band last went out on the road on their An Evening With Fleetwood Mac tour through 2018 and 2019, a jaunt which saw Buckingham replaced by Crowded House frontman Neil Finn.

However, when speaking on the Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend podcast, where he was asked if he would consider rejoining Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham replied: “In a heartbeat, absolutely. If there’s more to come [from the band], if there’s a way to heal that, that would be great. It would be very appropriate to close on a more circular note.”

Now with Buckingham and Nicks at least communicating again, Rumours are once again in motion that Dreams may come true…

Buckingham Nicks will be available from Rhino on CD and digitally with remastered sound by Chris Bellman. And fans who’ve been hunting for a rare vinyl copy can now go wild enjoying colour variations of Custard (at Amazon), Baby Pink (at indie stores), Violet (at Books A Million) and Baby Blue (available at general retail).