Buckingham Nicks - "Dreams Unwind"

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks recorded one album as Buckingham Nicks in 1973. It didn't do very well (except, strangely, in Birmingham, Ala., where it received a lot of airplay). Eventually, in 1974, both were invited to join Fleetwood Mac and the rest is history.

But as recently as last year, Buckingham was lamenting in an interview about what might have been had he and Nicks continued as a duo. They had already been working on songs for a second album, and this is an attempt to create what that album might have been.

SIDE A

1. Monday Morning

2. Nomad

3. Blue Letter

4. Rhiannon

5. Cathouse Blues 

6. Garbo

7. Without You

SIDE B

1. I Don’t Want to Know

2. Landslide

3. Goldfish and the Ladybug

4. Sorcerer

5. Designs of Love

6. I’m So Afraid

In creating a second Buckingham Nicks album I decided to start by taking the Fleetwood Mac album of 1975 and removing the Christine McVie songs. I also removed the song "Crystal" since Buckingham Nicks had recorded that on their debut album. Next, I searched for songs written before Nicks and Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac. As it turns out, there's a lot to use:

• "Cathouse Blues"
• "Designs of Love" (later retitled "That's Alright")
• "Garbo"
• "Goldfish and the Ladybug"
• "I Don't Want to Know"
• "Nomad" (later retitled "Candlelight")
• "Sorceror"
• "Without You"

Fleetwood Mac would later record "I Don't Want to Know" (on Rumours), "That's Alright" (on Mirage) and "Without You" (on Extended Play). Nicks would record the others (except "Goldfish and the Ladybug") on solo albums. And there are Buckingham Nicks demo versions of all these (except for "I Don't Want to Know" as far as I know) that can be found on a bootleg titled The Coffee Plant Demos, 1970-1973. So what to use and how to organize?

I determined first of all that if Buckingham isn't playing on any tracks then they're not Buckingham Nicks songs, so that eliminated the Nicks solo versions. I also thought Fleetwood Mac versions of "That's Alright" and "Without You" were recorded too many years later.

So in the end I decided to use only the tracks from Fleetwood Mac and The Coffee Plant Demos, with the sole exception of "I Don't Want to Know" from Rumours. However, when you combine The Coffee Plant Demos with the Fleetwood Mac tracks it doesn't really work as the Fleetwood Mac songs are obviously much more polished and better produced. Thankfully, there's an easy solution. Both Fleetwood Mac and Rumours have been re-released with bonus discs of early versions and demos of the songs that fit much better along with The Coffee Plant Demos. 

I don't like that Buckingham yells "verse" twice during the demo version of "I Don't Want to Know," but it obviously wasn't expected to be the final version. I also don't like that Nicks doesn't sing on this version, but since she wrote the song I'm letting that slide.

Fleetwood Mac is 42 minutes and 12 seconds long, and I wanted to make this album as close as possible. Including everything it clocks in at a little under 44 minutes. If you wanted to cut something, I'd choose "Goldfish and the Ladybug." If Nicks hasn't put this song on an album in all these years, then it's probably the least essential.

For the album title, I used lyrics from "Rhiannon." For the cover, I used a die-cut design I found online and an old date-appropriate photo.