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You may know Mick Fleetwood as a blues artist, a legendary rock drummer or as one of the founders of the Grammy Award winning band Fleetwood Mac. But you may not know that this drummer has his own line of wine and that he recently beat out the Jonas Brothers, Nickelback and Britney Spears on iTunes the day his latest album “Blue Again” became available for download.

In a recent phone conference, Fleetwood reminisced about his blues roots. “We were very much just a formatted blues band,” says Fleetwood. “Our love for the genre of music was extreme.”

As the drummer explained, since Fleetwood Mac started off as a blues band in 1967, he was able to return to his blues roots with “Blue Again.”

And in what he defined as the “crazy Fleetwood Mac journey,” there were members that came and gone, one of them being guitarist/singer Rick Vito. “I got to know him as a player and as a friend,” says Fleetwood of Vito. The two friends worked together on Fleetwood’s album. READ MORE »

Fans of Fleetwood Mac, rejoice — the classic rock act has announced more dates for the upcoming Unleashed Tour, including a handful of Canadian shows.

The band will now play a second show in Toronto on March 17, on top of their previously announced March 26 gig.

Canadian stops are also included in their newly announced second leg of the tour: Calgary on May 12, Edmonton on May 13 and Vancouver on May 15.

Tickets for the new dates go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. through Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

The tour, which now encompasses 44 shows, kicks off March 1 and will showcase the band’s greatest hits including “Dreams,” “Go Your Own Way” and “Rhiannon.”

The band, which formed in 1967 in London, England, is touring for the first time in five years following several solo projects.

“We love our band and think the title of the tour ‘Unleashed’ perfectly describes how we all feel when we get on stage together — especially in 2009,” the band said in a joint statement. “We’re so happy to get back out on the road, perform everyone’s favorite songs and see our fans.”

Here are Fleetwood Mac’s Canadian tour dates:

March 17 Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
March 23 Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place
March 25 Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
March 26 Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
May 12 Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddledome
May 13 Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
May 15 Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place

What do you get when you combine masterful guitar playing, top-notch production and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer? If it’s anything but a great album, something’s gone terribly wrong – and that’s exactly what’s happened with Lindsey Buckingham’s Under The Skin.

When it was announced that Buckingham would be releasing his first solo album in more than a decade, I jumped out of my chair with excitement… or so the saying goes. I had great expectations for this album, especially following his spotless contributions to Fleetwood Mac’s 2003 album Say You Will (Peacekeeper and Say Goodbye are without peers in their own categories).

So what went wrong? As usual, when Buckingham is given the reigns and complete creative freedom… he tends to go a little mad; a touch too experimental for the average listener and, in this case, the avid fan.

Buckingham’s earlier solo works Law & Order, Go Insane and Out of the Cradle along with his contributions to Fleetwood Mac’s 1979 album Tusk are clear examples of experiments gone wrong.

Although there were a lot of dud songs, through excessive listening I could always manage to find some redeemable qualities (well most the time. Sorry Lindsey, I have yet to find anything enjoyable about Not That Funny).

When I’ve failed to appreciate Buckingham’s whimsical arrangements or experimental instrumentals in the past— I’ve generally been able to justify the work with the help of the ‘well, at least the lyrics kick ass’ thought process. Sadly, this is also not the case with Under The Skin. It feels as if Bono, and his addiction to forced rhymes and oh-so-obvious metaphors, has possessed the unsuspecting Buckingham.

This is not to say there aren’t any good songs on this album. Down on Rodeo and Someone’s Gotta Change Your Mind are certified toe-tappers. And Shut Us Down is one of my favourite songs in recent memory (once you get over its initial whispery peculiarity, it’s an absolute gem).

Here’s a piece of advice for Fleetwood Mac/Lindsey Buckingham fans considering buying this album: put the CD back on the shelf, and take a few steps over to the DVD section and buy Sound Stage Presents – Lindsey Buckingham. Not only is every quality song from Under The Skin on this DVD, but they are easily twice as good (due to Buckingham’s live music genius).

Time will tell if this body of work is able to heal itself in my eyes, but for the time being Under The Skin is simply under the weather.

2/5*
Reprise
Release Date: October 3, 2006

According to his official website, Lindsey Buckingham is releasing a new acoustic album in October. The album, titled “Under The Skin,” represents Buckingham’s first solo venture in 14 years.

Buckingham has dabbled with solo projects since the late ‘90’s, but amalgamated his work, with that of Stevie Nicks, into Fleetwood Mac’s critically-acclaimed 2003 album “Say You Will.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has also announced that, following the album release, he will be going on tour across the U.S.

Buckingham’s other solo albums include 1981’s “Law and Order,” 1984’s “Go Insane,” and his 1992 project, “Out Of The Cradle.”