STORMS

Everything you always wanted to know about Lindsey Buckingham, but wait a sec…how much do you really want to know about Lindsey Buckingham?

Casual followers of Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famers Fleetwood Mac recognize them as a unit that evolved from blue-eyed blues purveyors to one of the most superb bands of their era. Hardcore Mac fans, on the other hand, know the quintet as a partner-swapping, drink-and-drug-fueled soap opera, albeit an astoundingly talented one. Guitarist/vocalist/composer Buckingham was arguably the most talented member of the group, as well as its most unstable. At once arrogant and insecure, he was lost in a haze of substance abuse and ego in 1977 when the band’s magnum opus, Rumours, made them international megastars. And a little blonde cherub named Carol Ann Harris came along for the whole ride as the enigmatic Buckingham’s lover. In her overly detailed confessional memoir, Harris delivers the story of the band’s tumultuous climb in a breathless, catty fashion. She seems to believe that every move her boyfriend made is of the utmost importance: Lindsey acted like a jerk when he met Kenny Rogers! Lindsey was mean to everybody during a recording session! Lindsey and I went to Hawaii and ate some coconut cream pie! This approach diminishes the impact of actually important events in the couple’s lives, i.e. the time Buckingham had a seizure, or his attempt to strangle the author. While he certainly played a key role in creating one of the most enduring albums of the 1970s, does Buckingham’s story merit a 400-page tome written by his unknown gal pal?

Hardcore Mac fans will likely drool over Harris’s insider tidbits. Everyone else will believe that this could have been pared down to a two-part article in Rolling Stone.