‘Buckingham Nicks’ bombed in 1973. Then it became used vinyl treasure

They were in love once.

Four years before Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” became one of the best breakup records of the 1970s — and, many might say, all time — Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were relative unknowns, a young couple putting out their own album, posing nude on the cover like a Laurel Canyon version of Adam and Eve.

Released as “Buckingham Nicks,” the 1973 album has for decades maintained somewhat of a holy grail status in the dusty bins of record stores, selling for $20 to $90 depending on its condition. Now, in addition to new vinyl, it will be available on streaming and CD for the first time when it’s reissued Sept. 19 on Rhino, Warner Music Group announced Wednesday.

“It’s one of those records that everybody has heard of but not that many people have actually heard,” said Brian Mansfield, a music historian, journalist and record collector in Nashville, Tennessee. “Especially before everything got put onto YouTube, very few people had heard it because it had never been on CD. But it had this iconic cover that everybody recognized.”

“Buckingham Nicks” featured the duo’s iconic harmonies and Buckingham’s distinct guitar sound, which later fueled Fleetwood Mac’s ability to sell tens of millions of records. But “Buckingham Nicks” bombed upon release and Polydor dropped them from the label, prompting Nicks’ return to waitressing and Buckingham to briefly tour with Don Everly.

The rest of the story is enshrined in lore: Drummer Mick Fleetwood heard “Frozen Love” from the album when he visited the studio where it was recorded, Sound City. After guitarist Bob Welch left the band, Fleetwood invited Buckingham to Fleetwood Mac, with Buckingham insisting Nicks join too. The band also included the late Christine McVie on keyboards and John McVie on bass.

Generations of avid Fleetwood Mac fans have tattooed their lyrics or analyzed them at a forensic level, enshrining the tumultuous relationship between Buckingham and Nicks in pop culture. The upcoming reissue of “Buckingham Nicks” is a reminder of the couple’s musical beginnings and the special status their only joint album has held among fans and record collectors.

“As soon as we put it out, it goes that day,” said Michael Bell, owner of Hunky Dory Records, which has locations in Raleigh, Durham and Cary, North Carolina.

‘Joni Mitchell fronting the Eagles’

Nicks and Buckingham met during high school at a local church in Northern California where young musicians gathered on a school night, according to Stephen Davis’ “Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks.”

Buckingham played the Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreamin'” on piano, prompting Nicks to chime in, singing Michelle Phillips’ high harmony.

“They glanced at each other; she noticed his eyes, cold blue like lake ice,” Davis wrote. “They sang the whole song while the room went quiet, everyone mesmerized.”

After high school, Nicks joined the band Buckingham was in, Fritz, which would open for Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. They eventually split off as a duo, started dating and moved to Los Angeles.

Nicks said she loved Buckingham before he was a millionaire, according to Davis’ book, and “washed his jeans and embroidered stupid moons and stars on the bottom of them.”

Kristin Hall AP Photo

Music historian and journalist Brian Mansfield holds an original pressing of the “Buckingham Nicks” vinyl record at his home.

The first track on “Buckingham Nicks,” “Crying in the Night,” has “a sense of Joni Mitchell fronting the Eagles,” Davis wrote. “Frozen Love” closed out side two, with “layers of strings and synthesizers and a major Lindsey Buckingham rock guitar symphony.”

“No one seemed to like the record,” Davis wrote. “Polydor executives hadn’t even wanted to release it.”

A review that ran in The Pittsburgh Press said Nicks and Buckingham produced “a pleasant, albeit a whiny vocal blend on some pretty fair songs.”

“And if you don’t like the record,” the review concluded, “you might like the costumes they’re wearing on the cover — a couple of those oh-so-chic birthday suits.”

Interest in the record only grew following the new Fleetwood Mac lineup. That incarnation’s first record in 1975, “Fleetwood Mac,” contained the songs “Landslide,” “Rhiannon” and “Monday Morning.”

“Rumours” came two years later.

Record store rarity

Bob Fuchs, retail manager of record store Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, said the shop gets in about two to four of the original vinyl a year. Those go on its collectible wall that showcases hard-to-find titles. Depending on its condition, the album sells for between $40 to $90, he said.

“You put it up on a Saturday morning and it’s gone by Saturday at noon. So it lasts about two hours,” he said.

Fuchs never bought the album himself because, “every time I came in, it was $60 or $80. … So I’ll probably end up picking up a reissue.”

Across the river at the St. Paul, Minnesota, location of Cheapo Discs, though, worker Geoff Good said people rarely came in looking for the original. He does expect the reissue to juice sales. He has the original, which he bought in 1974 or 1975, in his own collection.

“The songwriting is really good, the harmonies are good, Lindsey Buckingham is an amazing guitar player,” he said.

Mansfield, the Nashville historian, randomly found a copy two weeks ago in a neighborhood garage sale, just days prior to hints that a reissue was coming.

He has no idea why “Buckingham Nicks” hasn’t been reissued more considering the steady demand. For him, it’s a good album but not one that reached the heights of what was to come.

“It’s definitely not there yet,” he said. “I don’t know that there’s anything on this album that would have made a Fleetwood album.”

The romantic relationship between Buckingham and Nicks would end around the making of “Rumours.” Nicks and Buckingham would shoot eye daggers at each other onstage in packed stadiums, while Buckingham would roll his eyes during Nicks’ MusiCares speech in 2018, according to the Los Angeles Times. Buckingham would eventually be kicked off the band’s tour in 2018 , prompting a lawsuit that was later settled.

But this month, Buckingham and Nicks seemed to be operating in perfect symmetry — at least on Instagram. Each posted half a line from “Frozen Love,” — with Nicks writing “And if you go forward…” and Buckingham responding, “I’ll meet you there.” On Wednesday, they shared the same video of a billboard being put up to advertise the reissue of “Buckingham Nicks.”

They may have made the album more than 50 years ago, Buckingham said in announcing its reissue, “but it stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work.”