Lindsey Buckingham Albums Ranked Worst to Best

Lindsey Buckingham’s contributions to Fleetwood Mac were often the quirkiest, frankly confrontational and most interesting. As his influence became ascendant, 1979’s Tusk emerged as a double-album outpouring of musical guile and pure gumption.

Of course, Tusk “only” sold two million after 1977’s more mainstream Rumours went 20-plus times platinum. This would play out in his solo career. For proof, go back to the two times Buckingham released solo albums the same year as his erstwhile Buckingham-Nicks duo partner Stevie Nicks – with far different results: His 1981 solo debut Law and Order went to No. 32, while Bella Donna earned Nicks chart-topping four-times platinum accolades. His 2011 album Seeds We Sow stalled just outside the Top 40 while Nicks’ In Your Dreams soared to No. 6.

The reason, as Buckingham’s solo career unfolded in fits and starts, is that his music still shares so many of the same qualities as Tusk. He could be as musical and hook-tastic as any progenitor of California pop, yet often chose not to. He was dazzling, but also a little confrontational.

He could also go dark. On more than one occasion (1987’s Tango in the Night, 2003’s Say You Will), those absences were simply the result of Fleetwood Mac albums cannibalizing Buckingham’s ongoing solo work. He ended up issuing music that included every classic-era member of Fleetwood Mac but Nicks under the far-less-lucrative banner of Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie in 2017 – despite the fact that Say You Will had been released with every classic-era member of Fleetwood Mac except McVie.

Just as mercurial in real life, he quit once and then years later was fired. Still, every element of his brilliant contributions to the band’s classic era albums (which also include 1975’s Fleetwood Mac and 1982’s Mirage) can be found in these solo grooves. Here’s a ranked look back at Lindsey Buckingham’s solo albums, ranked worst to best: