Released on September 5, 1973, Buckingham Nicks quickly faded from commercial view but never disappeared from the cultural conversation.
Its legend only grew with time. In late 1974, Mick Fleetwood visited Sound City while scouting studios to record Fleetwood Mac’s next album. To showcase both his production work and the studio’s sound, Olsen blasted “Frozen Love” for Fleetwood in Studio A. The song reflected the full scope of the album’s ambition and chemistry—and immediately caught the drummer’s attention.
Soon after, when Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch left the band, Fleetwood reached out to offer Buckingham the spot. Instead of agreeing, Buckingham insisted that he and Nicks were a package deal. Fleetwood agreed, and on New Year’s Eve 1974, the two officially joined Fleetwood Mac—launching one of the most celebrated chapters in the band’s history.
Though their work with Fleetwood Mac would eclipse it commercially, Buckingham Nicks endures as a testament to what came just before: a partnership in full creative bloom. “[We] knew what we had as a duo, two songwriters that sang really well together. And it was a very natural thing, from the beginning,” Nicks recalls in the Rhino High Fidelity liner notes, written by longtime music journalist David Fricke.
They may have been inexperienced when they made the album, Buckingham says, “but it stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work.”
Rhino Music