Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie

A few months after Christine McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac in 2014, she and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham reconvened at Studio D at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles. The band had previously used the studio to record their 1979 album Tusk. To flesh things out, the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie provided the album's drums and bass.[6] By the end of the two-month session, they had already laid down eight songs, including "Carnival Begin", "Too Far Gone" and "Red Sun".[7] Recording was then put on hold when Fleetwood Mac began preparations for their On with the Show tour.[8] While Buckingham and McVie were able to rekindle their musical chemistry during these sessions, neither of them expected the project to progress any further.[9] McVie and Buckingham ultimately decided to release the album as a duo, although John McVie and Mick Fleetwood provide bass and drums.[10] Work commenced at the end of 2016, more than two years after the initial recording sessions.[11]

In the album's early stages, McVie would send Buckingham some demos to work on. McVie contributed lyrics and helped Buckingham develop his own compositions. "She would write lyrics and maybe paraphrase the melody — and come up with something far better than what I would have done if I'd taken it down the road myself.”[12] Two of those songs, "Red Sun" and "Too Far Gone", started off in this fashion.[13]

The complete track list was released on April 11, with Buckingham released this joint statement: "We were exploring a creative process, and the identity of the project took on a life organically. The body of work felt like it was meant to be a duet album. We acknowledged that to each other on many occasions, and said to ourselves, 'What took us so long?!'"[1] "Feel About You", was released on April 27 as a promotional single. Co-written by both Buckingham and McVie, Rolling Stone described the track as "bubbly pop-rock" in nature with a "jangly, infectious chorus".[14] Buckingham confessed that the track was primarily McVie's composition, but altered it enough to warrant a co-writing credit.[15]

"Sleeping Around the Corner", the album's opening track, was previously included as a bonus track on the US digital edition of Buckingham's 2011 solo album, Seeds We Sow.[16] McVie took an immediate liking to the track, prompting Buckingham to finish it off.[17]

Buckingham and McVie released a mini behind-the scenes documentary in May discussing the development of various tracks, including "On With the Show" and "Carnival Begin". McVie reflects on her experience in the studio coming out of her sabbatical from the music industry:

"For me, this is all a fresh beginning. I didn't know myself I'd end up coming back into the band after so long: 16 years...I guess I've rediscovered my love for writing and my love for music. I seemed to have evolved quite organically because I've been sending Lindsey some rough demos; He's refined them and shaped them into some of our best material ever."[18]

On March 24, 2017, McVie announced that the album would see a worldwide launch on June 9, 2017, and would be available for purchase on "iTunes and vinyl – it will be available everywhere".[4] "In My World" was also released as a single on April 14 through streaming and digital services.[1] While the single failed to make the UK Top 100, it did reach #86 on the sales chart.[19] Both the album's second and third singles, "Red Sun" and "Feel About You", received minor airplay, particularly on the BBC 2 playlist.[20]

Buckingham and McVie performing in 2017.

On April 11, 2017, a 14-date North American tour was announced.[1] Eight of the album's ten tracks were played live, with the rest of the set list consisting of Fleetwood Mac songs and Buckingham solo cuts.[21] Their performance in Woodinville, Washington took place just three days after Fleetwood Mac's joint performance with Earth, Wind & Fire and Journey at Classic West.[22] The Wallflowers opened for the band on select nights.[23] In June, the band appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform the album's first single, "In My World".[24]

Some extra North American shows were later added in August, including one in Los Angeles and another in New York City.[25] Another North American leg began in October, which saw the addition of 22 more shows.[26]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	72/100[27]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[28]
The Guardian	[29]
Paste	[30]
Rolling Stone	[31]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a score of 72, based on 20 reviews.[27] Thom Jurek of AllMusic singled out the first three songs as "absolute knockouts". He labeled "Red Sun", “Love Is Here to Stay", and "Carnival Begin" as the other standouts.

The album debuted at No. 17 on Billboard 200 with 23,000 equivalent album units, 22,000 of which were in traditional album sales. The chart ranking is higher than either of the two artists' solo projects.[5] UK sales exceeded 19,000 units, which was enough to vault the album to the #5 spot.[32] It debuted at #3 in the Sales Chart.[33]

• ^a signifies a co-producer

• Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, piano, percussion, drums, synthesizer strings, programming, vocals
• Christine McVie – keyboards, organ, piano, Fender Rhodes, vocals

Additional personnel

• Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion
• John McVie – bass guitar
• Mitchell Froom – keyboards

Production

• Production: Lindsey Buckingham, Mitchell Froom and Mark Needham
• Engineering: Mark Needham and Lindsey Buckingham

• Official website