‘Buckingham Nicks,’ rare pre-Fleetwood Mac album by musical duo, reissued for first time in over 50 years

Well, now we know.Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s 1973 album “Buckingham Nicks” will have its first ever re-issue.The storied album will be reissued for the first time on Sept. 19 by Rhino High Fidelity five decades after its original release, Rhino, the reissue arm of Warner Music, announced Wednesday.It was the only album the music icons had released as an American folk rock duo before they joined Fleetwood Mac, and went on to leave an indelible mark in music history.It comes after Nicks and Buckingham shared cryptic posts on social media last week: matching excerpts from their 1973 hit “Frozen Love.”Sourced from the original analog master tapes, the album will be released on vinyl, CD and digital formats. There will be 5,000 individually numbered copies of the album cut by Kevin Gray from the original masters and pressed on 180-gram vinyl. A special version, limited to 2,000 copies, includes two replica 7-inch singles.A testament to the pair’s prowess and chemistry pre-Fleetwood, the album features 10 tracks including hits “Crystal” and “Don’t Let Me Down Again,” that put on full display the artists’ brain-scratching, cascading harmonies and immersive songwriting.Their song “Crying in the Night” off the re-issue is already available for streaming.The album had been recorded at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, according to a press release for the announcement.In late 1974 Mick Fleetwood visited Sound City while scouting studios to record Fleetwood Mac’s next album, and “Frozen Love” off “Buckingham Nicks” was played for him, and caught the drummer’s attention. Soon after the duo joined the band on New Year’s Eve 1974, the press release said.The Rhino High Fidelity edition of the album will include liner notes and quotes from the stars, written by longtime music journalist David Fricke.“[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 was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Buckingham noted they were inexperienced when they made the album, “but it stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work.”