Atlanta Journal and Constitution, March 27, 1993

CONCERT PREVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham: 8:30 p.m. Friday. $17.50 at Ticketmaster. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid: Ave. N.E. 249-6400.

Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist-vocalist Lindsey Buckingham has surrounded himself with 10 musicians for his first-ever solo tour, but it isn't because he's afraid of being alone in the spotlight.

"Actually, I'm working without a net," says Mr. Buckingham, 42, adding that his guitar-heavy band provides flexibility and that he is "hungry to be with musicians."

Mr. Buckingham, who has performed only rarely since 1982, secluded himself in his home recording studio about a year after leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1988. The result was "Out of the Cradle," a 16-track CD/cassette released in June.

A layered and, at times, dark work created over a period of three years with longtime songwriting collaborator Richard Dashut, "Out of the Cradle" was met with enthusiastic response by reviewers and relative indifference by consumers.

The lack of commercial success doesn't worry Mr. Buckingham, who uses "Out of the Cradle" to anchor his concerts during a five- week, small- hall tour stopping Friday at Variety Playhouse. But he and his band - five guitarists, three percussionists, a bassist and a keyboardist - will look back.

"It would be a mistake to pretend it doesn't exist," Mr. Buckingham says of songs he wrote and recorded with Fleetwood Mac. However, fans of the group should not expect to hear replications of the "four or five" old tunes he performs.

"There are a lot of ways to make the songs more my own," says Mr. Buckingham from his home in Los Angeles. "Some are totally different - I do `Big Love' with one guitar."

He's also likely to do "Never Going Back Again," which - if delivered as scorchingly as it was during Mr. Buckingham's recent VH-1 special - can be interpreted as a statement about Fleetwood Mac. He admits he has absolutely no desire for a reunion, but says that coming together with his former bandmates to perform the 1977 hit "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" during President Clinton's inaugural parties was positive.

"There were a few loose emotional ends left dangling when I departed from the group," he says. "The inaugural thing was nice because it created a sense of closure."

What about "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" becoming the Democrats' unofficial campaign theme song?

"I'm apolitical, so I don't have much reaction to that," he says. "My first thought was, `Gee, isn't that bizarre?' "

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