Open Secret 2004

Q-Tip had a tough time carrying on the meld of hip-hop, jazz and elsewise that made A Tribe Called Quest such a big deal. Soon after his second solo effort, 2002's Kamaal The Abstract, was shelved by troubled Arista, he signed with equally troubled DreamWorks and recorded a whole other project called Open, featuring guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel with guest appearances by Common, D'Angelo and Andre 3000. But Open went unreleased as well, with DreamWorks shutting down for good one year later. Q-Tip fled to Universal Motown, who promised to release a reworked Open as Live At The Renaissance and then didn't. It wasn't until 2008 that rescued Open tracks appeared on Abstract Innovations and The Renaissance, with Kamaal The Abstract seeing light of day the following year. Many Secret Open tracks were scrounged from YouTube, so bitrates may disappoint. Pie is never free.

Open
DreamWorks 2004 (unreleased)
01 Johnny Died
02 Black Boy
03 The Official
04 N/A (w/ Common)
05 Say Something For Me
06 Interlude
07 Not Gon' Have It
08 Unknown
09 Feelings
10 Where Do You Go?
11 Unidentified
12 That's Sexy (w/ Andre 3000)
13 Late Mornin'
14 Compute
15 I Believe (w/ D'Angelo)
16 Lisa (extended instrumental)
17 Instrumental
18 Lisa (originial)

Open

Secret Gift Of Screws 2001

Hyperactive young finger-picker bound for glory.

Essential Oils -- are wrung --
The Attar from the Rose
Be not expressed by Suns -- alone --
It is the gift of Screws --

The General Rose -- decay --
But this -- in Lady's Drawer
Make Summer -- When the Lady lie
In Ceaseless Rosemary --

                                                - Emily Dickinson

Songs for the original Gift Of Screws were recorded throughout the nineties, but when Warners heard Buckingham's mixed and mastered CD it was obvious how much more valuable these gems would be as Fleetwood Mac. So seven of the songs were quickly Stevie'd up for release on the mothership's Say You Will. Other songs from the Lindsey sessions turned up on various solo and group projects over the years, the title cut finally appearing as such in 2008, but here's the 2001 Warners CD supplemented by four outtakes and demos. As said, many of these titles are available elsewhere, but they make a wondrous song cycle as originally intended. Shadow Of The West compiles twenty soundtrack contributions, live cuts, demos and guest appearances from 1979 to 2012, as well as the clean, minimal mix of I Know I'm Not Wrong that was used on original vinyl copies of Tusk. Tracks have been gathered from vinyl, CD, torrent, message board download and YouTube, so bitrates are what they are.

Lindsey Buckingham
Gift Of Screws
Warner/Reprise 2001 (unreleased)
01 Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind
02 Miranda
03 Steal Your Heart Away
04 Red Rover
05 Come
06 She Smiled Sweetly
07 Down On Rodeo
08 Murrow
09 To Try For The Sun
10 Shuffle Riff
11 My Little Demon
12 Deep Dense
13 Gift Of Screws
14 Bleed To Love Her
15 Go Insane
16 Given Thing
17 Gotta Get Away
18 Twist Of Fate
19 Wear You Down (Steve's Riff)
20 Say Goodbye
21 The Singer Not The Song

Shadow Of The West
01 I Know I'm Not Wrong (Tusk original mix)
02 Demo #2 (Tusk demo)
03 Blue Monday (Mirage jam)
04 Goodbye Angel (Mirage outtake)
05 Teen Beat (Mirage outtake)
06 Holiday Road (live on WBCN Boston 03-26-93)
07 Eyes Of The World (Mirage demo)
08 Hold Me (Mirage w/ Lindsey lead vocal)
09 Time Bomb Town (Back To The Future OST)
10 I've Been Loving You Too Long (Mirage jam)
11 I Want You Back (Mick Fleetwood's Zoo)
12 Magnet And Steel (Walter Egan)
13 The Spinning Of The World (John Stewart)
14 Walls (Tom Petty)
15 On The Wrong Side (With Honors OST)
16 Peacekeeper (non-Mac)
17 Stephanie (live in Fort Worth 08-24-12)
18 She Acts Like You (This Is 40 OST)
19 Shadow Of The West (Law And Order)
20 The Farmer's Daughter (Fleetwood Mac Live)

Secret Gift Of Screws
Shadow Of The West