On episode 16 of Past Prime, Steve and Matty comb through the voluminous hair, pick at the long fingernails and revisit the rumors of an elusive stadium Rock star who spent his adulthood feeling miscast and misunderstood. Steve is a lifelong Fleetwood Mac fan, enamored equally of Stevie and Lindsey, but perhaps more "Buck-curious." So curious, in fact, that he'd traveled down the wormhole of Buckingham-Nicks erotic fan fiction. Matty is more of a neophyte, familiar with the canonical Mac releases but generally unaware of and confused by Buckingham's solo career. Together, they return to "Under the Skin," Buckingham's fourth solo album, released in 2006. 

As he approached sixty, Buckingham was a relative newlywed, a new (old) dad and still at odds with his former girlfriend and bandmate. Circumstances led to him making a very hushed, insular solo album, full of diary confessions and his trademark finger picking. He plays nearly every instrument, quietly harmonizes with himself, and manages to sound a good deal like Iron & Wine or Jose Gonzalez. If he were thirty and Swedish, "Under the Skin" would likely have been hailed by Pitchfork. In middle age, however, his ennui, though delivered quietly, sounds loud, clear and decidedly less "hip." During the conversation, our hosts cover everything from Art Garfunkel to "What About Bob?" Both of which, it turns out, have something to do with "Under the Skin."

To read more about Lindsey Buckingham's "Under the Skin," check out the full essay at Past Prime.