Frozen Love

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"Frozen Love"
Song by Buckingham Nicks
from the album Buckingham Nicks
ReleasedSeptember 1973
Recorded1973
Studio Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, California
Length7:16
Label Polydor
Songwriters Stevie Nicks
Lindsey Buckingham
Producer Keith Olsen

"Frozen Love" is a song written by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. The song was included as the final track on their Buckingham Nicks album in 1973. At over seven minutes in length, it was also the album's longest track. It was the only song on the album where the two shared co-writing credits and also one of the only songs in their careers to have this distinction. [1] [2]

Contents

"Frozen Love" was one of the songs that Keith Olsen played for Mick Fleetwood during his first visit at Sound City Studios. The song's musical bridge in particular caught Fleetwood's attention and prompted him to ask the duo to join Fleetwood Mac after the departure of their guitarist Bob Welch.

Background

Composition and recording

Nicks remarked in a 1975 interview that "Frozen Love" was written when she and Buckingham began their romantic relationship. [3] The song was demoed at night in a warehouse within a coffee plant owned by Buckingham's father Morris in Palo Alto. [4]

Buckingham took inspiration from Jimmy Page and the Allman Brothers Band when approaching the song's guitar parts. For the guitar solo, Buckingham said that he worked in a modal open E tuning and created chords "that made sense with the tuning." He described the end result as "specific" and "idiosyncratic" and felt that the song had "so much range and landscape". [5] Gary Hodges, who met Buckingham at a water fountain in Sound City Studios, overdubbed the drums in Studio A of the facility after all of the instrumentation and vocals had been recorded. The song's string orchestration during the coda was arranged by Richard Halligan. [5] [6] The liner notes found in the original release contained the lyrics "Hate gave you me for a lover" in the third verse, which was later corrected in the liner notes for the 2025 edition to "Fate gave you me for a lover". [2] [5]

Catalyst for joining Fleetwood Mac

Buckingham and Nicks were working on their follow-up album to Buckingham Nicks in Studio B of Sound City Studios when Olsen played "Frozen Love" for Fleetwood in the adjacent Studio A, which was selected to demonstrate the sonic capabilities of the facility. [7] [8] During Fleetwood's visit, Buckingham was walking toward the control room when he overheard "Frozen Love" being played. When Buckingham observed the situation, he saw "this giant of a man standing up, grooving to a guitar solo of mine." [9] He later said that "it took me a minute to register who it was", adding that he was "already a Fleetwood Mac fan, certainly a huge fan of Peter Green's, so it was a big deal for me". [10]

Fleetwood recalled that he met Buckingham "literally in passing" and did not think much of the encounter initially. [7] Buckingham said that Olsen did not explain why he played "Frozen Love" for Fleetwood and that he "never questioned" Olsen's decision. [5] Fleetwood later reflected in his 2014 Play On memoir that "Frozen Love" impressed him the most of the songs that Olsen played for him. This later spurred Fleetwood's decision to ask Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac after their guitarist Bob Welch departed from the band in December. [11]

Fleetwood contacted Olsen on New Year's Eve and inquired if the guitarist who played on "Frozen Love", whose name he had since forgotten, would replace Welch as Fleetwood Mac's guitarist. After Olsen informed him that Buckingham and Nicks came as a pair, Fleetwood asked Olsen if both would be willing to join the band. Olsen then visited their apartment on Fairfax Avenue and spent the next few hours convincing the two to become members, to which they eventually acquiesced. [12] Buckingham mentioned that he was insistent on Nicks joining Fleetwood Mac with him. [13] After convening at a Mexican restaurant for dinner, Fleetwood Mac officially invited Buckingham and Nicks into the band. [14]

According to Olsen, Fleetwood Mac considered the idea of re-recording "Frozen Love" for their 1975 Fleetwood Mac album, but Buckingham thought that the song would be too difficult to recreate, so they decided against it. [15] Some of the initial tour dates for the band's 1975 Fleetwood Mac Tour included "Frozen Love" in the setlist, often as an encore. [16]

Use in announcing the remaster of Buckingham Nicks

In July 2025, a video of Fleetwood listening to "Frozen Love" with headphones was published on his Instagram account. The following day, the social media accounts of Nicks and Buckingham posted handwritten lyrics from the song; Nicks' account posted the line "And if you go forward", with Buckingham's account following an hour later with the second half of the lyric: "I'll meet you there". [17] [18] Less than a week later, a remastered edition of Buckingham Nicks was announced for release on September 19, 2025; the Associated Press said that the social media posts "foreshadowed" the remastered edition of the album. [19] "Frozen Love" was issued as a digital single in advance of the album's release. [20] In September 2025 the band officially released the remastered Buckingham Nicks album, followed by the October 2025 release of the official lyric video of "Frozen Love" on YouTube. [21] [22]

Critical reception

In his review of Buckingham Nicks John Duffy of AllMusic thought that the duo were "over-reaching themselves just a bit" on "Frozen Love". [23] In an updated review from the website, Tim Sendra labeled the track as the most impressive offering on the album, adding that it "lasts a long time but never gets boring", which he attributed to the song's "winding harmonies and Buckingham's vibrant guitar work on both acoustic and electric. It's easy to see what caught Fleetwood's ear." [24]

Classic Rock magazine highlighted "Frozen Love" as the "real prize" on Buckingham Nicks and identified the song as a "distant precursor" to Fleetwood Mac's song "The Chain". [25] Record Collector also thought that aspects of the song's middle-section resembled "The Chain" and said that the song's guitar part "lacks the provocative push John McVie's bassline was to bestow" later on "The Chain". [2] Consequence of Sound called it a "majestic cut" with "a moving string section and an extended bridge that burns with fiery emotion". [26] Uncut said that the song's "duelling vocals and spectral folk" were juxtaposed with its "looser second section". [27] Mojo characterized the song as a "proggy, shape-shifting holy grail of Fleetwood Mac's most combustible couple." [28]

References

  1. Sheffield, Rob (September 17, 2025). "The Origin Story of Stevie and Lindsey" . Rolling Stone . Retrieved September 27, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 1 2 3 "Buckingham Nicks by Buckingham Nicks | Album Review" . Record Collector . October 2, 2025. Archived from the original on October 3, 2025. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  3. Blackerby, Cheryl (February 5, 1975). "Female Rock Star is Lucky". Birmingham Post-Herald . p. 18. Retrieved September 27, 2025 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Howe, Zoë (2015). Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams, & Rumours. Omnibus Press. pp. 23, 39–40. ISBN   978-1-4683-1066-5.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Fricke, David (2025). Buckingham Nicks - Limited Numbered Edition (Liner Notes). United States: Rhino. RHF1 727705.
  6. Wake, Matt (September 21, 2018). "Buckingham Nicks: Alabama shows were the last before Fleetwood Mac". The Birmingham News . pp.  E1, E4 . Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  7. 1 2 Unterberger, Richie (2016). Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. pp. 81, 88. ISBN   978-0-7603-5176-5.
  8. Davis, Stephen (2017). Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks. New York, NY: St. Martins Press. p. 132. ISBN   9781250032898.
  9. "How We Met; Mick Fleetwood And Lindsey Buckingham". The Independent . March 8, 1998. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  10. Staunton, Terry (April 2022). "Applaud My Genius, Bemoan My Failings". Record Collector . No. 530. pp. 54–60.
  11. Fleetwood, Mick; Bozza, Anthony (October 2014). Play On: Now, Then & Fleetwood Mac. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p. 163. ISBN   978-0-316-40342-9.
  12. Blake, Mark (2024). The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac. New York: Pegasus Books. pp. 161–162. ISBN   978-1-63936-732-0.
  13. di Perna, Al (September 1997). "Mac in the Saddle" . In Egan, Sean (ed.). Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters. Chicago Review Press (published 2016). p. 186. ISBN   978-161373-234-2.
  14. Evans, Mike (2011). Fleetwood Mac: The Definitive History. New York: Sterling. pp. 122–123. ISBN   978-1-4027-8630-3.
  15. "Keith Olsen Q&A, Section One: May 2000". The Penguin. Archived from the original on June 1, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  16. Roubin, Olivier; Ollivier, Romuald (1 April 2025). Fleetwood Mac: All The Songs. New York: Black Dog Leventhal Publishers. p. 317. ISBN   978-0-7624-8630-4.
  17. "Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham cryptically post lyrics, prompting landslide of reactions from fans". NBC News . July 17, 2025. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  18. Finley, Ben; Hall, Kristen M. (July 30, 2025). "Still spinning". Lincoln Journal Star . p. B5. Retrieved September 27, 2025 via Newspapers.com.
  19. Sherman, Maria (July 23, 2025). "After much speculation, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham announce 'Buckingham Nicks' reissue". Associated Press . Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  20. "Lindsey Buckingham & Steve Nicks release 'Frozen 'Love' from 'Buckingham Nicks' reissue". WDRV Chicago. September 10, 2025. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  21. "Buckingham Nicks storms global iTunes charts with long-awaited digital debut". Fleetwood Mac News. 2025-09-20. Archived from the original on 2025-10-04. Retrieved 2025-10-04.
  22. "New Release Buckingham Nicks - Frozen Love (Official Lyric Video)". Fleetwood Mac News. 2025-10-03. Archived from the original on 2025-10-04. Retrieved 2025-10-04.
  23. Duffy, John. "Buckingham Nicks". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
  24. Sendra, Tim. "Buckingham Nicks". AllMusic. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  25. Carty, Pat (September 19, 2025). "Buckingham Nicks' Fleetwood Mac-inspiring debut is finally available again". Classic Rock . Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  26. Ragusa, Paolo (September 19, 2025). "Buckingham Nicks Is the Work of Two Virtuosos: Review". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  27. Martin, Piers (September 9, 2025). "Buckingham Nicks reviewed: mythologised 1973 folk-rock debut finally gets reissued". Uncut . Retrieved September 27, 2025.
  28. McNair, James (September 22, 2025). "Buckingham Nicks Review: Pre-Fleetwood Mac Album Out At Last". Mojo . Retrieved September 27, 2025.