On Tuesday, Sept. 16, Lindsey Buckingham, the famed and oft-overlooked musical engine behind Fleetwood Mac, released his fifth solo album. Gift of Screws is Buckingham’s fifth solo project since his 1987 departure from Fleetwood Mac.

Though Buckingham was the mastermind behind Fleetwood Mac’s bestselling 1975 album Rumours, which according to the Recording Industry Association of America has sold approximately 19 million copies, he remains surprisingly under the radar. Indeed, in one of the tracks off Buckingham’s 2006 Under the Skin, he sings “reading the paper, saw a review, said I was a visionary, but nobody knew.”

But with Gift of Screws, Buckingham bursts back onto the scene with raw vocal expression, scathingly brilliant guitar work and an attitude of freshness not seen in a fifty-something musician in quite a long while. Contrast these qualities with 2006’s Under the Skin and you find a very interesting parallel.

Buckingham’s music is always introspective. Under the Skin finds that personal reflection in a folksy, sweeping, almost ballad-like sense. Gift of Screws is driven by a more rock-oriented feel; it might even be considered an improvement on Buckingham’s 1991 Out of the Cradle, an album huge in scope and artistic progression.

Gift of Screws has plenty of moments where the listener recognizes Buckingham’s signature guitar finger-picking, a method he utilized while in Fleetwood Mac and on all of his solo projects. In the opener “Great Day” there is a solo that Rolling Stone describes as “so blowtorch-hot, it seems specifically designed to bitch-slap anyone with the nerve to wonder if Lindsey Buckingham still rocks.”

“Right Place to Fade” is a song that is directly reminiscent of a Fleetwood Mac rock piece, and that is nothing to complain about. Indeed, Lindsey does still rock and will continue to do so if Gift of Screws is any indication.

Buckingham has a tour scheduled for this fall and will be at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Wednesday, Oct. 15.