Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)After the uneventful "Mirage", released in 1982, Fleetwood Mac went on a long hiatus. Stevie Nicks kept on enjoying tremendous solo success, while Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham did just fine on their own solo albums. Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, however, both went off the deep end; Fleetwood encountered financial difficulties, while John McVie almost died from alcohol abuse. In other words, some of the band members didn't seem to need Fleetwood Mac that much, but some others did. "Tango in the Night" was born from the tension of trying to answer the eternal question : was it worth all the heartache and trauma to keep Fleetwood Mac alive ?
The answer came in the form of a brilliant album which proved that all personal differences asides, these five people were meant to make music together. The album was a decidedly 80's sonic adventure - which I mean in a good way - and the production featured Fleetwood Mac at its most polished and gorgeous. It's obivous that Lindsey Buckingham gave the album its edge, and not just because of his guitar playing and top production skills : "Caroline" and the title track were particularly impressive, and the first single ("Big Love") was an instantly distinctive diversion from the mid-80's radio diet of Bon Jovi and Europe. Yet it's Christine McVie who unexpectedly turned out to be the album's strongest card, with beautiful vocal performances, strong keyboard arrangements, and most of all, great songs : "Little Lies" is one of the catchiest, most elegant pop songs of the 80's, while "Everywhere" was simply a gorgeous song that featured the Mac's trademark vocal harmonies as if it was still 1977. Her other songs were the hard-rocking, impressive "Isn't it midnight" - not your typical Christine McVie song at all, yet it became a favourite in their 1987-88 tour - and the sublime "Mystified", a longing ballad where Lindsey's production skills were at their best. There were even a couple of songwriting collaborations between McVie and Buckingham, most notably the album's ultra-melodic closer "You and I (part 2)". Those lucky enough to put their hands on "You and I (part 1)", not available on the album, discovered that it was just as brilliant, and should have been on the album too.
As for Stevie Nicks, her songs from this album have often been harshly criticized. All she got was three songs, and none of them are well-remembered today. For sure, there wasn't a "Landslide" or a "Gold Dust Woman" in the lot; however, it doesn't mean that they don't have any artistic merit - on the contrary. "Seven Wonders", the catchy second single, was a cool midtempo rocker where Stevie's voice was well complimented by the band's harmonies. "Welcome to the room... Sara" had to be understood in the context of her stint in rehab, and I always felt it was a highlight of the album. As for the touching "When I See You Again", Stevie wrote about some universal feelings of confusion, longing, and fear, best expressed through the line "If she sees him again / Will your very best friend / Have been replaced by some other ?". Her voice on that song was expressive, and it embodied the whole ambivalence of the song.
All in all, the only minor moment of the album is "Family Man", sounding like an average pop-dance song and featuring some shaky vocal arrangements that bubbled away in the bridge. The album "Tango in the Night" is a superbly produced album that proved Fleetwood Mac was as contemporary as anybody; it featured gorgeous arrangements, first-rate material, and it did open up the ears of a whole new generation of fans - including this writer, who discovered Fleetwood Mac's music with this album. The fact that it was the last full studio album recorded by these five people, only gives it the additional poignancy that comes with knowing that it was sort of their swan song. I consider it an essential in Fleetwood Mac's long, rich history of rock and roll legacy.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Tango in the Night
0 comments:
Post a Comment