Behind the Mask (1990) 


 

  1. Skies the Limit
  2. Love is Dangerous
  3. In the Back of My Mind
  4. Do You Know
  5. Save Me
  6. Affairs of the Heart
  7. When the Sun Goes Down
  8. Behind the Mask
  9. Stand on the Rock
  10.Hard Feelings
  11.Freedom
  12.When it Comes to Love
  13.The Second Time

 

Following the surprising success of Tango in the Night in 1987, most assumed Fleetwood Mac had managed the improbable: a late-career reinvention that not only embraced the glossier pop sensibilities of the decade, but did so without compromising their identity. Then, in typical Mac fashion, the whole thing unraveled. Lindsey Buckingham—creative engine, studio perfectionist, and perennial wildcard—departed just as the band prepared to tour the new album.

This was new territory. While personnel changes were practically a tradition in Fleetwood Mac’s earlier chapters, this was the first major shift since the band had become a global institution. And it stung. To fill the void, the group brought in not one, but two guitarists—Billy Burnette and Rick Vito. The joke, often repeated, was that it took two men to replace one Buckingham. Whether that was true in practice remains open to interpretation. What’s clear is that Behind the Mask—the first studio outing from the newly expanded lineup—is the sound of a band trying very hard to make a new formula work.

In fairness, they very nearly do. While the album never reaches the heights of the Buckingham-era classics, it’s far from a disaster. In fact, the opening half contains some genuinely strong material. Christine McVie remains the band’s most reliable contributor, her songwriting as melodic and assured as ever. Skies the Limit, Save Me, and the haunting title track Behind the Mask are textbook McVie—understated, emotionally honest, and immaculately arranged. She continues to be the quiet anchor around which the band orbits.

Stevie Nicks, meanwhile, returns with more focus than she’d shown on Tango. Though not quite back to her 1970s form, she delivers a few standout moments—particularly the reflective Affairs of the Heart and the delicate The Second Time, a hushed ballad that serves as a fitting, if subdued, closer. It’s a welcome rebound from her underwhelming contributions on the previous album.

As for the newcomers—Burnette and Vito—they fare better than many expected. In the Back of My Mind, with its tribal percussion and layered arrangement, feels like a spiritual cousin to Tango in the Night, and wouldn’t have felt out of place on that record. When the Sun Goes Down, a rockabilly-influenced track, adds a burst of energy and stylistic variety. While neither guitarist offers the same eccentric brilliance as Buckingham, they avoid the trap of impersonation and instead carve out a respectable niche of their own.

Unfortunately, Behind the Mask loses steam as it progresses. The back half of the album is uneven, and in places, downright tedious. Tracks like Stand on the Rock feel like contractual filler—sonically anonymous and lyrically uninspired. One can’t help but feel the sequencing front-loads the strongest material, leaving the latter portion of the album to limp toward the finish line. And that, in a sense, is the larger story of Behind the Mask. It’s a record that highlights what’s missing. The absence of Buckingham’s manic precision and studio wizardry casts a long shadow. His fingerprints may be gone, but the silhouette remains.

Behind the Mask deserves more credit than it often receives. It’s a sincere attempt to redefine Fleetwood Mac in a new decade with a new lineup—and for a time, it succeeds. But as history would prove, the chemistry of Buckingham, McVie, and Nicks wasn’t easily duplicated. This album isn’t a failure—but it’s not alchemy either. It’s the sound of a band carrying on with admirable professionalism, if not quite with magic.


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