Tango in the Night (1987)
1. Big Love
2. Seven Wonders
3. Everywhere
4. Caroline
5. Tango in the Night
6. Mystified
7. Little Lies
8. Family Man
9. Welcome to the Room...Sara
10.Isn't it Midnight
11.When I See You Again
12.You and I (Part 2)
 
Around this particular time in
history, not only did the fans not think there would be any more
Fleetwood Mac, but the band themselves had pretty much given
up on Fleetwood Mac. Then drummer Mick Fleetwood had to file for
bankruptcy due to some bad real estate investments, and the band rallied
to his cause to help him out financially and went on to produce, what
many consider, an unpredictably very strong album. The band that enjoyed
their biggest success in the latter half of the seventies became
eponymous as a "seventies" band, so who knew exactly how they would
respond a decade later in the midst of big hair and synthesizers?
This album bears a rather unique distinction as being very good in
certain areas and very bad in others - in particular, the state of the
band members themselves. In the "almost always consistent, neutral, and
predictably great" department is Christine McVie. Her songs, as always,
are very fresh, pleasant and radio friendly. She manages to release
nothing but memorable tunes on this album, highlights being
Everywhere and Little Lies, both received significant
airplay deservedly.
Lindsey Buckingham produces the greatest results on this album. Actually,
this is probably the best work he's contributed to any Fleetwood Mac album. As
someone who had a reputation of being maybe a little bit too
ambitious in his writing and production, he seems to have come up
with a perfect balance on this album of pushing the envelope out of the
band's comfort zone, yet not alienating fans or the general radio
public. The leadoff single from the album,Big Love
is a prime example and a great way to introduce a great band to a new
audience. Everything else here of Buckingham's is in the same league, and any of
his tunes could have been high charting singles had they been released.
Sadly, it's Stevie Nicks that brings the whole album down somewhat. Stevie
had deservedly been the "star" among stars in this band since she joined
in 1975. Unfortunately the high living of being a famous rock star took
its toll on her, and while the band began the recording sessions for
this album, she spent the majority of the time in drug rehab. Since Nicks
didn't play any instruments, the band could feasibly record most of the
album without her. The proceeded to do just that, much to her chagrin.
When she did get back, she managed to contribute three songs, and only
two of them are worth mentioning. Well...one anyway. Seven
Wonders is her strongest piece, and where it pales in comparison to
most of the songs by Buckingham and/or McVie, it was strong enough to
climb the charts significantly. When I See You Again is actually
a very pretty piece, but its very sparse, and almost seems as an
afterthought to the album. Welcome to the Room...Sara is without
a doubt her worse song ever as a member of Fleetwood Mac. Lyrically,
it's about her recent stay in rehab. Musically, it's actually worse. This is
really the only bad song on the whole album.
It's then very easy to see that if you were drawn to this band because
of Stevie Nicks (and there were millions that fit into this category),
you were extremely disappointed by this album. If you favored any of
the other two leaders, or if you valued them all equally, then this
ended up being a very smart, surprising addition to the band's catalog
that responded well to the ever changing music scene.
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