Christine's evolution

[bwboy]

I mentioned this in a thread on the post-Rumours board, but I think it fits here just as well, especially with the rerelease of Mirage. Does anyone else notice a difference between Christine's FM material from the white album through Mirage, and Tango and Behind the Mask? Her earlier work seemed more like cream, rather than coffee. She had a lot of variations on love songs, like Spare Me a Little, Over My Head, Say You Love Me, Love in Store, etc. Brown Eyes was one of the few exceptions. But with Tango, Christine seemed to have more confidence, I think. Little Lies, Isn't It Midnight, Everywhere, As Long As You Follow, Save Me, and Behind the Mask all run the gamut, from pop perfection to sublime. Instead of singing about how much fun it is to be in love, she's singing about the darker side of love, too. Again, there's a kind of confidence in her later songs that seemed missing in her earlier material.

I was thinking it could be related to the fact that maybe she did have more confidence, because in between Mirage and Tango she released her solo album. While it wasn't a smash hit, it did pretty well and she got a top 10 hit single, and all without FM. The other thing was that she started co-writing songs with her then husband Eddie Quintela.

Listening to Mirage, there seems to be such growth in her songs when you compare Love in Store or Only Over You to Save Me or Little Lies. Not saying the Mirage songs are bad, but they seem... simpler, I don't know.

Just wondering if people notice a difference and maybe what that difference was.

[AlexD]

Honestly, all of her songs I find similar to each other, but in a good way. I have always liked her stuff a lot more than Stevie's.

[Macfan4life]

Interesting thread. I tried to understand what you wrote but I struggled. Christine is a solid writer even early on. What changed was the music and arrangements. Turning her bluesy love songs into pop smash hits. Christine always wrote love songs but even early on there are her darker and heart broken songs like Why and Bad Loser.
Don't Stop is a good example. Its a piano shuffle song that could have been on Heroes are hard to find, but Lindsey's production turned it straight ahead pop/rock. Later on like Mirage and Behind the Mask there are still dark or heart broken songs like Only Over You and Behind the Mask. I don't see the confidence perspective. She tends to be peppy and drooling in puppy love lyrics. Love in Store is the perfect example of this. Even on the Dance with Temporary One, Christine is full of optimism.
I guess I just love the consistency of Christine. I would disagree with you in that I think her writing is better on Mirage than Tango or Behind the Mask. But then again, I think EVERYONE's writing was better then. I think Only Over You is a very complex song lyrically so I would NEVER say her writing was more basic on Mirage. I think Hold Me has fascinating lyrics that go so well together. I would never call it "simple." I would call the Tango writing on Mystified and Everywhere more basic. IMHO she is the most consistent writer ever. Her songs on In the meantime and classic Christine. Nothing changed with the formula.

[sue]

Honestly, all of her songs I find similar to each other, but in a good way. I have always liked her stuff a lot more than Stevie's.

Yeah, know what you mean....you can recognise a Christine song by the first notes, not as you say in a bad way, but they do have a similarity....kind of washing over you.
I like them very much, and with the other two make a great mix...