I love your analysis! I've always thought that the three part harmony vocals on "Honey Hi" are one of the top 5 moments in the band's entire catalog.

You analysis of "Oh Daddy" is equally true. There was an outtake from "Rumours" that featured a harmony vocal from Stevie on "Oh Daddy" that I though should have made the record.

"Rumours", in its original format, remains the PERFECT record and "I Don't Want To Know" fits perfectly within the context. I know it's not a popular opinion, BUT, "I Don't Want To Know" is a deliciously FUN song and it should be kept on "Rumours".

"Silver Springs" is an equally fantastic tune, but I think it would fit better on The White Album (1975).

UNPOPULAR OPINIONS-

"Tango In The Night" is the weakest album from the Buckingham/Nicks era of the band. "Mirage" is the most underrated Fleetwood Mac album.

This same lineup of the band has essentially produced a trilogy of near perfect albums:

1) Fleetwood Mac (1975)
2) Rumours (1977)
3) Tusk (1977)

All subsequent (post 1980) Fleetwood Mac albums have fallen short of living up to the artistic merit of this aforementioned trilogy. Try as they may, this band has been unable to recreate on record the creative magic that existed from 1975-1980.

Behind the Mask is a great album. And Rick and Billy did a great job keeping the Mac going on tour. If nothing else, we got the absolutely beautiful song As Long As You Follow during that era, and that alone makes it all worthwhile!

Yeah--it's the lesser-known songs that survive on that record.

I don't think Billy and Rick were necessarily the problem with that album. They certainly had better songs than what made the album. I think there was a decision to focus mainly on the girl at the expense of developing that lineup, which was problematic since their songs weren't strong enough to carry the album. The other issue was bad production. They should have gotten Ken to produce them. Here's what I think the track listing should have been:

Skies The Limit
Victim of Love
Intuition
Freedom
Save Me
In the Back of My Mind
--
Behind the Mask
Love is Dangerous
Do You Know
Ain't Got No Home
Affairs of the Heart
When the Sun Goes Down
Game of Love

I've always thought Time was a better album than Behind The Mask. If you take away Dave Mason's songs and perhaps adjust the track listing, it'd be a perfect album to me.

I'd get behind that. I'd also pare down "Hollywood" and "Sooner or Later" which tend to drag on.

Only Over You has become my favourite FM track of all time.

Smile At You should have been on Mirage instead of Straight Back.

Only Over You is one of my favorite Christine songs.

Running Through The Garden is one of my favorites from SYW.

I thought the EP songs were great.

Stevie should have sung Crystal on the 1975 album instead of Lindsey.

I kind of miss Lindsey's weird stage antics.

Sara from the 1980 Live album puts me to sleep. There are much better performances of that song from that tour.

I really do not like the version of "Big Love" Lindsey plays nowadays
in fact I'm not too keen on all of the acoustic section that he does, live..

I don't know if this counts as an FM opinion, but I can't stand the studio version of Love Is. I feel like all the emotion is taken out of the song:shrug:

I hate Landslide live.
I love the long version of Not That Funny
I'm glad Silver Springs was left off of Rumours. IDWK is a great song.
Stevie singing Crystal is like nails on a chalkboard.
Stevie should never sit at the piano and sing.
Stevie's songs on SYW were pretty damn good. sans Silver Girl, Destiny's Child
In the Meantime is a gem.

I don't think that's an unpopular opinion. Yikes, that look was horrid, with the Reeblechs and all.:distress:

I wish Danny Kirwan would've stayed in the band for a bit longer. At least until the release of Mystery To Me or Heroes Are Hard to Find.

We are on the same page. Tango is a Lindsey Buckingham solo album with guest appearances by Christine, Mick, Stevie, and John. Very little if any of that music holds up today. I also agree that Mirage is so underrated.