Tango In The Night
 

First Impression.

I'm a fairly young FM fan (24) and although I've loved Rumours, S/T and Bella Donna for a decade I've actually never listened to Tusk, Mirage and TITN in their entirety before. Of course I'm familiar with most of the singles from these albums and the ones performed on The Dance though. So, I've decided to rectify this glaring omission and I've begun with Tango.

I'm sort of surprised that Christine McVie's contributions are the stand out of the entire album. Mainly because her 80's solo record is mostly unremarkable. On Tango, however, she gets in the best songs with Everywhere and Little Lies. Isn't It Midnight is a great jam and a very typical McVie song. Mystified is a bit odd with it's almost "Let's Get It On" mood and You and I, Part II is fun.

Stevie's songs lack the urgency that her material from S/T & Rumours have. Seven Wonders feels very much like a solo track and Welcome to the Room Sara is largely forgettable. When I See You Again is fantastic but far from a masterwork.

And Lindsey... *sigh*, I find his tracks on this album insufferable. I've always found Big Love to be a bit pretentious and jarring to listen to and Family Man has to be one of his worst songs. Caroline and the title track are both fairly boring. I like Lindsey but his work in the 80's is indulgent to a fault.

Overall it's a good album. I almost wish it was a follow up to McVie's self titled record because she seemed to be on quite a roll during this period. Unfortunately Nicks offers very little and Buckingham is still on a mission to prove how clever he can be.

B-

I hope I haven't made any enemies with my thoughts and welcome some observations from more seasoned fans of the band.

You heard Christine's solo album before you heard Tusk, Mirage, and Tango??

I'm also 24 btw. I first got into FM in 1998 with an old cassette tape my Dad had of Rumours that he recorded from the vinyl. And I got The Dance after that and then went through the rest of the BN era albums. I got Christine's album when it came out in 2004 and I only recently heard her 80's album. I'm also a fan of Lindsey's solo work and have all of his albums. Tusk is definitely my favorite album. There's just so much different stuff on it and it's all good. 20 songs. So you have that to look forward to.

Tango isn't an album I listen to very often at all. It's got some good songs on it ...it also has a couple mediocre songs....Stevie being the main culprit, but the 80's production is a bit of a turn off. Everywhere is easily better on The Dance. I definitely disagree on Lindsey's song. Big Love is good, but I like The Dance version the best. I dig Caroline and Tango a lot though. I like Family Man too. Basically I like all of Christine and Lindsey's song and I don't much care for Stevie's songs.

I love it when people write personal reviews! I don't know why, I just do :laugh:

For me, TITN is one of my favourite albums because of Christine's songs. I think her songs on Tango are out of this world.

For me, it's always been one that stands out :laugh: I love everything about it and when I was very young, somone would mention 'Sara' and I'd immediatley go on to sing WTTRS because I've always preferred it :shrug:

Here, I disagree, slightly. The title track was one of the first FM songs I fell in love with and to this day I can't get enough of it. I do, however, agree about Big Love, it's never been a favourite and 9/10 times I do skip it. :distress:

Weird, eh? I found her solo record on vinyl the same time I got Bella Donna on vinyl. I also got her 2004 record when it came out because I was at the peak of my FM interest at the time. I've only listened to her 80's album a few times and for the life of me can't remember a single song on it. It is the definition of forgettable.

Well, there is always time for these songs to grow on me.

[QUOTE=Ripley;872341]Weird, eh? I found her solo record on vinyl the same time I got Bella Donna on vinyl. QUOTE]

Wow! To find that album on vinyl is brilliant and really quite unusual/lucky! I really, really want it on vinyl but I find it hard to track down without paying exorbitant prices. I haven;t looked on ebay for a little while though....

[QUOTE=Dodfather;872344]I found a near mint version (opened but with shrinkwrap still on it) at the flea market for like a dollar. I'm talking about the 1984 one not the Christine Perfect album.

[QUOTE=Ripley;872345]Yeah, I knew you meant that 1984 one. Again, this makes me very jealous!!

[QUOTE=Dodfather;872348]There are a bunch of copies of it on Ebay right now for less than 5 dollars. :)

This one's on eBay, £5.75 with free P&P in the UK, 6 hours left on it too.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHRISTINE-McVI...item3a57af267a

You're lucky I'm broke or I'd have had that ;) :laugh:

Oooohh - I want it! I'm broke too but might have to just go for it. I do get paid tomorrow after all (although most of it is already budgeted for bills - boo!)

But it's Chris! And only a fiver :cool: I'm a good influence, I promise.

What if you never find it that cheap again D:

OK, So far I LOVE Tusk. I really expected this to be a disaster but its really enjoyable. I'm really impressed with the sound of the record. It sounds incredible. Even the songs featuring synth dont sound dated.

It's the exact opposite for me. Stevie's two songs save the album for me (I don't consider "Seven Wonders" a Stevie song, it's a Sandy song).

The CD, I take it? Or have you had the patience to get the vinyl out of the darn inners :laugh: I keep my two disks in two clear record sleeves so I'm not fighting to get it in and out of the card sleeves and I can actually listen to it.

Yes, CD. :)

I know, I know... that's why I'm most likely just gonna do it!

I've got some major love for the title track right now. I was tidying my room the other day, stomping between my bed and the wardrobe to the beat :cool:

Agh, I'm spamming up your thread, I'm sorry, I'm just so bored. I need to get out, I've been cooped up for days.

Welcome to the party! I pretty much agree with absolutely everything you have to say about this album. I think this is where Christine shined greatest in perhaps her entire career. She bridged the gap between the overindulgent Lindsey, and the underachieving Stevie. Despite (or perhaps even because) of it's flaws, I still rank this amongst the best Mac albums. It's just tight, concise, and consistently high quality. I first heard this album in about '93 or '94... and at the time, it couldn't have been LESS cool. I think we're far enough away from the '80s now that it's become kitschy and fun. Following the extremely lackluster Mirage, this album was a real tour de force. It could have opened up so many doors for a new life and direction for the Mac... it's unfortunate the band imploded shortly after this album was recorded. To me Tango is very much in the vein of Rumours as far as it being a tight, high quality pop album fueled by personal upheaval. I'd definitely rate it an A.

ZOMG! Another Alien fan like myself!!! :D
:blob2:

Im sure it will grow on me more and more as I listen to it. These were just my thoughts on my first initial feeling (lol).

haha I'll have to post some pics of my Alien tattoos soon. :eek:

This thread inspired me to see what sort of reaction Family Man got compared to Lindsey's most oddball Tusk tunes, and I happened to stumble upon this..:shocked:

:shocked: Wat. is that. Bucko?!

I'm sorry but after breaking my brain for several minutes, and since I always recognize the OOTC, TITN, GoS, BTM, etc... I ca'nt identify what album is S/T.. What is it?? :sorry:

Took me a while, too. I finally assumed it was the SELF-TITLED 1975 album.

Same here. I looked thru my itunes and I still haven't a clue as to what S/T is. I know it is going to be something completely obvious tho.

Heh, me and my friend call him Buck for short.. but Bucko? Wow.

thank you 'dr. groove p.h.d.' for the 23 uses of 'teehee' in that review.

I loved the paragraph on Brown Eyes:

"hmm so pretty this is a nice tune nice keyboards and that ride cymbal? mr. fleetwood keep it up ;) wow strange chords here ooooh that is some lovely vocals mcvie and the harmonies? wow so groovy and wow hmm i could listen to this on endless loop sha la la sha la la sha la la la-ah-ooooh wow i'm in a trance teehee greatest tune so far? hard to say i shall have to weigh the options to see if it indeed falls into the rightful criteria for"

:laugh:

I call him Liddy :lol:

I'm curious why you expected it to be a disaster? Glad it's better than you expected, though!

He had to be. The rest of the band... Stevie in particular... seemed to be on permanent vacation at the time the record was made. :laugh:

I like that! I think I'll call him Liddy when he's bein' adorable, like this pic:


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...lindmirage.jpg

And Buck for shots like this:
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...nFuu/78-01.jpg

Sexay, sexay Buck!

Ok.. back on topic.

TITN sounds like such a LB/CM collaboration that I don't even get a Fleetwood Mac vibe from it. I think Chris's stuff is stellar, and Buck has some great tracks, and while I personally ain't too fond of Stevie's (my fave is the one she didn't write)they ain't terrible, but I prefer Mirage overall. Mirage is still band album to me, even if it sounds like they're not as much of a unit after Tusk, but I can still hear each member's contributions. I don't hear a whole lot of John or Mick signature sounds in TITN.

Er.. if that makes sense. Maybe I should start a blog and sprinkle some teehee's throughout. :laugh:

I could just say my main beef with TITN is that it's.. overproduced. Yeah, that sounds better.

I love that! :laugh: No doubt I'll start calling him that too!
TITN is my favourite right after Tusk. I must say that I love all the tracks (including the non-album B-sides), although WISYA I can sometimes find unlikable (it tends to hop up and down my FM song preferences rather a lot... :shrug:). I guess I'm a fan of the 80s more than the 70s...

He actually calls him (Sir) Buck at the end of the paragraph on That's All For Everyone

"hey, way to go bucko finally a song I can enjoy by him teehee listen to those lovely vocal timbres i sure do love you bucko wait did he just say sexy :@ oh wait "just exactly" way to enunciate sir buck teehee listen to those marimbas so great way to go bucko nice job indeed"

Tusk has a pretty notorious reputation don't you think? Perhaps it's different inside the FM fan collective but it's always been described quite dubiously whenever I've heard about it.

Ha. Christine wasn't.

95% of the things I read about it outside of FM groups is favorable. Critically, everyone seems to recognize it as the album that didn't get the due it deserved when it debuted. That's the way I think it's viewed in music circles. As for casual listeners, I'm not sure they even know about Tusk enough to comment on it favorably or negatively.

Michele

Don't use arbitrary percentages. Just say "most."

I guess I'm referring to the due it didn't get when it debuted. It's always been known as a massive let down from Rumours and I suppose that's why I never sought it out.

It doesn't really matter though because I really enjoyed it.

Most wouldn't suffice because I don't mean approximately 51% of the things I read. "Most" could mean a little more than half and that's not been my experience. I mean 95% of what I read and that's why I said it.

Michele

:rolleyes:

I'd like to see your mathematical calculations that brought you to 95%?

Do you have a pie chart somewhere of every conversation and review that you've ever read of Tusk? Is there room for error based on reviews you haven't read or have you done an extensive research undertaking to find every opinion of Tusk possible? Are the reviews judge qualitatively or quantitatively?

Just kidding, I just don't like when people use arbitrary percentages to gauge opinions. And "most" does not equal 51% (which would be best described as "half"). Most would cover everything from 75%-99%. Anything after that would be be "all."

;)

In 1979, TUSK had detractors -- general listeners & DJs -- but it also had avid supporters -- much of the rock press, for example.

Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times called it one of the best pop-rock albums of the year, & it was lauded by other major critics, like Ken Tucker, David Gans, & Stephen Holden. Reading through this site's Blue Letter Archives is an eye-opening corrective to the common myth that TUSK was widely pissed on in 1979. It really wasn't, not even in relation to RUMOURS (which itself was frequently pissed on critically in 1977).

I think what gave TUSK its negative stature was the story, played over & over, that it wasn't selling anywhere near what RUMOURS sold. That had it conceptualized as a failure.

The band that made TITN might as well have been a different band that made Tusk. Both albums are excellent in their own way, but Tusk has urgency, has genuine artistic vision. TITN sounds like a well-orchestrated albeit calculated bid for the charts.

I remember first hearing TITN and being impressed with Buckingham's work on it and horrified by Stevie's contributions. I was most eager to hear Christine's material, which was well-written and well arranged. It took me a while to get used to the way her vocals were produced, particularly on Isn't it Midnight, where her voice seems like its filtered through an echo chamber or something. I always preferred her live vocals of that song.

Little Lies was always a great tune, IMO.

:sorry:

Yeah Christine was spot on as well.