25 Years Ago: Fleetwood Mac Release ‘Behind the Mask’ Without Lindsey Buckingham
 

25 Years Ago: Fleetwood Mac Release ‘Behind the Mask’ Without Lindsey Buckingham
by Jeff Giles April 10, 2015 10:44 AM


By the time they achieved massive mainstream success in the mid-’70s, Fleetwood Mac had already been through more lineup changes than most bands manage in their entire careers, and their best-selling album, Rumours, was partly inspired by a pair of collapsing relationships between bandmates.
They were accustomed to forging on in the face of personal and professional drama, in other words — but even so, the trials they faced before recording their 15th studio album, 1990′s Behind the Mask, proved particularly threatening.

All things considered, it should have been an easy time for Fleetwood Mac, who battled back from some early ’80s doldrums with 1987′s commercially resurgent Tango in the Night. With another multiplatinum hit at their backs and a fresh slew of Top 40 singles marching up the charts, the band might have been able to settle into the sort of groove that had proven difficult in the years after Rumours‘ unwieldy success, if not for one thing: the inconveniently timed exit of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, whose songwriting and meticulous studio work had increasingly come to define their sound.
Buckingham’s departure was confirmed in the summer of 1988, causing the band to scramble to fill his parts before their tour for Tango. It was just the kind of painful and potentially disastrous conflict that the band had unfortunately become known for, but as drummer Mick Fleetwood later admitted, the split was a long time coming — and exacerbated by moves the other band members had made in the years leading up to it.

Admitting that the group essentially tricked Buckingham into co-producing Tango in the Night by hiring a producer they knew he wouldn’t want to record with, Fleetwood told Q that the guitarist’s long exit from the band ultimately came down to his unwillingness to tour.
“He didn’t want to go out on the road, and we knew that, and he kept putting us off,” explained Fleetwood. “We said, ‘You – out of anyone with the amount of work you put into this album – you’re not going out on the road? That’s crazy! You want to piss this down the drain? Don’t you want people to hear this?’ But by saying we were going anyway, we got him off the fence. He said he’d do it.”
Buckingham had a list of conditions for the tour, however. “He said he wanted two, maybe three, other guitar players, percussion players, all sorts of interesting things. So now we were over a barrel,” Fleetwood recalled. “‘Whatever you want,’ we said, ‘Just let’s get out there.’ For a while he looked as if he was going to do it – but he changed his mind after we booked the tour. It was not amusing.”

As many problems as Buckingham’s sudden change of heart may have caused, Fleetwood professed no hard feelings after the split: “He’d realized he’d been forced into a situation and had cracked. He said that touring would have destroyed him and been hell for everyone else, and that’s not what this is all about. He made the right decision.”
“I don’t blame them for any tactics they might have used. It was natural,” Buckingham conceded to Q in 1992. “I was trying to be a nice guy, but I really didn’t want to do the tour. I said no, then I said, ‘Oh, okay.’ They said, ‘Good, let’s all go out to dinner and have fun.’ I didn’t even show up at the restaurant — that’s how close I was to not doing it,” he admitted. “I finally said I could not do it. It wasn’t just the touring. I had to jump this bridge and take a little responsibility for my own happiness and creativity, because it’s a little bit overdue. It was tough telling them; not a happy day.”

It was ultimately on the Tango in the Night tour that Fleetwood Mac tested out Buckingham’s successors. Drafting rhythm guitarist Billy Burnette from Fleetwood’s side project the Zoo and adding Bob Seger sideman Rick Vito on lead guitar, the new lineup solidified its chemistry in front of thousands of fans before heading into the studio for Behind the Mask. “It was almost predetermined that they would join after Lindsey left,” Fleetwood told the Pioneer Press. “They turned what could have been a catastrophic event into a smooth transition.”
“Billy and I really play well off one another. He’s not some frustrated lead guitarist, but, rather, he’s extremely inventive on rhythm guitar. He’ll craft parts that are uniquely his own, as well as being complementary to what I’m doing,” Vito told the New Jersey Record. “We got to know each other musically by playing together and exciting the people. It was a real confidence booster that carried over when we headed into the studio.”
And while fans may have been disappointed by Buckingham’s absence, the band ultimately saw it as restoring a spark that had been increasingly absent during the past few years of his tenure. “We had been sitting around for years not doing too much, and Fleetwood Mac had started to drift apart,” mused Fleetwood after Behind the Mask‘s arrival. “But his departure brought about a real commitment by the rest of us to what we’re doing.”

“I like the fact that we really did pull it off,” singer and keyboardist Christine McVie told Rolling Stone. “The record was well arranged and well thought out, despite the fact that Lindsey wasn’t there.”
“Christine really took the bull by the horns this time,” Fleetwood explained during a conversation with the Boston Globe. “And with Lindsey gone, the older members of the band enjoyed getting back to how we used to make albums. It was very much a team effort … No offense to Lindsey, but he was becoming obsessive in the studio and we were beginning to take a backseat.”
The newly collaborative spirit Fleetwood felt was reflected in the Behind the Mask songwriting credits, which were spread fairly evenly between an expanded roster of writers that now included Burnette and Vito as well as McVie and singer Stevie Nicks, as well as their attendant collaborators. But if the atmosphere was more relaxed in the studio — Buckingham even showed up for a cameo, contributing acoustic guitar to the title track — that didn’t necessarily add up to music that captivated fans the way previous albums had.

In fact, while it would be unfair to call Behind the Mask a flop, it didn’t come anywhere near the level of sales success the band enjoyed with Tango in the Night, topping out at No. 18 during a relatively brief stay on the chart and sending only one song, “Save Me,” into the lower reaches of the Top 40. Although “Save Me” was a sizable adult contemporary hit, as was “Skies the Limit,” the album couldn’t help but feel like a comedown.
Fleetwood Mac were also far from settled on the lineup front. The band’s 1990 tour would prove to be the only one mounted by the six-piece roster responsible for Behind the Mask; by the end of the year, both McVie and Nicks were out, along with Vito, and although McVie returned for the group’s next outing, 1995′s little-heard Time, most of the next decade was spent with the band in varying degrees of flux.
But as fans know, that classic Rumours-era lineup realigned for 1997′s wildly successful live album The Dance and subsequent tour, and while McVie left again after that, she’s currently back in the fold for yet another tour and new album — a cycle that Vito unwittingly predicted when he weighed in on the risks of joining a band with so many stormy chapters in its past.
“Who knows what will happen? But I think the turbulence that seems to surround this band is part of its allure,” laughed Vito in 1990. “They always seem to be flirting at the edge of the precipice. But they always seem to endure.”


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'Admitting that the group essentially tricked Buckingham into co-producing Tango in the Night by hiring a producer they knew he wouldn’t want to record with...'

that's a new one on me. Mick's a schemer.

The memories of waiting for Behind the Mask to be released. I remember I bought the cassette tape the first or second day it was out at a Record store at the mall (gosh remember the record stores at the mall)?
I was 20 and so excited. BTM is a mixed album. There are pure treasures on the album which get over looked by the lack of album sales. I did admire the back to the rock roots a bit. No programmed grunts or drums like on Tango. In the Back of My Mind was an early favorite because it really showed a creative side.
You really have to hand it to Christine during this era. Lindsey left and Stevie was in a thick fog. And it now is learned that Mick still was a major substance abuser at this time. A lot of the continuation of the Mac fell to her shoulders.
Lindsey was a real problem to agree to a tour and then pull out at the last minute. The Big Love intro Lindsey does on stage has him saying that his life needed a big change and leaving the band was a starting of that process.
We never hear Lindsey talk of any personal demons like substance abuse. We heard him bash Stevie and Mick for not wanting to go on the road with them and their issues. I wonder what changes he needed to make in his life that he would act like this? He is a tease and beats around the bush with explaining this.

The band did continue on and for such a rush with new members Billy and Rick did a pretty good job. They did not have the time to do anything clever.

“Christine really took the bull by the horns this time,” Fleetwood explained during a conversation with the Boston Globe. “And with Lindsey gone, the older members of the band enjoyed getting back to how we used to make albums. It was very much a team effort … No offense to Lindsey, but he was becoming obsessive in the studio and we were beginning to take a backseat.”

and the only hits they had during this time were Chris's as well.

Lindsey didn't bash them in the press, as his excuse for leaving. He talked about his girlfriend not liking them working on his property in the Winnebago, but mostly he simply said the band was crazy doing Tango and that things would just be 10 times crazier on the road than on the studio. In 1997, he also said that Stevie was no longer the person he'd known and he had his own issues about her that he couldn't get over until he was out of the band and away from her. Mick and Stevie are the ones who offered more details about why he left. Mick said that Lindsey was afraid that he'd be drawn back into drugs, if he hung around Mick and Stevie said that he was fearful for her. Lindsey then commented on their remarks about why he left when they were doing the Unleashed tour. But he never said he left because they were so awful.

Michele

with the exception of the second time , I love this CD and the Line up

You have your opinion to what negative comments in the press come to the level of bashing. Yes I have heard the quote you use coming from Lindsey but I have also heard much stronger language alleging to not wanting to be around crazy people on the road. Lindsey even made his next studio album video about Mick.
I stand by my words and think the negative comments "bashing" are appropriate. He could have said nothing or said he is moving on to better things. But to talk about people's personal vices to the press is bashing IMHO :)

Save Me sounds a lot better than I remember.

To be completely honest, I think this album stinks. I take:

- Love Is Dangerous
- Skies The Limit
- Behind The Mask

and run. Overall, I think is really stale. Tango had pushed the production boundaries and even though it's 80's through and through, it has a fresh and identifiable production. This album just limps along.

I think the songs are pretty questionable as well. Even the four mentioned above aren't that great. Stevie was in the middle of her klonopin addiction and let's be frank, her songs on this record are crap.

Even though it said Christine "took the horns", I think this album has her worst set of songs ever. Skies The Limit is limp and barely passable, Behind The Mask is good, the rest are pretty rubbish. Especially Do You Know, which is a truly terrible number. Sorry Christine, I'm usually a huge fan of your work but the songs here are not up to scratch.

Love Is Dangerous is probably the best song on here, and the only one I'd put on a Greatest Hits. It says it was co-written with Stevie but I suspect a "Seven Wonders" situation where Stevie changed a word and got a credit. It's a good song, if a bit hillbillyish. But it's the best one on here.

The CD cover is actually atrocious as well! The picture is really weird, not sure how it "represents" the band, it makes them seem like some hillbilly country ranch band playing at the local hall for 10 dollars per night. And the frame is horrible as well, it reminds me of my grandmother's wallpaper.

So yeah overall I'm not a fan of this era at all. The band should have called it quits after release of Greatest Hits, the two new songs on that were quite good actually. By 1990 though, the band seems tired. After a promising start, I don't think the two boys ever fitted in properly. Their songs on this record aren't great either. When The Sun Goes Down further reinforces this country music which I don't like.

(And as a final note, I think The Second Time is the worst Stevie song ever. Poor Stevie sounds lifeless, droning over that horrid guitar. I remember reading that it was compared to "Landslide" at the time! HA!)

He didn't talk about Mick or Stevie's personal vices, though. They, Stevie and Mick, talked about their personal vices, years later. He didn't talk about their vices to the press when he left the band.

All Lindsey talked about was band craziness and he included himself in that. He said:

Then, later on Mick said that he now realizes that Lindsey was afraid that he might get pulled back into drugs if he hung around Mick. Lindsey never said that. Stevie said that Lindsey left because he was afraid for her. Lindsey never said that to the press -- not until Stevie said it about herself and the press asked him to respond, when they were doing those Unleashed interviews. Mick said that when they were all being interviewed in 2012, Lindsey told MICK and Stevie that he left because he was afraid of what was happening to them and that all 3 of them started crying. But Lindsey never said anything about Stevie or Mick's "personal vices" when he left the band. He talked about the craziness in the recording studio, in general, and he talked about everyone having separate managers, which made it hard to get things done.


Michele

I think Save Me is one of Christine's better songs and I actually wish it had been done at another point in the band's career, when it would have been heard by more people.

Behind the Mask is quite good too, and a departure for Christine, I think.

I don't really like Skies the Limit , but when I hear it out in public (seems like I hear it in CVS a lot), it really captures me. I enjoy it a lot, although when I'm at home or in my car and could hear it any time, I never choose to play it.

Michele

I just cannot reconcile this "afraid for Stevie" stuff. By the time Tango was released, Stevie was in great shape. The promotional interviews they did (while Lindsey was still in the band) and the Shake the Cage Tour both show Stevie in fine form. The coke was gone, and it took a while for the Klonopin to become a problem. It just doesn't add up to me.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree :)
When Lindsey left, yes there was not immediate comments on anything. But as the years trickled on Lindsey did comment on many things including Billy and Rick. When BTM was released, Lindsey stated to the press that Fleetwood Mac made a mistake in trying to replace him and how that would never work. He suggested the Mac should have went on in a new direction. He made those comments even though he contributed to the album BTM. He never used the words drugs but definitely hinted at substance abuse how things get worse on tour. Even Stevie said recently that Lindsey was frustrated since she was drugged out during this time how she would show up late to recording, etc. These hints were trickled out years later. It came to a climax with Lindsey's interpretation of Mick in video.
This is why I brought up in my original post how vague and subtle Lindsey is. This tour Lindsey has changed his Big Love intro from early in the tour. Now he says he needed to break away from the band to make major changes in his life. I want to know what those changes were. He used to say that it was almost the excess of the band that made him leave. This was a first I ever heard Lindsey say these words before. I commented this in my Miami review. For the first time he admits he was not right during this time instead of others. I just wish he would not talk in code so much.

I don't think Stevie was in "great" shape, but I don't think that rationale necessarily adds up, either. Both Stevie and Mick romanticized the reason Lindsey left the group themselves. Stevie is the one we first heard say that Lindsey left because he was afraid for her around the time of Unleashed. Lindsey had never said that before. But when confronted with her saying that, he didn't disagree. But it's not a reason he gave for leaving himself. He may or may not have been afraid for her, but he didn't talk about it. She's the one who first did.

And similarly in 2003 (and again in 2012) Mick said that Lindsey left because:

But Lindsey didn't say that. Not to the press. In fact, Mick is the one who talked about Lindsey turning to them during an Unleashed interview and saying something like, "I couldn't watch you doing that to yourselves any more" and they all started crying and Mick declared it was Lindsey saying, "I love you. So, we got that melodramatic version of the story from Mick around 2012 or 2013. But we didn't see the interview where Lindsey actually turned to Stevie and Mick and said that.

What Lindsey said about leaving was that it was a survival move. He couldn't get any closure. He wanted to pursue his solo work, etc. But he didn't close the door on continuing to record with them.

Mick and Lindsey both said that Lindsey might not have left the band at all, if he could just keep recording, but they wanted to go on tour and Lindsey didn't want to go. So, they pushed the issue of a tour, something he couldn't agree to and then he left.

MICK:

Yes, that's my point. Stevie said that she was on drugs at the time. My comment was that you are wrong about Lindsey citing Mick or Stevie's substance abuse as the reason he left the band. He never did. Nor did he talk about their personal vices. When he talked about band craziness, it was always in the context of all 5 of them and the way they were interacting.

And since 1997 he has talked about his own demons as reasons why he needed to leave the band. He even said he left and went into therapy.

As for his bashing BTM, there are no interviews in which he did that, except the one where he boasted it took two guitarists to replace him.

But Christine is the one who said that Mick should have gone another route (instead of Dave Mason) instead of trying to fix a broken vase. Lindsey didn't talk about Behind the Mask being destined to failure. He did put down the nostalgia tour with Pat Benatar a few years later though. He said that was sad. He didn't say that about BTM. When he talked about appearing on stage with BTM he said it was easy for him because all he had to do was come out and play GYOW and that was sure to go over well, but he didn't say anything else about BTM, the album or the tour. In fact, he said he didn't watch their live show, even when he was backstage.

I don't disagree with you that Lindsey talks in code sometimes, but I don't think there are any interviews or quotes that suggest he was telling the press "Oh, Mick and Stevie's drug abuse force me out." That's why they said he left. He didn't say that's why. He cited mostly creative reasons for leaving and, in his Say Goodbye discussions, said that he couldn't get over Stevie while he was still in the band with her, again freely admitting he had his own demons to deal with.

Michele

I should also add that Lindsey has said that he wasn't as much into cocaine as others. He just didn't say it in the context of why he left in 1987.

But yeah he's said it. He said he never bought cocaine himself, because it was too expensive. He said that he liked marijuana.

Mick and Stevie have also said that Lindsey didn't do cocaine as much as the rest of them.

Lindsey certainly admits to doing some drugs, though. In his solo shows he has long joked with Neale and Brett about not remembering much of the past, because they were all hurting themselves back then.

Michele

The album is pretty good. The song Behind the Mask is VERY good, and could have been on any previous FM album.

This album proved that Lindsey really was responsible for Fleetwood Macs success.The album was horrible and only managed to go platinum because it came after Tango In The Night.

In my opinion Behind The Mask could have been much better ( on hearing the demos and outtakes for the period)

But saying that the following songs i think are great

"In the Back of My Mind"
"Skies the Limit"
"Save Me"
"Behind the Mask"
"Love Is Dangerous"
"Do You Know"

But the "Behind The Mask" tour was excellent
Because of Rick & Billy, FM decided to play some of the early FM music

Far Superior to ny tour FM have done since

Yes, that cover photo was crazy. Why do a representative photo of the band?? It was like they had something to hide. I mean, I just ... We aren't putting the real band on the cover, because we don't really want you to know what they look like. We'll just show their essence.


Michele

I'm not in love with Behind the Mask, but I like it. It would have been better if Stevie's songs were stronger. Like many of their albums circa 1970-1974, this was a a band in transition.

The cover art was such a miscalculation. It was enough of a disorientation that Lindsey had been replaced with two newcomers. Then they come with a cover that inexplicably features an anonymous group of people that most of us would initially assume to be a picture of the band.

I've now given BTM a few plays through and really feel its aged quite well- unfortunately its still just too incohesive. I also don't think they made enough of Stevie- on an album missing Lindsey they should have given much more prominence to her backing vocals on the non-Stevie Nicks songs.

Love Is Dangerous seems to be getting quite a bit of love. I don't get it- for me its just poor.
However, Do You Know and When It Comes To Love are pretty damned good and could have been singles. Hard Feelings is decent too. Billy and Christine's voices work really well together. I'd take an album from just Christine, Billy, Mick and John.

Last night I went to youtube to check out Lindsey's Wrong video. The song is about his bitter leaving Fleetwood Mac almost making it look like he was being forced to perform or something. But there is a quick scene of him in a bathroom chugging what looks like a prescription pill bottle. I want to know is this him or is this a swipe at Stevie. The Piggy in the middle and Piggy on the cover line is classic. More code language to think of the excesses a pig enjoys.
Back to my original point... I would love a candid interview with Lindsey someday ;)

There are some great songs on BTM
A little known fact that I learned listening to Dick Clark's countdown in 1990 when Skies the Limit was on the Adult contemporary charts was the song was a last minute addition to the album. The album was finished and Christine thought the album sounded too dark. It lacked one of her peppy love songs. So she quickly wrote Skies the Limit and made it a first cut on the album.
I would say half the songs on the album are good to very good. Some of the songs like Hard Feelings by Billy is pretty bad IMHO.
My favorites are:
Skies the Limit
Back of my Mind
When it comes to Love
Behind the Mask
Freedom
Save Me
Love is Dangerous

I don't like Hard Feelings or Affairs of the Heart. Affairs of the Heart almost seems like a demo IMHO. Very little on the creative side too. Stand on the Rock and Do you know are ok. The album only hit #18 on the US charts but went to #1 in the UK. That is interesting. Rolling Stone raved about the album giving it 4/5 stars and stating Rick and Billy were the best thing that ever happened to Fleetwood Mac. While other critics did not have good things to say.

The actual demo of Affairs of the Heart is much, much better than the actual version that made it onto the album- much edgier;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x34B71_sVsM

Behind The Mask did make #1 in the UK but that was almost entirely down to the phenomenal success of Tango In The Night. I bet the Rolling Stone journalist would love to take that comment back if given the chance- its been quoted so many times since then.

Back then, I liked BTM alot more than TITN, which I violently hated from day one. Good laid back, down to earth production, the songs are great, good or at least tolerable and even the Stevie songs are decent. Today, I would rather hear BTN for 24 straight hours then to endure hearing "Mystified" again for once.

Compared to other FM albums, BTM is still in the middle field - not an album that would draw me to become a fan, but nothing offputting either.
Favorites: "Save me", "Freedom" and "Do you know" and the Title track.

Really? I feel like I hear her much more on BTM than Tango or Mirage.

"Behind The Mask"

Don't get me wrong- its not as if she's not on there. I just think it would have eased the transition more had she been even more audible across even more songs.
Her voice was completely absent from the majority of the songs she didn't write.
She can be heard a little bit in the coda of Save Me and she has a small bit in When the Sun Goes Down.
She only really has any prominence on Skies the Limit and In the Back of My Mind.

Here's how BTM stacks up for me.

Very good tracks:
When The Sun Goes Down
Love Is Dangerous
Behind The Mask

Fair-to-decent tracks:
Skies The Limit
Affairs Of The Heart

Poor tracks:
Save Me
Do You Know
Hard Feelings

Atrocious tracks:
Stand On The Rock
When It Comes To Love
In The Back Of My Mind
Freedom
The Second Time

Overall, not a great album. I like When The Sun Goes Down so much because, to my ears, it has a rather Lindsey-esque production.

It's the English teacher in me, but I cringe every time I see Sky's the Limit written Skies the Limit. I just can't believe that no one involved with that CD ever caught it before I came out.

OK, I'll go back to grading essays :)

Kevin

p.s. Oh yeah, I don't think Chris's songs on this CD are as good as other Mac songs of hers, but they are certainly better than anything on In the Meantime, IMO. I think of In the Back of My Mind as their version of The Chain. I kind of like it. And Stevie's stuff is OK. I don't like any of Rick or Billy's songs except for Hard Feelings, which I somehow always pair in my mind with I'm the One from Chris's solo CD. Overall, I'd say it was a good try but also a very good example of just how necessary Lindsey is. :)

I think there are loads of candid interviews with him around. Of course, there are probably many more with the canned answers, but I've seen plenty of gems too.

I love the Wrong video and I love Lindsey fighting the two sides of himself. But actually, that's a theme that two of his other videos have as well, Double Buckingham. I see him battling within, between what's right and what's expedient -- or WRONG.

I loved how Lindsey conceded the term Rockcock could allude to Mick and Mick said, "I'm very flattered."

As for BTM, I think one of the best things to come out of that tour and Cage is their live rendition of Isn't It Midnight. That remains a live highlight for Christine.

Michele

Isnt it Midnight is probably in my top 5 of all time FM songs and Christine songs both solo or with the Mac. Must give Lindsey credit for the brilliant guitar work and his vocals at the end are so much riveting than what Stevie can do live. If they tour again, I sure hope they would play it live. It would blow everyone away.

I get a kick out of everyone listing their favorite BTM songs. It goes to show how different we all are because some songs I could never care to hear again and its someone's favorite on the album and vice versa.

Ha ha
You scared me for a minute because I thought you were talking about me with Skies the Limit in spelling. I had to go check the album to make sure I was alright :eek:

Please please go back and listen to In The Meantime one more time. I think its some of Chris's best work. I don't think she ever wrote a bad song. You are is so romantic it almost makes me cry :eek:
Sometimes it takes a second look to fall in love :)

I put the songs "Behind the Mask" and "Heart of Stone" in the same category. A little edgier than Christine's usual fare and very good.



Michele

I think Mask is just an OK LP. I do recall waiting for this release myself back in the day. I'd only been collecting Fmac/Stevie stuff since about '88 but I was kinda bummed that Lindsey had left the band than. I did see them for the first time on this tour. It was a good show. Of course compared to all the old video's I'd seen it wasn't the Mac that I'd really loved. At least I did get to see them for it though so I do appreciate it for that alone. I did see them with Lindsey on the Dance tour '97 and SYW '03 tour only 3 times , Stevie saw from 94-08 solo shows (1) tour each. Not as many as some have but its better than not at all. Of course I did miss all the 'hey-day' shows cause well in the 70's I was only like 8 /9 yrs old. I didn't even know about them back in the day. I have my memories. Anyway, back to Mask, I have never cared for the LP cover photo. I think it would've had better promotion if they'd used a really nice 'band' photo esp. with the new guys on it. I know they had the promo posters but at that time consumers remembered images on LP covers so I do think more people would've noticed because that cover is forgettable. Same for the green GH with the flower (Ugh!!) and the Fmac Live with the ugly blurry photo. I don't understand that either. There choices make no sense sometimes really. So its an OK LP not too many favorite songs on this one for me. Stevie's are just OK --I probably recall Christine's songs more than anything from this LP. Now if this lineup had made a 2nd LP , I often wonder how that would've turned out?? guess we'll not ever know will we. Than yet it might have been the same kind of LP???:shrug:

Rather harsh regarding In The Meantime. I think her songs on ITM are great. The problem with ITM as with BTM in general is the production. I agree with how necessary Lindsey is. Its not necessarily his songwriting, musicianship or singing that's missing its his overall presence as a producer.

I never got to see either of those shows so I am only going on the Tango In The Night concert video- I always felt Isn't It Midnight just chugs along a bit. There's something not quite right with the drumming. I think possibly Isaac Asante didn't add a great deal to the rhythm to a lot of the songs but particularly Isn't It Midnight.

Regarding BTM- I agree with the comment In The Back of My Mind was like The Chain. I get the feeling that was kind of the intention. It was the standout song but its such a shame they had to put that ridiculous intro onto the album. That really gave it something of a false start and killed the flow of the record.

Good: In The Back of My Mind
Fairly good: Skies the Limit, When it Comes to Love, Do You Know
So-so: Behind The Mask, Affairs of the Heart, Hard Feelings, Save Me
Not so good: Love is Dangerous, Stand on the Rock, The Second Time, When the Sun Goes Down, Freedom

Mick has said "piggy in the middle" is him. And the line "the man just got it wrong" was about Mick's version of the meeting where LB and SN fought and Lindsey left the band.

Behind the Mask is the only FM record I don't own. I simply can't bear to hear it. I remember being so disappointed by its generic glossiness when it came out. Over the years, I've tried several times to reconcile myself with the record, but I just can't. With the exception of "Save Me," nothing moves or impresses me.

It's not solely the absence of Buckingham that is a problem. I DO think the Mac could have rebounded from his quitting with a very fine record. It's just that somehow that new combination of people never really sparked together.

I don't blame anyone in particular. Vito is a GREAT guitar player who I enjoy listening to in other contexts (including on Stevie's solo work). Burnette is a clever songwriter with enough charm to forge ahead as a solo artist. But these guys just don't mix with the other two songwriters/singers. And, often, the worst parts of the record are from the veteran contributors. "Skies the Limit" is an all-time McVie low. I cringe when I hear it. Nothing from Stevie sounds genuine or inspired.

Ironically, the much-loathed Time is, in my view, a far-better effort. There, Bekka and Billy work great together, and Christine's material fills out their sound nicely. Only Dave is the disappointment, and even he can be easily ignored--on the album at least.

Stevie's songs on BTM are so horrible that you'd think she was the new member, learning her way.

Michele

Mick has not only referred to himself as "piggy in the middle" just like in the song, but he named one of his book chapters that.

When asked about Wrong and Mick, Lindsey said,

Michele