I still remember the first time I heard
Tango In The Night... it was in my back yard as a kid in 1993
. I had recently told my best friend and neighbor I'd finally discovered a band I loved... Fleetwood Mac. She was amazed; she had recently discovered them as well, and also loved them! I told her some of my favorite songs (all I had was Rumours and Bella Donna at that point), and she shared some of hers. Neither one of us had heard of each others songs. She brought
Tango over (on cassette!
), and played it for me on her boom box. At first I flatly refused to believe it was the same band. After all... put
Gold Dust Woman on back to back with
Family Man, and you'll see what I mean!
At that time,
Tango was everything I hated about pop music... it might as well have been by Paula Abdul or Milli Vanilli. By '93 that kind of music was rendered hopelessly obsolete by the grunge scene. Even as I built up my Mac collection over the years, I avoided buying
Tango at all costs. Perhaps because I was introduced to it at the worst possible time: when it was the very antithesis of what was going on in the popular music scene.
I never actually bought
Tango... it was given to me as a Christmas gift about 10 years ago by my parents, because they were out of ideas of what to get me. I remember vividly watching
The Dance air on MTV in 1997, wondering *WHY* they had to include songs from that album!
Some time in the past 5ish years though, I've done an about face on my opinion of this album. Maybe it was when '80s music and fashion started to trickle back in to current trends. Maybe enough time had passed where I could look at the album totally objectively. All I do know is that one random day, I decided to listen to the album. And suddenly I found it to be pure genius! It was such a departure from everything the band had done before... but at the same time it was an evolution. Whereas I found it cheesy and dated before, I now find it surprisingly adult, sophisticated, and worldly. I can just imagine how crisp and modern it must have sounded back when it was new. For some reason I can just see a sophisticated '80s couple drinking wine coolers in their New York loft listening to this album
.
I don't know... I just really LOVE
Tango. It's such a snapshot in time. It's the last great album Fleetwood Mac made. On a song by song basis, and as a pop oriented album... I think it's every bit as good as
Rumours. It's an album you can play around anybody: all of the songs are approachable, foot tapping, and fun. It probably has the best sequencing of any Mac album (
Mystery To Me might just tie it though). The album just has everything: rocking songs like
Isn't It Midnight and the title track, it has bubbly pop songs like
Little Lies and
Everywhere, and even has more serious songs like
When I See You Again. The whole thing is just superbly paced and very high quality. It's everything that it should have been.
Do I have negative things to say about it? Yes. Do I have anything I'd change about it? Yes. Mainly, I'd replace
You And I Pt 2 with
You And I Pt 1. I probably would have found a way to work in
Joan Of Arc, possibly displacing
When I See You Again. Though I really would have a hard time getting rid of that song. It may not be pleasant to the ears for the most part, but it's without a doubt one of the most raw, emotive songs Stevie (or the band for that matter) has ever recorded. The whole shared verse with Lindsey at the end is enough to save that song for me... Lindsey's contribution is achingly gorgeous.
And these are some of my non-abridged thoughts on
Tango!