Analyzing album covers: Mirage

[FierySequences]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yes the conspiracy between Lindsey and Christine is a focal point. All 5 of the Macsters look good on the cover as well. It's my favorite.

As for the title, I would think it has something to do with the band and some sort of conversation they had and not the old lady puzzle.

I like the way that title is played out in the Hold Me video with the desert. For me, the idea is not only that things are not what they seem, but that you want something that really doesn't exist. You've deluded yourself into thinking it's within grasp and it's not. Like water in the Mohabi. You want it, need it, but it's inaccessible. The thing is, it doesn't seem hopeless, it only seems elusive and you feel if you just tried hard enough it could be yours. That's the cruelest of all, because it can't be.

Michele

Yep, hammer to nail head, you hit it. Obviously, Hold Me (video) was inspired by the title or vice versa. Also inspired by the lost love, or something you can't touch. Even if Nancy Buckingham inspired the title, I think that the feel of the album is very much Old Hollywood. think Debbie Reynolds/Liz Taylor. Even if the band didn't know exactly what they were doing (image wise) the photographer/videographer translated the album perfectly.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by FierySequences

Even if Nancy Buckingham inspired the title, I think that the feel of the album is very much Old Hollywood. think Debbie Reynolds/Liz Taylor.

Mick wrote in his book: Tired of being typecast as the archetypalno rthern California hippie, Lindsey had now veered from his New Wave sound into a 1955 Eddie Cochrane rock and roll feel.

And about Hold me song, and the videos: Chris's songs, especially "Hold Me," reflected her bittersweet reflections on her relationship with Dennis Wilson, which had almost resulted in marriage but had ended instead the previous December, when Dennis had moved out of Chris's house and her life...
..... It didn't hurt that Rolling Stone had crowned Stevie "The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll," and that a new cable television channel called MTV was broadcasting our new videos ("Hold Me" set in desert dunes, "Gypsy" in a Stevie fantasy world) to the American suburbs twenty-four hours a day. Mirage went to number one, and it felt great to be back on top for a while.

[AnthonyMI]

I want to see the original unairbrushed version of this photo. I am SURE that Stevie can not unhinge her skull from her vertebrae and sling it back like a Pez dispenser like that. And what the heck is up here with her neck? She looks like if she sat up tall her neck would be twice the length of a normal one.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by AnthonyMI

I want to see the original unairbrushed version of this photo. I am SURE that Stevie can not unhinge her skull from her vertebrae and sling it back like a Pez dispenser like that. And what the heck is up here with her neck? She looks like if she sat up tall her neck would be twice the length of a normal one.

Not sure if there are any more from this photoshoot, but I've always loved this one:

[elle]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Not sure if there are any more from this photoshoot, but I've always loved this one:

yes! wasn't there also one where Christine and Stevie changed positions?

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by AnthonyMI

I want to see the original unairbrushed version of this photo. I am SURE that Stevie can not unhinge her skull from her vertebrae and sling it back like a Pez dispenser like that. And what the heck is up here with her neck? She looks like if she sat up tall her neck would be twice the length of a normal one.

Ooh, well, like a willow, well, she can be-e-end...

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by elle

yes! wasn't there also one where Christine and Stevie changed positions?

[HejiraNYC]

The thing that always struck me about Fleetwood Mac is that they were always unabashedly adult. In a way, they seemed to intentionally flout anything trendy, hip or youth culture-oriented. They never spoke or wrote slang phrases/words in their interviews or lyrics. They never dressed like their audience or attempted to come across as humble, down-to-earth, or "of the people." They always fancied themselves as being a cut above, and I admire people who can proudly, shamelessly own their elevated stations in life.

It's hard to imagine that the band on the cover of Mirage, wearing chiffon, silk, waistcoats and dinner jackets, was only in their early-late thirties. They kinda looked like your parents going out for a night at the Copa Cabana. Very sophisticated, but oh so very unhip.



What struck me initially about the cover is that it reminded me of a Rembrandt painting- the somber brown tones, the faint lighting, the suggestion of movement and drama, etc. But, of course, it's all but a dark mirage, because the album itself is chock full of the most sunniest, tinkling-est, sparkly California pop music released since the early Beach Boys. Don't judge a book or an album by its cover!

[FierySequences]

I love these photos, thx for posting.

Like Hejira said, they were so unhip with their fashion/style they were cool!

[FierySequences]

Originally Posted by AnthonyMI

I want to see the original unairbrushed version of this photo. I am SURE that Stevie can not unhinge her skull from her vertebrae and sling it back like a Pez dispenser like that. And what the heck is up here with her neck? She looks like if she sat up tall her neck would be twice the length of a normal one.

Yeah, I guess you are right that it is airbrushed. I always thought this cover was odd, b/c in some late 80's interview Stevie said she felt in a past life that she was beheaded. That is why she can't bend her neck back.

I wish I had a link to the clip, but it I haven't seen it in years, and of course this was probably during her Klon years, go figure.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by FierySequences

Yeah, I guess you are right that it is airbrushed. I always thought this cover was odd, b/c in some late 80's interview Stevie said she felt in a past life that she was beheaded. That is why she can't bend her neck back.

I wish I had a link to the clip, but it I haven't seen it in years, and of course this was probably during her Klon years, go figure.

I believe it was in Rolling Stone in 1981 that she made this statement.

Instead of Stevie trying to bend her neck back, they substituted her neck with an accordian and just airbrushed the creases away.

[FierySequences]

Originally Posted by vivfox

I believe it was in Rolling Stone in 1981 that she made this statement.

Instead of Stevie trying to bend her neck back, they substituted her neck with an accordian and just airbrushed the creases away.

LMAO, this is a joke right?

[TheWILDheart]

I really love the Mirage cover, but I don't think it suits the album at all. Album art should be a visual representation of what's going on in the music - but the music on the album doesn't give me the same feeelings as the art work does, so it's a bit of a confusing one. I've always felt that the Tango and Mirage covers would've been better off being the other way around as they seem to represent the music of eachother better.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by FierySequences

I wish I had a link to the clip, but it I haven't seen it in years, and of course this was probably during her Klon years, go figure.

Oh, I don't think Klonopin was responsible for that statement. I'm sure Stevie believes it even today. She just might not be as open. Although, I think they said that to her when she was being shampooed. It's not like an expert psychic told her that, but I think she thought, "that explains everything!" Of course, she throws her neck back plenty when she feels like it.

Michele

[KarmaContestant]

Is there any proof that Stevie's neck in the photo is altered? I don't think it is - if you go to a mirror, it's not that difficult to bend your neck back like that.

I can do it.