Behind The Mask

[tabruns]

Originally Posted by dreamer78

what do you mean the twirling whistle sound for freedom ?

If you listen closely (probably need headphones) there's a twirling synthesizer sound during the verses of "Freedom". It basically goes something like "whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo!whoo!" over and over again. That's what I mean about being too buried in the mix....you haven't really heard it. I can hear it but its very faint. Had they mixed it farther up in the mix, I think it would have given "Freedom" a lot more of a hook and made it a better song.

This is similar to "That's Alright" on Mirage. Although "That's Alright" is a much better song, it also has a "too buried" sound in the mix: A woodblock.

On the other hand, the chimes sound or whatever that tinkling sound is during the chorus of "Thrown Down" is distracting and should have been removed completely. The hook of "Thrown Down" is the guitar part.

[Street_Dreamer]

Originally Posted by tabruns

If you listen closely (probably need headphones) there's a twirling synthesizer sound during the verses of "Freedom". It basically goes something like "whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo!whoo!" over and over again. That's what I mean about being too buried in the mix....you haven't really heard it. I can hear it but its very faint. Had they mixed it farther up in the mix, I think it would have given "Freedom" a lot more of a hook and made it a better song.

This is similar to "That's Alright" on Mirage. Although "That's Alright" is a much better song, it also has a "too buried" sound in the mix: A woodblock.

I've always been able to hear the woodblock on That's Alright but never noticed the synthesizer sound on Freedom until you pointed it out. It's there, you just need to have headphones to hear it. It's similar to the whistle synth that's in the middle part of the song.

Matt

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

And probably very frustrating for those in attendance, if it happened.

Michele

I think I'd remember that Michele... lol Although, one never knows..

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by jwd

No. And I can't imagine any reason that he would sing "Rhiannon" instead of Stevie. Weird indeed!

Weird of course, not because Billy is a guy. It's just that Rhiannon is a Stevie's landmark. You can see Lindsey and Stevie playing Don't Stop in the last tour, and that may be fine (just fine) and acceptable, but Rhiannon played by Billy, Rick, Sheryl Crow or any other possible member? No way.

I do remember a clip on TV of the Time lineup with Bekka singing Rhiannon. A failure I must say, IMHO. I would accept her singing Landslide, better if she says it's a tribute to Stevie.

But Rhiannon is too Stevie. The worst part was when Bekka started to scream at the end of the song, imitating Stevie.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Weird of course, not because Billy is a guy. It's just that Rhiannon is a Stevie's landmark. You can see Lindsey and Stevie playing Don't Stop in the last tour, and that may be fine (just fine) and acceptable, but Rhiannon played by Billy, Rick, Sheryl Crow or any other possible member? No way.

I do remember a clip on TV of the Time lineup with Bekka singing Rhiannon. A failure I must say, IMHO. I would accept her singing Landslide, better if she says it's a tribute to Stevie.

But Rhiannon is too Stevie. The worst part was when Bekka started to scream at the end of the song, imitating Stevie.

Are you shure it was "Rhiannon" and not "Gold Dust Woman"? Bekka is a country-soul singer, and comes from a line of country-soul singers. Go to the five minute mark and tell me Bekka was trying to be Stevie.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Are you shure it was "Rhiannon" and not "Gold Dust Woman"?

It was several years ago. Yes my memory could betray me, but I would swear it was Rhiannon.

[chriskisn]

Originally Posted by Villavic

It was several years ago. Yes my memory could betray me, but I would swear it was Rhiannon.

Well to quote Bekka "And I could never find it in my heart to sing her signature songs like “Rhiannon.” The guys wanted me to, but I thought that was like baby sitting someone’s kid without asking. "

http://strummag.com/index.php?option...catid=34:music

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by sjpdg

I totally loved In The Back Of My Mind as a show opener! It flowed virtually seamlessly into The Chain. It was awesome in concert, I just loved it. Why they didn't continue with some of those songs in the set as the tour went on, I can't say. Definitely a mistake from my point of view. The overall choice of what to release as singles and in what order probably needed to be better thought out in my opinion. They needed to lead off with "Save Me", then follow up with "Love Is Dangerous", then "Freedom", then "When It Comes To Love", or something like that. Would have given the public a taste of "the old" then "the new" and back and forth. Just my opinion, but they could have promoted this era of FM much better than they did. The live shows were fantastic.

Here is my issue with the opener "In The Back of My Mind": I went to several shows on that tour and noticed similar reactions: the band comes on stage and the crowd goes wild. Then there is this long dramatic introduction before the song kicks in. During that time frame, the enthusism of the audience wanes, and the song itself, despite being a good song, is kind of a drudgy drag. It's a kill-joy right from the start, mostly because of its pace.

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by tabruns

Eh, I don't know Travis. When I first heard Behind The Mask I thought overall it was a decent album and it didn't deserve the bad reviews it got. BUT, I thought from the very start that Stevie's songs were sub-par. I thought this from Tango In The Night onward (until The Dance). With the occasional exception, her songs just aren't at the same excellent level as they had been on Fleetwood Mac/Rumours/Tusk/Bella Donna/Mirage/Wild Heart/Rock A Little. As I've said at other times on here, they sound very "pedestrian" for a writer of Stevie's calibre.

To me there's just nothing special about "Affairs of the Heart" or "Love Is Dangerous" or "Freedom". "The Second Time" is just very basic. Of the batch the best one is probably "Freedom", and "Freedom" might have had a shot at being a hit had it been mixed differently with the twirling whistle sound during the verses coming up in the mix. That would have created something of a hook to hang on to. As it was, it was buried, with just a hint of it barely audible.

On the other hand, Christine, Billy and Rick did turn in some good strong songs. "Behind The Mask", "Do You Know", "When It Comes To Love", "Hard Feelings", "When The Sun Goes Down" and "In The Back Of My Mind" are all very good and fun to listen to. And one thing Behind The Mask has over Tango In The Night is that you can hear Stevie in the background on most of the songs on Mask.

You took the words and thoughts out of my head. I think Stevie was a little shakey on this album because Lindsey was absent. She has credited him for making the best of her songs. Lindsey challenged and guided Stevie with her material. Without him in the band for the first time, she was creatively adrift.

[PolishStevieFan]

I had bought "Behind The Mask" long before I invested my money in "Rumours-Deluxe Edition". Strange...but on the other hand my discovery of the band was also untypical. As a die hard fan of Stevie Nicks' talent I decided to collect every single album including her songs and idiosyncratic vocals. When I went to my favourite music shop I saw this album on the shelf and its price seduced me. I said to myself: "Rumours can wait!". Besides there was something intriguing about the cover of the album, that made me interested even more. I must add, that I hadn't read anything about this album before, so I had a chance to listen to the album without any prejudice. After first listen I was in the awe of the quality of the whole recorded material. In an instant I became a fan of "Sky Is The Limit", "Love Is Dangerous", "Save Me", "Behind The Mask" and "Freedom". Of course there were few songs that took some time to grow on me (like "When It Comes To Love", "The Second Time" and "When The Sun Goes Down") but in the end I liked most of the album. Then I started my research! I found out, that the album got bad press (mostly because of the absence of Lindsay). I was shocked! How can anyone say that the album is bad just because Lindsay is not on it? Luckily enough, I found 4 star review of the album in Rolling Stone, that reflected my own thoughts. With time I've grown to like the album even more. "In The Back of My Mind" and "Hard Feelings" rank as one of the best classic rock songs (at least for me). And "Affairs of the Heart" has become for me one of the better songs that Stevie performed with Fleetwood Mac. Few months ago I bought "Rumours" and recognized the legacy behind that album, but "Behind The Mask" hasn't lost its appeal to me...It's still one of the best releases of 1990! I feel ashamed, that back in that year I didn't discover this gem, immersing myself in Paula Abdul and Wilson Phillips' music. Fortunately for me, wisdome comes with time...

[billwebster]

My introduction to the band Fleetwood Mac was also far from typical. I noticed Billy Burnette as a great songwriter and guitarist on Roy Orbison's "Mystery Girl" album. Rick Vito also had a cameo on that one but I did not associate him with anything yet.

At one point, I read about Billy being in Fleetwood Mac. Next thing that happened, a solo album by another Fleetwood Mac member came out: "Out Of the Cradle" by a guy with the strange name Lindsey Buckingham, whom I'd never heard of before. I listened to it in a store to check out the music. It was nothing like I would have expected of Billy but it was so good.

So the first Fleetwood Mac related CD I got was Lindsey Buckingham's solo album "Out Of the Cradle" because he played in the same band as Billy Burnette. Think about it: Isn't this somewhat sacrilegious? ;-)

After that, I found Billy's solo CD "Coming Home" in a mailorder catalogue and ordered it right away. It remains a favourite to this day.

Somehow, I found out another while later that Billy only played on one Fleetwood Mac album, "Behind the Mask" at the time, but that was nowhere to be found in the stores in my area in around 1993. Luckily for me, I found a cutout CD of it in another mailorder catalogue. I ordered this and when I first listened to it, that's when I first heard the ladies.

Of course, my main focus was on Billy's material at first. He sang a lot on this record together with Christine McVie. So that's how I got into her. Yet, despite enjoying her duets with Billy, I feel her BTM solo songs are not among her best, but she made up for that by the high quality of all songs she released thereafter. "Affairs Of the Heart" is so good it got me interested in Stevie Nicks' solo material. The one guy whose songs I could not really get into was Rick Vito. He's a great guitarist, mind you, but when I look at his solo material, I feel he is unnecessarily limiting himself to the jump-blues style when really, he is capable of playing in many more other styles, too, like he has shown with Fleetwood Mac.

When "Time" came out, I was happy because I did not see any prior announcement of it. It was just there in the store at that very moment. But where was Stevie? I noticed her absence when looking at the sleeve. Bekka was in her place and when she opened her mouth and she sang "Winds Of Change", I could not get into her singing at all. I did not recognize her voice which I had heard before even, from her duet with Joe Cocker which I had already had on his album "Have A Little Faith". I guess she is trying too hard to be Stevie on "Winds Of Change". Luckily, not on her other songs on the album.

It's a shame that the BTM band never got the chance to release another album of new material together. "Love Shines" and "Paper Doll" are only glimpses of what could have been. I believe it would have been great music. Instead, the new guys had to again promote an album of the previous band for the 3rd time in 4 albums.

If that's not milking it, I don't know what is. It's no surprise the ladies and Rick left.

[Villavic]

From Mick's coffee book "My 25 years in FM" :

In 1990 Fleetwood Mac released Behind the Mask, its first modern album without Lindsey Buckingham. Despite Rick Vito's superb guitars and many strong songs (Save Me, Skies the Limit, Affairs of the Heart, Love is Dangerous), the album was underrated in America. At home in England, however, Mask entered the charts at number one, and that summer Fleetwood Mac sold out Wembley stadium for the first time, playing begore a couple hundred thousand fans, some of whom had been paying to see Fleetwood Mac for almost 25 years.

That summer also saw both Chris and Steve announce in midtour that they would be leaving the band. Both women were wealthy and famous, and neither felt like continuing the pressure and the pace that wetn along with life in Fleetwood Mac. The 2 ladies reached this decision together, although both indicate they would continue to record with the band in the future.

Was England Mick's home in 1990? Or he was just nostalgic?

That reason for leaving the band may be for Chris but id doesn't sound from Stevie. I read in other articles they were angry about Mick's bio. Besides Stevie continues that "pressure and pace" during solo tours. (and she didn't record in Time)

[AliceLover]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

Christine: Behind The Mask
Stevie: Freedom
Billy: Hard Feelings
Rick & Stevie: Love is Dangerous
Rick & Billy: When The Sun Goes Down

A respectable, decent album overall; very listenable.

The only songs that made it into the live set were:
Save Me
Stand On The Rock
Love is Dangerous - dropped at some point in the tour
When The Sun Goes Down - great live song featuring Billy & Rick, but inexplicably dropped early on
In The Back of My Mind - good song, but horrible as a show opener

Curiously, not one new Stevie song in the set. Was this a silent protest of her not completely accepting the band without Lindsey? The thing I dislike the most about this era of the band is that this is when Stevie's solo songs (Stand Back and Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You) started creeping into the set lists, with Stand Back becoming a staple of Fleetwood Mac shows, despite it being a song in a style so unlike Fleetwood Mac. And, Stevie brought other elements of her solo career into the band - Sharon and Laurie, as well as a few of her band members. The brand that was Fleetwood Mac became more diluted.

A couple fans from Aus. have come foward over the years claiming that the band played 'Affairs of the Heart' at the opening night of the tour.

[wheart]

Originally Posted by Neal

I'm unashamed to admit that many of my favorite songs hail from The Klonopin Years, including her Behind The Mask contributions!

Good for you! I have mixed feelings about Stevie's BTM songs. Personally I happen to think The Second Time is beautiful but that's just me. And no, I"m not on crack! Freedom and Affairs of the Heart are fine songs but her near comatose vocals destroy both of these songs. Love is Dangerous just sucks on all levels.

[Ashley]

This album probably has to be one of my least favorites. I like it and everything, but not as much as the other albums from Fleetwood Mac. I just have this feeling that something is missing.