The Ledge - Mirage vs. Tango In The Night

This I posted quite a while ago on Burnish. Since this old thread was dug up, I might as well add it here. I'm not directing this at anyone in particular; I'd just want to challenge the common statements that are: "Lindsey isn't into Mirage" and "Lindsey is into Tango":

"People usually say that Mirage is the worst Rumours’ line-up album, because Lindsey wasn’t allowed to continue the Tusk route. However, he wanted to do some “generic” ‘50s influenced stuff between 1981-1983 and that’s what he did. He might complain about not getting to treat the girls’ songs like he wanted to, but I wouldn’t see a real problem there. I couldn’t think of any improvements to “Straight Back” or “That’s Alright”; those have their share of unusual stuff. And he’s definitely in control of the hit singles; the ones that the radio listeners heard anyway. “Hold Me” is as quirky as anything he’s ever arranged/produced, and most people think the production of “Gypsy” is the biggest feather in LB’s hat. I love the friggin’ album.

So, my least favourite from the Rumours-era is Tango. It’s here that I can feel Lindsey’s not into it. No one’s telling him what to do with his own songs, but otherwise I can feel the business guys looking over his shoulder. He wanted to do a solo album badly at that time, but he wasn’t allowed to. “Big Love”, with that subtle percussive guitar in the mix, the title track, which sets the example for “This Is The Time” and “Come” and “Caroline”, with its devilish rhythm machine are firmly in his control. With “Family Man” and “You And I Part Two” he gives the album a sense of playfulness and humour. But with the girls’ songs, it’s a different thing.

I don’t think Lindsey really tried his best with Stevie’s songs. With “WTTR…S” (now that looks stupid) and “WISYA” there wasn’t that much interesting writing in the first place and Lindsey’s obviously not into arranging them. I like the arrangement in “Welcome…” but he could have done a lot more. “When I See You Again” is so simplistic that I can imagine the demo being almost the same way, but without the guitar solo (which adds richness). If any other Rumours line-up song was that simple, I’d just skip it. But here it works, because it’s not complex. I don’t even have anything against “whassamattababies” (the rest of the sentence is censored). Stevie sounds vulnerable on it. But those two songs are still her worst contributions to the band.

With the singles it’s the same way, and that’s where it especially matters; those are the ones the public will hear. There are Lindsey-ish things in them; the guitar-and-percussion clash after the synth notes in the chorus of “Seven Wonders”, the synth arpeggio in “Everywhere”, the percussive guitar in the chorus of “Isn’t It Midnight” (man, I love that one) but that’s about it. Some of the things, such as the generic sounding housewife synth backing in “Everywhere” (or “Seven Wonders”, for that matter), the adult contemporary-like atmosphere of “Mystified”, or the faux-Asian passages in “Little Lies” just feel very un-LB. I’m sure he didn’t get to do what he wanted on those. Which is why he left.

Mind you, I still like the album very much. I like every song there actually, even Stevie’s weaker ones. Chris isn’t at her best; “Mystified” and “Isn’t It Midnight” are both a bit too MOR, but no big complaints there either. I think the album would have been better, had they ditched “Everywhere” for “Ricky” and replaced the two Stevie songs with “You And I Part One” (gorgeous) and “Down Endless Street” (a great vocal). But some people just want to listen to two weaker “serious songs” than two great “lightweight” ones. Not that I think those two Lindsey b-sides are lightweight; “You And I Part One” brings me to tears and those vocals on “DES” send shivers up my spine."

So, in addition to the "WISYA" debate; I'd like to state that I like the song because of it's unprecedented simplicity on a Fleetwood Mac album. I can get over a grating tone colour if there isn't fundamentally anything that feels wrong within the song itself. And it also benefits from the fact that it's the acoustic island of calm and peace on an otherwise electronic, modern '80s album. Yes, I do like it. But then again I'm a nutcase who likes every officially released song by the Rumours line-up.