I respect your opinion about Street Angel, but for me the album just makes me sad. After I heard the album and saw her on TV during this time I really thought it was over for her.

I recommend you buy 'Mystery to Me' and 'In the Meantime' by Christine McVie.

I agree with that fully! Mystery To Me is absolutely the best quality Mac record. Each song is worth it's weight in gold, and can hold water on it's own. The album itself has more continuity and better flow than even Rumours Era Mac to me.

In The Meantime is much the same way... very high quality songs, one of the best Mac member's solo albums. The only Mac member's solo album that's in the same league quality wise is Lindsey's Gift Of Screws. For Christine anyway, there is some real envelope pushing material.

And Matt, I didn't discourage anyone from buying Behind The Mask :shrug: . Much like Street Angel, it's kind of a mixed bag for me though. However, there are some truly great songs... Freedom and Save Me are amongst Stevie and Christine's strongest Mac career offerings in my opinion. I do like Billy and Rick's harmonies on songs like Hard Feelings and Do You Know. But overall they just never seemed to really assimilate into the band... on this album they simply feel spliced in. Their own material seems totally unrelated to the rest of the album, much like I'm a Roadrunner and The Derelict were out of place on Penguin. Stevie's offerings here are almost sad too... but how terrible they are kinda shows just how low she was when this album came out, and makes them great artistic expression to me. But truly, I wouldn't discourage anyone from buying this (or any other) album. I wouldn't necessarily recommend anyone buy it first... but it's definitely a chapter of Mac history that is very interesting, and must not be looked over.

In the end I can't say I DON'T recommend ANY Mac offering, from any Mac era, or from any of their solo members. I can't say I've ever really warmed up to Bare Trees, but still it's a link in the chain that every hardcore Mac fan should have, simply because it's another piece of the puzzle. And these are my rambling, unabridged thoughts lol.

My comment wasn't directed toward you, but to another person who said to not even bother purchasing BTM. But I definitely agree with you about Billy and Rick being "spliced in" on the album. It's sad because both guys are so talented and could have really done some great things in the band had they been allowed more freedom within the band. Oh well...

Matt

My bad! I must have missed that post. I just know we've 'butted heads' over the years regarding the 1990-1994 years, so I assumed that was aimed at me lol. I agree with you that Rick and Billy were absolutely talents which probably weren't given the fresh page they deserved. Rick's solo song "Intuition" is proof alone for me, and shows where the band really could have gone with him as a member. Billy, to me, however is always going to be a bit of an odd fit in my eyes. That's not to denigrate him at all... it's just how he fits in the context of the band, past and present members and their combined music included. But again, he and the 16 other members of the band past and present, are what keeps the Mac marching on (well, hobbling these days... I'm just waiting for them to Hoveround on LOL).

Hello All-- I firmly believe that BTM is the most under-rated CD in the FM legacy. "When the Sun Goes Down", "Do You Know", "Behind the Mask", "Save Me", and "Hard Feelings" are all good. I also think Christine's songs from the "Time" CD are teriffic. Just my humble opinion, of course. Best wishes, Madelow.:nod:

I'd go for Tusk immediately and then Say You Will and Tango In The Night. Only then would I bother with Behind The Mask and Mirage.

This may get me into trouble on here but I'm really not keen on Mirage. With the exception of Gypsy and possibly Oh Diane I think it's a pretty weak album and you can get those two tracks on other compilations.

As for Stevie's solo work, I love it and can't believe anyone has said anything negative about Trouble In Shangri-La, haha! I LOVE it! It's her best solo record since her early days, and I say that even though I really like The Other Side Of The Mirror. Street Angel is best avoided, just get Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind from itunes if possible. It's the best track on there.

Hope this helps - and sorry if I've offended anyone! lol;)

That's what makes the big, wide world. I'd rather listen to ten seconds of HOLD ME than anything on "Trouble in Shangri-La." The latter is all ridiculous gloom & doom, not a minute of it believable with me.

Why are Stevie's albums so unrelievedly dour? Is that her idea of "poetic"? One critic years ago said of a Fleetwood Mac track that it "bristles with randy fun." Another critic enthusiastically called a Buckingham solo album a "sublime whoopee cushion." Can you imagine anything like that being said of Stevie's solo work?

Why doesn't she ever lighten up in her own work?

Well, Nights in Estoril and Hollywood are both great. I'll agree with that.

Michele

I liked it. The Dylan version is more simplistic but it was recorded like 40 years ago. There's no deviation from the melody or lyrics that I can ascertain.

Because 'light' is not what she is about. If you want 'light', there are thousands of artists out there to listen to, but not Stevie.

I personally can totally relate to the 'gloom and doom' of the Trouble In Shangri-la album. I'm thankful for it's reflection of doom and gloom, which I prefer to call 'angst'. I think it's a great reflection of life as I know it. I think you are lucky that not a minute of it is believable to you; but for some of us, it is more than believable; it reflects the angst we go through every day, and it helps us get through. It's strange, but the negativity actually does have healing powers. For me, a song like "Hold Me" helps you get through nothing, it's just something to listen to in the background.

So obviously the world needs both. Light and angst. Balance.

Hold Me has gotten me through quite a lot and with the longing throughout, I'd say it's anything but light. Between the plea in the lyrics and the complexity of the instrumentation, it's like falling through depths of emotion. Of course, the simplicity of Stevie's voice, it's knowing and casual ache, in I Miss You and Love Is, has its very own depths. Both kinds are real enought to get buried in. Michele

To me, I listen so closely to a song like Hold Me.... I can hear the angst you describe in the vocals of this tune.. a craving... a need.... the haromonies so closely match the feelings that I derive from it... the interchange between the piano and guitar... those notes from the acoustic guitar and acoustic upright piano dancing so close to running over each other but never stepping on each other.... so Pristine... so elegant... so far from a background tune...

YES YES YES YES YES. So well put. And you totally picked the right songs from TISL -- and perfectly described their "knowing and causal ache" -- one with assist from Lindsey.

Hold Me is a great thing. Thank you for this.

Which song would that be?

I Miss You