First of all. I love this record. So underrated.

1. Gypsy
2. That's Alright
3. Hold Me
4. Straight Back
5. Eyes of the World
6. Can't Go Back
7. Wish You Were Here
8. Book of Love
9. Love in Store
10. Oh Diane
11. Only Over You
12. Empire State

Mirage is definitely my favourite album from the Rumours era. More than any other from this time and line-up.
Here's my ranking!

01 - Love In Store (Short but beautiful; backing vocals by Lindsey and SN are great!)
02 - Book Of Love (Lindsey's work with his own voice on this one is wonderful)
03 - Wish You Were Here (Once again, a nice way to close an album. Chris rules!)
04 - Can't Go Back (Simple and short but with a happy rhythm)
05 - Straight Back (Powerful, strong. A very rock song)
06 - Oh Diane (One of the first FM songs I love the most)
07 - Only Over You (Veeeery very soft and romantic. I like it!)
08 - That's Alright (Another "happy" song, simple and nice)
09 - Gypsy (The video of the song is one of the most beautiful videos ever)
10 - Hold Me (Nice tune, but lost a bit of shine for me after I discovered the rest of the songs)
11 - Empire State (Bad but not so bad...rare to hear something like this becoming from Lindsey)
12 - Eyes Of The World (Not my...kind of song, but I like it more than the live version, definitely!)

And my dear bonus tracks...

01 - If You Were My Love (Sparkly Piano version)
02 - Goodbye Angel
03 - Blue Monday
04 - Teen Beat

Love your love for Love in Store. I find it impossible to rank songs especially off Mirage. However, Love In Store would be near the top for me too. Christine writes some of these beautiful and short love songs ever. Her lyrics are so honest that it makes you feel that first puppy love feeling in your stomach.
One of the best harmonies ever. Its almost like Lindsey and Stevie are in a doo whop band or something. Stevie's voice on Mirage is the best of her career so it makes it so much more special. I loved this song live too and I wish they would have done it during On With The Show. It also has a great melody. What an album opener!

I would sacrifice Oh Diane for the Mirage version of Smile at you. OMG another Stevie rocker on Mirage would be off the chain. Mirage needed that angry song but they kept it all music box joy. Stevie's jealousy is well documented. But I can see Lindsey's jealousy too especially Stevie coming off Bella Donna. Not only do they keep Stevie from ever having the lead off single but still only give her 3 songs. I think anyone could have seen Stevie had some amazing songs during this era. Its a shame they were not done during this time. Besides the double album Tusk (Angel). Stevie has also never had the lead song off any side of an album. IMHO it all sticks out like a sore thumb. The band secretly hated people thought Stevie was the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac so they went out of their way to convince others it was not the case. Write it down people because I just stuck up for Stevie!

Well just color me disappointed!!!!:lol::lol::lol:



As much as I can't stand her now, I think it throws people for a loop when I name Bella Donna as one of my all time favorite albums. You CAN actually only love chapters of a person's(not that I'm calling $tevie a person....$he's more of a caricature these days :lol: ) career.

Stevie just came off a huge solo album so I can see why they may have not wanted to put another gem on the album. However as a band, I think you should view songs as an entire band. Lindsey complained to Rolling Stone in 1982 that radio stations were not playing any of his songs off Mirage. He was still rebelling. Sleeping Angel was a Fleetwood Mac demo from the early years that Stevie did in 1982 for a movie soundtrack. Stevie had outrageously good material in 1982 and I would have wanted to give her another song for the best interests of the band. Oh Diane is a B side.
But I get it. The band felt the need to not be overshined but a huge solo star off the heals of Bella Donna.

Oh Diane is a piece of poop. :laugh: I'd take any of her demos over that song.

Oh bull sh*t. I was listening to all the bonus tracks on the Mirage boxed set yesterday. I HATE the $tevie songs I don't know. Most of her songs drag on FAR TOO LONG, like some funeral dirge! Stfu,$tevie!

Let me get this right

You hate Oh Daddy yet love Oh Diane



My head hurts just typing those words :eek:

Let's take his FM card away!! If You Were My Love with that sparkling piano is better.

I agree tho Homer, $he always need editing.

He doesn't like "slow" songs. They are no fun at the sock hop!

I like Mirage for pretty much what it is. However, it could have been so much better. The Mac created a brilliant Sleeping Angel demo that almost exactly turned into Stevie's solo contribution to Fast Times in 1982. The Smile At You Mirage demo is so freaking amazing with Stevie's voice in its prime. When she does angry voice in this era it has such impact. If both these songs made Mirage it would have made the album so much better. All of Stevie's contributions are top notch. So why stop at only 3. Too bad the vinyl days made them stop at 10 songs. Lindsey's songs are quirky poppy and Oh Diane is almost like a 50's song which is sort of cool. But lets get real now. You have to pick the best 10 songs for an album. With the material laying around Oh Diane would NOT have been one of them.
Had Stevie not had a #1 smash album with huge hits, maybe we would have seen another of her gems on Mirage. Sorry but I just wanted to milk this era for all that its worth. Everyone was on top of their game with new songs and a few older ones too. I want more not less of this era. Stevie's voice would never be the same ever again. Right after the Wild Heart recordings, the coke had begun to really destroy her voice. The Wild Heart tour was the beginning to a harsher sound. By the time RAL came around.... game over!

I don't love Oh Diane, but I like it better than Oh Daddy.

It's cheesy, but at least it's got a beat!

I turned in my $tevie card a couple decades ago. $he's a f*cking HACK, living off a persona $he created 45 years ago.

She needs to be remembered. Don't forget it, she's a legend….. :lol::lol:

She LOVES to drag everything, even her "love" for Lindsey. I've been reading her podcast with Matty Healy. She mentioned Lindsey 32 times. 32. That woman is crazy. :]

$he's batsh*t crazy. But her fans follow her like she's some crazed world leader. :shrug:

It may have a faster beat but you cant compare the musical tracks. Its like comparing the game of chess to hungry hungry hippos. Oh Daddy is probably one of the most beautiful tracks Christine and Lindsey ever created.

Talking bout Diane
Oh oh Diane
Talking bout Diane

Oh Diane > Oh Daddy....oh my lord! My head hurts too. I can't, I just can't! :sorry:

Oh Daddy is gorgeous. Oh Diane is some budget version retro-50's horsecrap which should never have made the album over Smile at You or If You Were My Love.

I have always really enjoyed most of Mirage. The singles Hold Me and Gypsy are both inarguably career highlights. It was missing a bit of the consistency of previous efforts and considering Stevie's popularity and height of her creativity and voice, it could have used one at least if not two more of her songs to round out the set.

Imagine Love in Store, Book of Love If You were my Love running order? (one "love" song from each writer?)

Side Two- Smile at You done with searing 3 part harmony and some killer playing around the song's excellent bridge as side two opener? How about those long lost The Chain Lyrics here- There you go down the road, but don't look to me to say goodbye (as I hear them anyway)

Smile at You, Eyes of the World, Hold Me, Empire State, Straight Back Oh Dianne Wish You were Here (yes 7 songs could fit on side two with a short Empire and Dianne)

Still the last great band album with beautiful production and singing if a little weak overall in the songwriting dept.

Would you say that to Bob Dylan? I mean, Lindsey?

As always, I need a beat...
Oh Daddy is in the same category as Storms, Beautiful Child, and Warm Ways. F*cking Snoozeville!

One thing I can say for Lindsey, he never did any funeral dirges!

It does have a beat but its not a fast beat. I've also heard you say you don't like when Lindsey rocks. So I guess you are middle of the road with Dreams. It has a beat. A heartbeat that drives you mad. In the stillness of remembering what you had.....and what you lost. When Oh Daddy washes you clean, you'll know.

I have to disagree with Homer and others about some of the slower simpler songs. Not many people mention the amazing Crystal which works because of the simpler arrangement focusing on the vocals and timeless lyrics. Oh Daddy, especially earlier arrangements with more Stevie backing vocals, make this song shine. Storms is often referred to as one of Stevie's best moments, and it is made all the better due to the subtle arrangement. These are all some of the bands best moments.

Homer and Janet Jackson walk up to a salad bar...……..

GIMMIE A BEET

I NEVER said I hate it when Lindsey rocks.

I SAID THAT I HATE THE SONG COME. Because it sucks.

Dreams is (WAS) fine. It's just worn out.

I'd have a lot easier time mocking Michael Jackson, tbh...He He!

Considering Stevie had just come off a #1 Platinum album they sure don't like using her on Mirage... 3 songs and 1 backing vocal.

Mirage:

Straight Back - what a vocal. Amazing song. Harmonies. Everything. Should've been a Bond theme.
That's Alright - love the country tinge, great vocal.
Hold Me - catchy, light, pop. Wish Stevie was on it.
Gypsy - obviously a great song, I prefer the Dance version as I find Stevie's studio vocal, especially at the beginning of the song, quite weak.
Love In Store - love the backing vocals. How great to have the 3 of them together.
Eyes of the World - great live and a lot of fun.
Can't Go Back - honestly don't mind this, but Stevie and Christine could easily have done the 'Can't Go Back' backing vocals.
Wish You Were Here - piano at the start sounds like Silver Springs. Nice song.
Book of Love - not a bad song, again, backing vocals could've been done by the ladies.
Only Over You - not unpleasant but the barrel being lightly scraped here.
Oh Diane - approaching terrible. Slightly catchy.
Empire State - terrible.


Lindsey really didn't deliver in terms of songs on this album. But he was still aloud to stop anyone else from singing on them.

Oh Daddy is some of the best music Fleetwood Mac have ever recorded.

When I bought Mirage in 1983 (I was late to the party), Only Over You was one of my least favorite songs. I thought it was too wishy washy. I remember playing the album (millennials look it up) and my mother hearing the song and said "What a beautiful song." That surprised me because my mother really never commented on any music I played before. I only began to appreciate Only Over You during the last 15 years. Its one of the most under-rated songs of the Mac. Its such a dreamy love song. But Lindsey's hypnotic jam towards the end and his guitar picking where the band plays around eachother makes me fall out of my chair.
How did I not like this before, I don't know. Sometimes the greatest works of art takes you a bit longer to appreciate their brilliance.
IMHO Only Over You is the Oh Daddy of Mirage.

How did I not like this before, I don't know. Sometimes the greatest works of art takes you a bit longer to appreciate their brilliance.
IMHO Only Over You is the Oh Daddy of Mirage.[/QUOTE]


I feel the same way about Only Over You. It’s always been my least favorite song on Mirage. I have recently appreciated the brilliance of the track mostly due to the alternative version from the Mirage box set.

I feel the same way about Only Over You. It’s always been my least favorite song on Mirage. I have recently appreciated the brilliance of the track mostly due to the alternative version from the Mirage box set.[/QUOTE]





I know. I have always hated songs where the vocal starts right away. So I guess I never gave the song a chance. But good Lord its one of Chris's biggest gems. We hear her compassionately tell a guy how much she is out of her mind about him yet reminding him she's not a fool. We hear Chris play keyboards and synthesizers. Its so dreamy especially with the over the top overdubs. But Lindsey's guitar playing at the end is the icing on the cake for me. They develop this faster melody towards the end that is just brilliant.

Same here. I've never been crazy about songs that are impossible(for me, a guy) to sing along to.

It took me years to truly appreciate it, but I do now.

I felt the same way about Mystified for a long time.

You're gonna appreciate Oh Daddy in about 3 more years ;)

I've always loved a really good nap.