Tango as a double album
 

Do you guys think Tango could have worked as a double album? What tracklist would you have used? I was thinking about this...(I added Make Me A Mask because it fits so well!!)

You and I part 1
Down Endless Street
Make Me A Mask
Ooh my love
Ricky
Seven Wonders
Caroline
Tango in the night
Mystified

Big love
Juliet
Everywhere
Family Man
Welcome to the Room Sara
Down Endless Street
Where we belong
Book of miracles
Little Lies
Special kind of love
When I see you again
isn't it midnight
I can't help falling in love
You and I part 2

No, it would just have watered it down. It has 2-3 weak songs as it is.

No. How many more clunkers could Stevie have contributed?

Interesting idea, Tusky, but I think Tango was barely able to make it to 12 songs, let alone a double album!

Make Me a Mask, Family Man, Caroline, Big Love, and maybe even Tango in the Night are likely all solo Lindsey songs. I suspect no one else in FM is playing on them, so already the idea of a double album seems pointless when the band didn’t even play on several songs that DID appear on the album, let alone trying to add more songs to make it a double album.

Having said that, I really love Down Endless Street and Ooh My Love on the Deluxe Edition, so I’m perplexed as to how those songs were discarded for When I See You Again or Family Man.

I like how you've used You & I Parts I and II as the opener and closer.

Hard no as a double album.

However, I’m down for a LBCM prequel.

>>>>>>>>....

When I see you again part 2
I saw you yesterday
The pink and honey staircase
Welcome to the castle walls Sir
Staring out the window

For Scarlett!

Agreed. Replace Stevie’s songs with Where We Belong, You and I Part I, Special Kind of Love, and Ricky, and it would have been a much stronger album.

Yes but that's B side material

And Frontline baby!

That's flea medication!


Just like I figured...:lol:

They certainly had enough material to release a double album, although some of the original tracks leave much to be desired, particularly on side two. The following configuration would be my preferred track listing, although if "Where We Belong" was fleshed out a little more, I would probably include that song instead of "Family Man".

1) Big Love
2) Seven Wonders
3) Everywhere
4) Caroline
5) Tango in the Night
6) Joan of Arc
7) Little Lies
8) Down Endless Street
9) Special Kind of Love
10) Isn't it Midnight?
11) Family Man
12) Book of Miracles

I love Tango. It’s actually my favorite album from the Rumours era. Lindsey and Christine really killed it on Tango. Stevie left a little to be desired though. I wonder what the album would have been like if Stevie was able to bring her A game. But also we know Lindsey did a lot of the production on Tango, he could have helped Stevie’s songs more.

Some users on The Ledge have referred to this album as Buckingham McVie 1.0, which I find very apt. The two share writing credits on 25% of the album's tracks, and that's not accounting for non-album cuts like "Where We Belong". It's very possible that Buckingham viewed Nicks' tracks as an afterthought, although you can tell that Buckingham put a decent amount of effort into "Seven Wonders" and "Welcome to the Room...Sara". It certainly didn't help that Nicks recorded most of her vocal takes completely intoxicated. With a better vocal performance from Nicks, "Welcome to the Room...Sara" would probably be a mid-tier Tango in the Night song.

I think I may be the only one who loves the Tango version of WTTR...Sara. The demo was synth powered for me and not as fast as the album version.

And the demo doesn't have that strong delivery of "FRONTLINE...BABY" Or the ukulele sound:laugh:

It's my favorite song on the album.

When you log off The Ledge, will you cease to exist? :wavey:

Of course it was a problem...


What about your memory existing these days? I know of that quote from Christine "C.F.MV" because of your signature and it took you a followup post to remember you had it!:laugh::xoxo:

God, it still hurts Christine passed. :shocked:

The picture of Christine’s piano with flowers and pictures from the service hit me pretty hard today. It made it a bit more real.

So much code language. You literally need a secret decoder ring to understand all the secret messages and symbolism.
Speaking of the sound. I always thought the sound had an Alison Moyet, Invisible sound to it.

Its not home, and its not Tara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8CeAHfAD2w

Should we say Lindsey stole the sound from Alison Moyet?:laugh:

I like the Tango sound. It's more dance flavored than the demo which to me sounds like an elephant march.

She's always with us. I'm mad at Sirius for not making a permanent Fleetwood Mac station. Yet Billy Joel gets one!

Yea, it was really moving to see that.

I’m gathering from comments various band members have made about Stevie’s health and abilities at that time, and from some of her demos on the Tango Deluxe, Lindsey not only helped her as much as he could but went beyond the call of duty to pull something salvageable from her rock-bottom performances. The main problem with “When I See You Again” is neither the song itself (though some of the lyrics are, ummm, bad) nor with the spare and delicate arrangement, but with Stevie’s vocal. When she drops out and it’s just Lindsey singing, the song and the sound are quite lovely. In a sentence: she herself was to blame for the shabbiness of her Tango performances. The reasons were serious and she couldn’t help it at that time—but no one else could rescue her songs either.

The rest of Tango is clever, well-calculated, and impressive from a craft perspective. But for me it’s the weakest of the five Rumours-era albums, even if it is wildly successful.

Not to beat a plastic horse, but it's plastique! I know Lindsey was trying to adapt to "the current times".... but those current times suck now, IF you're Fleetwood Mac. Organic would be the last word to describe it. Digital Hell might be more appropriate.

I couldn't tell you the last time I listened to it.

I still adore Tango. It may be a confection, and less of a true band effort than the rest of their work, but I think the whole vibe, all tied together with the album cover and the videos, has a magic to it.

Lindsey worked (seven) wonders to create something with a cohesive, sophisticated feel, and I think managed to make something that actually underlines the group's mystical element. He played Stevie's role!

I know a lot of people think it's too synthy, but as we learnt later, a lot of those sounds were actually guitar, played at half-speed and treated in strange ways. I'm sure the intro to Little Lies is a guitar, by the way.

When I See You Again gets bashed and deserves some of that bashing. However, Stevie's other Tango demos were horrendous. I think Ooh My Love is so bad that I am surprised they officially released it on the Tango deluxe reissue. Her work on the album was so limited and there was such a time crunch. There is that RAL tour interview on youtube where Stevie talks about sending the Mac songs while she was on tour. She speaks of an acoustic Landslide sort of song that she just sent to the Mac that she wanted to do with Lindsey. I am guessing this is the song. I suppose the band and Lindsey got her Fed Ex tape and tried to develop it as best he could. However, have you noticed how bad her demos were in the 80s? If you listen to her demos in the 70s, they are coherent with a fairly good melody and good singing. They were partially sculpted works of art that Lindsey took to the next level. For Tango, Lindsey got a lump of clay. Her 80s demos were a bunch of shrieking cokey vocals with a cheap casio type of random sound. Her craft took a back seat to the party.
Long story short, Whatsa matta baby was the diamond in the haystack. As much as it gets bashed, it was still probably the best option.
Lindsey and Chris all submitted new songs and Chris even mentioned in that recent 1987 interview that was posted that she wrote some of the songs when actually recording the album. I think Stevie was under pressure to look fresh and submit newer songs like her band mates. However, it would have been better to dig into her vault on older songs. I would have loved to have heard a Tango version of Running Through The Garden. Any of her older songs would have made a better album. Welcome To The Room Sara is such an odd song. Few if anyone understood what the hell she was talking about. People want a good melody, a good groove, something to sing along with. Something to relate to. I never saw Gone With The Wind. I had no idea who Scarlette was and did not understand her Frontline follies.
This is a dream, right?

I think it’s interesting when people credit Lindsey as the ultimate craftsman for producing and turning songs into the works of art they are, but he gets none of the blame or criticism when the songs he produces suck. You make a great point that maybe Stevie’s demos were pretty good in and of themselves, and Lindsey was able to add production to help make it a great song, whereas with a poor demo, Lindsey couldn’t even make it a tolerable song.

I feel these 5 folks created something that would not have worked if even one person or component were off. As wonderful as Lindsey’s work was, the albums wouldn’t have been the masterpieces they were, especially FM, Rumours, and Tusk, without those five people.

I liked Tango. Considering it wasn't their best of times for recording an album (Stevie's addiction, helping Mick the main purpose so no true motivation, the 80s wasn't the best moment to fit in the Fleetwood Mac sound, John's drinking problem, Lindsey's mood about returning to the band, etc.), I think it was a fine product.

And I do like WTTR...Sara and Family Man. Not their best works but nice songs. The album sold 15 million units worldwide so something good must have been there.

I must say I was dissapointed with the deluxe edition because of its lack of content. But that may evidence there wasn't extra material that meant a true desire to record an album. So a double album would be a mistake.

I've been flamed quite a bit over my stance on Tango. However, I love Tango In The Night. I love the running order; especially, Big Love, Seven Wonders, and Everywhere. The production of Everywhere glistens on my sound system and doesn't sound dated at all to me. It sounds timeless and wonderful. Isn't It Midnight has such a beautiful Christine vocal. (May be one of my favorite vocals of hers of all time.) I love the rhythm of Family Man and the beautiful guitar at the end. The title track burst through my speakers with a gorgeous jam. You and I I and II are lovely to my ears. So glad they ended the album with Part2 instead of WISYA. Uhhhh that would have been a nightmare.

I love that it has a different feel than Mirage and then a welcome change comes with Behind the Mask and ALAYF. The one thing I love about all Fleetwood Mac albums is that they have different vibes and feels. Mirage is nothing like Rumours. In fact, it's just as weird as Tusk at times.

Linsdey gets all the credit and shame for this album, but Christine really shines here and deserves a good chunk of the credit for this album.

Funny Mick wrote in his first book "Mirage, the album we recorded in France, was an attempt to get into the Rumours groove again, but updated".

I don't see similitudes with a Rumours "groove", perhaps only that it is not so sui generis, as Tusk is.

I take that as, "we were writing to be on the radio more!"

But, Hold Me is a really cool song that I never thought would be as successful as a hit. Gypsy is pure hit. Straight Back would be a great Rock chart song. Love in Store needs a bridge but pure pop.

Wow so interesting. Hold Me is like Little Lies IMHO. The first time you hear it, you know its going to be a big hit. Both have great choruses. Gypsy is a great song but does not scream hit. It has no chorus. Its a very untraditional hit song in that sense.
Hold Me screams huge hit from the beginning piano riff, the verses, guitar solo, chorus, etc.

Respectfully disagree. I remember running down the street playing with other kids and someone was blasting it in their house. I remember thinking, "wow this is a weird song." Gypsy sounded like a hit to me when I experienced it. And when I heard the whole album, I understood why it was selected.

It is a weird song, because....well....Lindsey!

I remember riding in the back of my friend's Honda Civic when Hold Me was first released. That piano intro would come on the radio, and I'd scream "CRANK IT!!!!!!" I was at the height of my fandom when Mirage came out. I still worship it. Then seeing them in May at Market Square Arena, up close(I think we were fifth row - and god dammit, tickets were only $16 mother f*cking dollars!), was one of the greatest nights of my life.

Can you understand me????

Great memory... I'm so glad you got to see that tour. They didn't stop in CLE.

They seem to always hit Indy.

I was just around the corner, but was too young and not a minute to spare!