Behind the Mask: 30th Anniversary
 

Thirty years ago, on Tuesday, 10 April 1990, Fleetwood Mac released their fifteenth studio album, Behind the Mask.

Behind the Mask remains a great album.

You beat me to the punch. I still remember buying my BTM cassette tape in late April 1990 at the Greengate Mall, Record Mart, Greensburg, PA. I was 20 and working at a grocery store. I LOVED how unpop it was compared to Tango. I loved the bluesy feel some of the songs had and how we all heard Christine's playing again. In The Back Of My Mind was an early favorite and loved how all 3 singers were featured in the song. The only dud on the album is Hard Feelings IMHO. Half the album is outstanding while the other half pretty good. I prefer Lindsey in the band of course but there is something about this era that really appeals to me. I think maybe because maybe Christine was more of a focus than she normally was especially in concert. Mick and Billy were drinking themselves blind while Stevie was zonked out of her mind. She seemed to be the capable captain navigating the ship. The 1990 Farewell Concert still racks up as one of my all time favorite concerts ever. As crazy as this sounds, I preferred it to the Dance. The Dance was so scripted and studio like. While it was great having Lindsey back, the 1990 shows were arena rock days when anything could happen and technology was not taking over sound (yet).
Was disappointed how poorly the album sold and to barely have a top 30 hit from the Mac was shocking. No Stevie songs even good enough to release or chart...another first for the band. Although we can celebrate the album's big success in the UK #1 and in Canada Save Me peaked at #7.

This album just might be my second favorite Mac album in general. I know that’s an extremely unpopular opinion, but it doesn’t bother me. Even after the “genius” Lindsey had left, you have to admire the band’s effort as a whole to keep going and doing something slightly different while still holding onto their sound AND at the same time navigating the new sound of the late 80s and early 90s. They even managed to tap into their older blues sound, while still sounding pop/rock. Like I said in the other thread for When It Comes To Love, Love Is Dangerous is funky blues-rock, In The Back Of My Mind is experimental and trippy and shows off the whole group very well. Save Me and Skies The Limit are classic Christine and were commercial as heck. It’s a mystery why these singles didn’t get more attention. But I suspect it’s because of the changing musical trends, the fact everyone knew Lindsey was gone, and the public’s view towards the band as being “old”. All members (except Billy) were over 40 years old by this point and let’s face it, ageism is unfortunately a thing within the music industry and a factor in radio reception. Nonetheless, I personally love the majority of the songs, and even some of the songs that didn’t make the final cut (especially Got No Home and Paper Doll).

Haha I've been searching about this album before I came to the forum, and I saw the thread open!! :xoxo:
Personally, I don't find myself with this album yet. And I have the cassette!! If I heard it once, it was too much...
I've been searching about the album not only because of the 30th anniversary, but also because of and extended version of Behind The Mask. Is it a crazy idea??
Of course it depends on how important Warner/Rhino can see the chance, but I think it would be really interesting for us the fans to hear also demo versions of this album.

Mark.

I'll bet $100 that they'll never reissue BTM. It just wasn't big enough.

At the time, I listened to the whole thing at first, but eventually cut several songs out of my playlist. There are some decent songs on there, but it's not a classic album.

They then realized how much they needed Lindsey.

The symbolism or irony that 30 years to the day that Behind the Mask was released we all would be living (literally) behind a mask

:eek:

Make me a mask
That I can wear
'Till day is done
The wind in the trees
The falling leaves
The world's spinning

Make me a mask
So I can laugh
'Till nighttime comes
No more can I stay
How long must I play
This game of winning

If I had known this was only a dream
I would have awakened from this sleep

Make me a mask
So I can last
'Till the right time comes
A tear in my eye
To light I fly
And end is beginning

[Lindsey Buckingham, 1992; contemporary although not from Behind the Mask]

why quotation marks? it is pretty much an accepted fact, whether or not you like his & Classic 5 era music or not. :shrug: #GetOverIt

I love this track: simple, beguiling, hypnotic.Somehow, it reminds me of Danny Kirwan. Of course, it's a Lindsey solo track (I believe left over from Out of the Cradle) that he agreed to have an FM moniker on, but I wonder if the words and title are a bit of a jibe at his then-former band. Nearly everything on OOTC is way superior to nearly everything on BTM- title track aside, I wince whenever I summon up the courage to listen to the latter, which I can't say is very often.

“#GetOverIt” Really, though? Yes I DO believe he is a genius and obviously a vital member of the band and greatly contributed to their sound and their success. My goodness. Relax, it’s all good. There was definitely magic with the Rumours 5. It’s pretty obvious. I only used quotations on that because there are fans who kept believing that the band as a whole were not good without him. All incarnations of this band are awesome. Thank you. Hugs ��

Forgot to add it is pretty ironic that I have to wear a mask if I go out in public as of right now

good good. :thumbsup:

way too many SN stans on social media have been lately going in crazy circles trying to belittle LB's genius (guess to try to make her more important or something? makes no sense, really, they were all important in their very different ways), thanks for explaining it was just misplaced quotation marks. :)

hugs back, hope you are doing well and staying safe! :wavey:

i believe so, yup. :nod:

I apologize about my misplaced quotation marks, Ms. Elle. My boyfriend is the English teacher and professional article transcriber and I’m not. I was just quoting what I believed probably most fans and the general public were thinking back in 1990. I know Lindsey knows what he’s doing in the studio when it comes to recording, mixing, engineering and etc. He has written his share of hits for the band. I’ll admit that Stevie is still my favorite member of the band but that really is only because of her solo work. Music is subjective and EVERYONE has their feelings and opinions as it should be. However I am NOT a fan of her diva attitude as of late and I do still feel awful about how they discharged Lindsey from the group. It kind of disgusts me. It’s not fair at all. And it doesn’t feel right. I know I’m not alone on this opinion. But anyway, this thread is about Behind The Mask and it’s 30th Anniversary.

What are your top 5 favs, if you could only pick 5 from this album? And sorry, this is a general question for everyone...

For myself
1-Love Is Dangerous
2-Save Me
3-In The Back Of My Mind
4-Behind The Mask
5-Freedom

And Make Me A Mask is one of Lindsey’s most hypnotic songs. I love it BTW..

LOL Get over it!!

What's My Line? :laugh:

And you will win, for sure!! It wasn't big enough, you're totally right. There's some good songs, but well...there's 30 years since its release! At least a re-remastered edition would be nice.
And yes, I agree with the last you said...:thumbsup:

Well, he can be a genius, but please not a visionary. I almost fainted in the store when I saw the “visionary” sticker on the CD.

Agree with every thing you say! Behind the Mask was the first Fleetwood Mac release that I bought the day it came out on CD. Loved-and love- the sound ! Give me this album instead of Tango any day! Among other things, it showed how well the band could cope with LB's leaving. And yes, it is more 'natural' than 'The Dance'. Loved the 1990 shows. Really feel that this line-up should have lasted longer, but, then again, that's another story....

The group worked very well as a team and had a distinctive sound still FM but different from the LB work. The harmonies on almost everything are grand. BTM is great, not a dud among the songs, and mostly teamwork, nobody plugged solo work into the mix. This era also gave us As Long as you Follow, No Questions Asked, Paper Doll, Love Shines, Heart of Stone. I think the album did as well as an album with LB would have, it was a time when the music business and tastes changed rapidly and FM were going to be passe and dinosaurs no matter what.

As Long as You Follow is one of the best things Fleetwood Mac ever released. It is truly one of Christine's greatest songs and a shame that it sort of gets forgotten about on the Greatest Hits album.

I think ALAYF and Love Shines are two of the best things she's ever done, and both should have been big hits. They both make every FM greatest hits I've ever made.

There must have been a conspiracy against FM that purposely made ALAYF not a hit. When I first heard it and saw the video, I instantly thought it was going to be #1. Everyone was anticipating what the new Mac would sound like plus it was on a very popular Greatest Hits record.
Yet...never ever heard it on the radio even why I tried to find it
MTV never played the video. Only VH1 played it. I remember being so pissed why MTV would not play it.
The song never even cracked the top 40. Unbelievable.

Do you suppose Lindsey was secretly paying MTV and radio stations not to play it?
:eek:

That's some peak chiffon tin foil hat level territory there.. :D

I remember as a youngster seeing the ALAYF video on VH1 but definitely don't recall it on MTV - coming off Tango you'd think they'd be more successful but I think the timing was just bad for a group of 40-45 year olds who were definitely coming off their "cool" peak.

So are we saying that...THIRTY PLUS YEARS AGO, that our heroes were HAS BEENS. Back then?:lol::lol::lol:

I guess it's true.


This coming to jesus moment brought to you by Homer McVie...

lol....yes, sad but true! And this comes from someone who was 9 at the time in question!

But the cool factor ebbs and flows. I think they got EXTREMELY cool again in 1997 (maybe the most ever for a short time...certainly popular with a variety of generations) and still maintain some of that to this day, though I'd say after the "Christine's back" reunion, and this most recent nonsense, combined with their age, they're on the cool factor decline yet again.

And OMG!! she did them without Lindsey???? : - O

I remember reading a Billboard Magazine article back in the 1990's that said any artist who releases a new single around Christmas time usually won't have success with such single. Because of the heavy volume of X-Mas music played from the day after Thanksgiving to January 2, most people are listening to the holiday tunes or ignoring the radio completely during that time. Warner Brothers was probably betting a Fleetwood Mac song would do well regardless, but As Long As You Follow was released in November and sadly it tanked.

Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while.




Sorry, I meant spineless pig....:xoxo:

Hey now, Christine can write! She survived pre B/N and certain wrote great material after LB left.

And yet let her good friend and musical collaborator of 43 years be thrown under the bus like an old condom wrapper.
#chaiseloungeChristine

Does not mean she can't compose.

And..... If anything, she tried to bridge the gap those two whackos. I always suspected she left (in-part) because of the in-fighting. Always in the middle. She didn't throw Lindsey under the bus. Someone else did. Rhymes with boat. Rhymes with cheesy.

Chris has always been loyal to Mick. Whatever Mick wants, Chris will go along with. Don't let Bob Welch be inducted in the RRHOF. CHECK
Stevie wont tour with Lindsey. Fire Lindsey. CHECK

Even things she may not personally believe, she will always blindly support Mick. She has always put the Mac above everything else and that means being loyal to Mick. Chris even paid for his debt prior to Mick filing for bankruptcy in 1984. Now THAT is loyalty when you are throwing money at a coke infested drunk.

Well then that means that all the love they showed us on BuckVie was just a bunch of bullsh*t?

Was it fake and phony like Lindsey and Sleazy holding hands when they hated each other?

Do these people actually have any emotions that are genuine, or they're just a bunch of phonies?

BuckVie wasn't fake. They didn't have any issues. Christine comes back and all hell breaks lose because of (rhymes with boat, rhymes with cheazy).

She will always choose Fleetwood Mac. You can't say that for (rhymes with boat, rhymes with cheazy)

Not sure I understand?
Chris and Lindsey definitely get along especially when it comes to making music. However when it came down to Mick making a ton of money with Stevie or nickel and dimes without Stevie....Mick chose Stevie and Christine was the silent supporter. I don't take that to mean Chris and Lindsey don't LOVE making music together and LOVED the Buck/Vie project.
The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend :)

Well, in my mind, she chose that idiot $tevie over Lindsey. That's so wrong, on multiple levels.

I've seen her roll her eyes at $tevie too many times.

Note to self - never depend on Christine McVie to be in charge of your life support. Her cell phone might need a charge.

Yes, she sold her soul for 10 million dollars
As bad as Lindsey's firing was...it STILL had monetary value for the band. Money talks.

Denying Bob Welch a tiny moment is worse because it had no monetary value. It was personal. Even in the wildest dreams....Bob's demands could not have been that great. However, Bob's demands came at the worst time for Mick (prior to the Dance). It was possible Mick needed every nickel from every album sold even in the early days to stay afloat. Bob changed FM and was the stepping stone for the other Americans to join. To dishonor him was to dishonor the legacy of the band. But hey now, we know Mick does not care about legacy by now :eek:

She chose Fleetwood Mac and to be honest was put into a position where she didn't have a choice. The person that put her in that position (rhymes with coat and rhymes with sneezy)

Even Lindsey still got his share. (thank God)

What is she now, 100? Like she needs the money!

Denying Bob's induction was the beginning of her no longer being my favorite musician (FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE). She can be a bitter shrew. Lindsey's firing sealed my opinion of her. I still care about her, and she's my favorite singer in the band, but she ain't the Superwoman Mick claimed. No wonder he thinks that. She folds like a cheap lawn chair for any of his wishes! #chaiseloungeChristine