Mirage vs. Tango In The Night
 

I went CD shopping yesterday at Borders & in the Fleetwood Mac section (which I had to clean up a little; they had CDs in there that shouldn't have been in there) was Mirage & Tango In The Night, neither of which I own. So after much debating, I choose to buy Tango In The Night, only b/c it had more hits on it I thought. But my brother who has both & isn't too much into the Mac now, says he used to favor Mirage. So my question is, if you own both of these, which do you prefer & why?

Lee :)

Re: Mirage vs. Tango In The Night
 

I think this comparison has been mentioned in a recent thread. For my money, if I had to make the choice, I would also choose Tango. Not necessarily because it has more "hits", but because I think the song quality, from certain members, is better.

Lindsey doesn't give his best effort, in my opinion, on Mirage. On Tango, probably some of his best songs (save Family Man) other than Tusk.

I like Stevie's songs from Mirage better, although Seven Wonders and When I See You Again are pretty good songs from Tango.

Christine is Christine. She has the same poppy songs on both, but my preference again is her work on Tango. Everywhere and Little Lies are 80's radio staples, with Isn't It Midnight being another good number.

One warning...Mirage is decidedly middle of the road as far as it being rock or pop. Hard to place it as being an "80's album" as far as sound goes. Tango, on the other hand, is VERY 80's and VERY pop.

I prefer Mirage...I love all of Lindsey's songs. Tango is to pop 80s.

I prefer Mirage as it was the first Mac album I purchased in 1982:)

For me it's sort of a toss up-

I love Stevie's songs on Mirage (I've recently grown quite fond of That's Alright), but I can't stand any of Lindsey's or Christine's with the only exceptions being Hold Me and Eyes of the World, which I do like.

The opposite is true for Tango. I love all of Lindsey's and Christine's songs (except Family Man) but I can't stand Stevie's. Plus Little Lies is one of Christine's all time best! So they each have their strong points I guess.

I look at it this way. Mirage has some goos stuff from each member (Hold Me and Love In Store - Chris, Gypsy and That's Alright- Stevie, Can't Go Back- Lindsey) The rest of the album sucks. Tango has alot of good stuff from the band (Everywhere, Little Lies, Isn't It Midnight - Chris , Seven Wonders, Welcome To The Room Sara- Stevie , Caroline Big Love Lindsey. The rest of the album is so -so. Still for what it's worth Tango has a wider array of good songs to choose from. I have to go with Tango.

I prefer Tango just barely over Mirage, mainly because Tango has a few more great songs than Mirage. "Hold Me", "Wish You Were Here" & "Gypsy" are fantastic, while Lindsey's songs are merely OK, except for "Empire State" which is terrible. Stevie's songs are way better on Mirage. Her Tango songs are pretty terrible. But, all of Christine's songs plus the title track on Tango are so good that they make up for that. Both Tango and Mirage are good pop albums. In my opinion, there is never anything wrong with a good pop album.

MIRAGE...

On "Tango"... Stevie was at her worst... Lindsey with "Caroline"... but Christine was "Perfect" heh yeah pun intended... Don't get me wrong I love the album and almost all the songs but "Mirage" is definetly a much much better album overall. Plus I don't like "80's music" all that much.

Although I have to admit "Mirage" took time to grow on me as a album whole...

I've never heard Tango (besides Everywhere, Little Lies, Big Love, and Isn't It Midnight) , but I'd probably take Mirage for better sound quality alone.

The tracks I've heard from Tango could have been great if they didn't sound so cheap. Little Lies slides by with no complaints though. Nevermind that. Too much reverb. The rest of them sound cheap. Good songwriting, god-awful production. So yeah, Mirage for sound quality! :D

I'd have to go with Mirage too.

I agree with EricBliss...the production on Mirage was much better than Tango....which is classic '80's pop-synth sound which grated on my nerves then and still does.

But still, Tango is not an awful album by any means...Christine McVie was the albums saving grace IMO....her songs on there were the best.

Tango
 

I don't skip as many songs on Tango as I do on Mirage so my vote goes to Tango. Song for song, Tango is just better, and I happen to like Stevie's Tango songs, especially "Seven Wonders!"

Tango. Every track is at least solid. And i happen to enjoy Stevie's material. Seven Wonders may not be the caliber of Stand Back or Gyspy, but its close. Welcome to the Room... Sara has its moments. Also, its very personal. You can listen to the words and know exactly what she's singing about. And to me, that's better than a lot of the stuff on Mirage. WTTR...S is a very interesting look at her stay in Betty Ford at that time. and When I see You Again is stevie at her most vulnerable. I absolutely love that track. Its her at the depths of her addiction, and it brings intimate to a whole 'nother level. I also love Lindsey's tracks (all of them!) and Christine.. well, Everywhere and Little Lies, everybody knows how great they are. Mystified is... stomachable. But maybe my favorite Chris song on the album is Isn't it Midnight. Ok, stop laughing, I'm serious! Her voice on the chorus is so sad, and I love how the song is very general and yet you still know what she's talking about. Its almost parallel to her life and how many men have been in her life, and how well she's been treated by them. It rivals Oh Daddy, in my mind, for the melancholy Chris. Conclusion: I LOVE THIS ALBUM!!!

I believe that Mirage is a better record. To me, the three Stevie contributions are incredible pieces of music, one being majestic ("Gypsy"), another one an underrated rocker ("Straight Back") and the third one a country-ish melancholic ballad ("That's Alright"). Christine has the anthem ("Hold Me"), the cheerful opener ("Love In Store") and "Wish You Were Here", which is a song that I love, because of its musical construction. "Only Over You" is easily my least favorite of her compositions. Lindsey shines on three tracks: "Eyes Of The World", "Can't Go Back" and my favorite "Book Of Love". The fact that "Oh Diane" is mainly crap, and that "Empire State" is quite annoying sums up for three songs that I skip.

Tango, on the other hand, has Stevie at her weakest. Her best song here wasn't even written by her, and while "Welcome To The Room... Sara" is sort of catchy, I don't like it all that much. "When I See You Again" used to be my least favorite of her contributions to Fleetwood Mac but now it lost its place thanks to "Silver Girl"... Then there's Lindsey dominating the album. Whilst I do like "Big Love" and "Tango In The Night", I find that "Family Man" is incredibly annoying; "You And I, Part II" has good lyrics but terrible music; "Caroline" has good music but terrible lyrics (as someone said); and "Mystified" (mainly his song - you can hear it in the demo) is his own "Only Over You"... Christine saves the album with "Everywhere", "Little Lies" and especially "Isn't It Midnight", my favorite. So there you go, I only hear this album entirely when I have time and patience, and when I do not, I skip four or five tracks.

Simple maths, Mirage is better for me.





Song of the moment - Green Manalishi

I always thought this song sounded like it could be a Christmas song (in the vein of Jingle Bells) if it had different lyrics.

I was going to post, but I have the EXACT same thing to say as you did...including a fairly recent fondness of "That's Alright." I started to get into that one about a year ago, but that's pretty recent I would say! "Gypsy" is by far one of, if not THE, best track Stevie has ever recorded. Tango was when I first heard the Mac at the age of 7...."Little Lies" and "Everywhere" were mainstays in my seven year old musical selection.