MirageTango/Rumors2?
 

Big Love
Seven Wonders
Everywhere
Gypsy
Eyes of the World
Little Lies

Love in Store
Book of Love
That’s Alright
Tango in the Night
Hold Me
Wish You Were Here

Isn’t It Midnight and Straight Back would have to be on this to be perfect! Put Straight Back after Eyes of the World and Isn’t It Midnight after That’s Alright.

I dont like the mixing of these albums. However they both have something in common, chasing commercial success. Mirage however holds up because its a group effort with everyone playing real instruments. There are a few good songs on Tango like the title track and Isn't It Midnight.
What made Rumours so successful was their creativity playing as a group. The post Tusk world of the band had them chasing radio play. I say this all the time but even though I like Tusk, it sort of ruined the band because everything post Tusk was (i.e. being anti commercial and completely creative) anti-Tusk.

FM and Rumours are incredible because there is a real group feeling on them. You can hear the three singers on most of the songs. Tusk pretty much destroyed that concept, unfortunately. They tried to bring it back with Mirage and Tango, but they didn’t try hard enough- both albums still have songs that sound like solo songs rather than group songs. The best songs mostly have all three singers on them. Tango is better only because of Christine, delivering her best songs in years, if not ever. Behind the Mask returned to that group mentality, which was great but didn’t last. Say You Will and Buck/Vie, more than ever, sound like solo songs.

On another note....Nicks has incredible songs on Mirage. Gypsy and Straight Back are some of her best work. That's Alright is fantastic but Smile At You should have made the album. All of her songs are gems. Christine also had fantastic songs on Mirage and Tango.

I know this has been discussed to death but if “ The Group” after Tusk ..had no solo stuff and “The Band” let Lindsey lead in his vision we would still have FLEETWOOD MAC albums today. This is what I wanted from the start. No solo stuff.

Could be true, we’ll never know for sure. But many of Lindsey’s songs didn’t include the band performing on them, and it shows. With Fleetwood Mac, I want songs that utilize the whole band.

Hard to mix those albums, but my selection would be this, the order is not definitive:

Love in Store
You and I, Part II
That's Alright
Hold Me
Tango in the Night
Straight Back

Gypsy
Eyes of the World
Little Lies
Big Love
Isn't it Midnight
Seven Wonders
Everywhere

Each of FM’s albums from 1975-1987 has its own unique personality and reflects a decisive approach to a specific aesthetic. They cannot be collapsed and combined. This is one of the reasons why, to date, there has not been a wholly satisfactory (as opposed to financially successful) compilation: the hits need to be sequenced alongside the non-hits in their original context. Groups like The Eagles and Doobie Brothers benefit from a greatest hits format because their individual albums are not as compelling as FM’s—and I would be ready to debate this with anyone.

Another note: I read a lot of blogs and posts saying that Tusk marked the beginning of the group fragmentation, the absence of all three principal singers on each of the songs, not to mention the instrumentalists. To some extent this is true, but there are A LOT of songs on Tusk that show off the full band and all three singers. And when this happens it’s magical. Same for Mirage. Tango’s another story...

A lot of what if's around combining these two albums- I don't think they fit together- they're two completely different recordings of different eras. Eras seemed so much shorter in those days. Mirage, like the White Album, needed at least one more Nicks song- she was on fire at the time and Smile at You, with a little more work, would've been the show stopper of the album. Tango, essentially a Lindsey solo album that Christine came along and stoled the show- her songs are all career highs meanwhile Stevie completely implodes. Solo wise, I would've actually preferred Bella Donna and maybe the Wild Heart to be one offs and she return to the band fully engaged and committed. With more band work, I believe Christine and Lindsey would've abandoned the solo idea altogether. We may have had so many other albums by now. Alas, it's all now ancient history and we have albums and songs that some of us love, others hate, but a catalogue of great music nonetheless.

What if Bella Donna had been a flop? A BIG FLOP?

How would that have changed their future?

OR
What if Mirage was released in 1981 postponing Bella Donna another year. Her drug abuse escalated during this time and maybe SDMHA would not be available. Robin would not have been around for Bella Donna. After her death her life started to spiral out of control. However we would have gotten a much longer White Winged Dove tour but it would not have been as good as 1981.

The “what if” I often imagine is Lindsey actually fulfilling his tour commitment for TANGO. Just think of how exciting and cool that would have been, instead of the slick, wholly functional yet underwhelming experience it actually was.

I didn’t see that tour, but I read some really positive reviews of it. Not that I disagree with your premise that Lindsey doing the tour wouldn’t have been great, but I don’t recall the words slick or underwhelming being used to describe it.