Stevie on Behind the Mask
 

I've been listening to BTM lately and looking back after all that we know today some things stand out that maybe we did not catch back in 1990. BTM is very similar to Tango that during much of the process of making the album, Stevie was on a solo tour and popped in here and there. She was missing much of the Mirage recordings, almost non-existent during Tango, and much of the BTM process too. It's alleged that Lindsey "layered" in Stevie's voice on parts of Tango on Family Man and other areas. BTM also had a similar process. The only song that Stevie sings back up on is Skies the Limit We know that song was a late addition to the album after it was finished. Besides the songs she sings lead vocal on she shows up at noticeable times that could indicate they were added post recording. For example Stevie is not on the back up vocals on the lead single "Save Me." However you hear her only at the end and fade out adding a few more "Save Me's". They did not re-record the chorus but her vocals were added solo at the end of the track. We get another glimpse of Stevie on "When the sun goes down." She is again not on the chorus but spontaneously shows up for one line "take good care" Again it appears this could have been added post recording of the track. On the track "Behind The Mask" she again is not on the chorus. But her voice spontaneously shows up for one moan after the bridge. It again sound like it could have been added post recording.
Its weird to think but you have to go back to Tusk for Stevie to work with the band every day in the studio. Say You Will she was there full time but Chris had left the band. She has lead or part lead vocals on In The Back Of My Mind and Love is Dangerous which makes her appear more on the album than she really is.
Its a little gimmicky IMHO. In the classic Mac line up, if it was not a Stevie song, you may not hear her ever. But it seems they wanted to sprinkle the magic of Stevie Nicks through their songs here and there.

Yes I agree they wanted that. Coincidentially, I was comparing these days Tango with BTM. Of course just the Chris & Stevie songs and collaborations. Talking about Stevie, in both cases I agree she is not enough present. Anyway I prefer the Stevie Tango to the Stevie BTM, even though Seven Wonders is not written by her, and despite the whattamatta baby.

One of the thinks I love about BTM is how much more they sound like a band. I think Stevie is much more prominent on BTM than Tango, just like I feel Christine is, too. To hear all the vocalists on Skies the Limit, In the Back of My Mind, and Save Me makes me a happy FM fan. And Stevie contributed four songs to BTM as opposed to two, plus Seven Wonders. Of course she wasn’t there for the full recording, and why would she be? She wasn’t needed except for vocals. She’d have been in the way otherwise LOL! I also don’t think she was checked out of FM at this time, like some people have suggested, and that was why she contributed such weak songs; I think those songs were the best she could do at that time.

I love that special on YouTube that shows Christine and Billy practicing Do You Know- so good!

I recall an article that came out after BTM came out and Stevie made a comment about going in at the end of the sessions to add some additional vocals.It was more in the context of something she hasn’t done before with other FM albums. The way I understood the comment it was in addition to her already recorded vocals.

Do you recall the publication that featured this interview? I'm curious if it was posted to the Blue Letter Archives.

I don’t remember, it could have been Rolling Stone because I was a subscriber back in 1990 but I’m really not sure. Sorry!

I vaguely remember something like that too. I think she was trying to give the appearance on how much she had worked on the album when it was the opposite. They "layered" her in because she was absent.

Christine made a comment that she was there for about as much as she was Tango.

At the time though I remember an interview when she stopped in Toronto on the OTSM tour (which was really a treat, especially on the Toronto stop) that she was in the midst of recording with the band. She made it sound like she was present, but obviously that wasn't the case and was not a contributor to the recording process. In hindsight, it led to 4 very bland and uninspired tracks when she needed to really step up her game.

Stevie on her solo albums and with Mac albums up to Mirage always dug into the vault to put forward some of her older songs. Tango and BTM have her weakest contributions and they were all new songs (at the time). If ever she needed to put forward a few older songs this was the time. My hunch is when she got out of rehab and the band was waiting for her, she wanted to be fresh and relevant and submitted her new song about rehab and the song she sent Lindsey while on the RAL tour. I think she wanted to think she still could write great songs. She was older and she was trying to go against the grain in wanting only to focus on newly written songs. On SYW she dug into the vault and gave some songs the light of day again after decades of putting them on a shelf. Tango would have really thrived with Running Through The Garden and Smile At You.
Her best albums solo and the Mac were a mix of new and old songs. But the klonopin era really needed a boost.

Oh yes it would have been great.

Very true. On white, “Crystal” was already a couple of years old, possibly older (we don’t know whether it was brand new in 1973). On Rumours, “Silver Springs” was probably written in 1975 on tour. On Tusk, “Sisters of the Moon” was written in 1975. On Mirage, “Gypsy” and “That’s Alright” were both old.

…and we know there is still a handful of decent songs that didn’t make 24k. Like Julia just to name one.

I wish she would have done “Forget About Me” with the last lineup. Campbell would’ve destroyed it.