Had Tango Been LB's 3rd Solo Album
 

Had Lindsey opted to carry on with his third solo album rather than turn it in to a FM album, what additional songs would have gone on it?

Do we know whether any (and if so which) OOTC songs were written in time to have appeared on such an album?

That's a good question. In Wikipedia they relate two sources to "Six months after his departure from Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham began work on Out of the Cradle in his home studio." Well that probably means the album draft, the sessions, but sure some songs could have been written before.

In fact, he wrote Soul Drifter while Fleetwood Mac was at his house mixing Tango, according to the song wikipedia page.

I wonder how would that album have sounded if Tango hadn't existed. If it had been released circa 1987, probably it would have had a more Tango, synthesizers, sound, than the guitars, acoustic, 1992 OOTC sound.

Well, and by 1992, grunge had taken over, and FM was pretty uncool at that point.

Soul Drifter and its siblings could have stayed in the cradle, because here's 10 tracks of just Tango material that Lindsey wrote or co-wrote. "Where We Belong" is the only one I'm not sure whether he came up with the music or Christine did, but the music on the demo is pretty sparse and feels like his.

1. Big Love
2. Mystified
3. Down Endless Street
4. Family Man
5. You & I Part I
6. Caroline
7. Special Kind Of Love
8. Where We Belong
9. Tango In The Night
10. You & I Part II

I have a vague memory of Lindsey saying in 1987 that Big Love and Caroline were going to be on his solo album that he sort of shelved for Tango. And they definitely sound like it.

That matches with the Big Love wikipedia page, In 1985, Buckingham began compiling material for a third solo album, and eventually amassed around 50 songs during those sessions. Among those songs was "Big Love", which Buckingham intended to include on his solo album.

It cites an interview. I've not heard it yet, but here's the link.

https://thekatztapes.library.northea...neu:4f16nx22v/

Family Man page says also that song was originally slated to appear on Buckingham's third solo album.

All I can say thank god it didn’t happen. I love Tango and OOTC, just as they are. Even though Stevie’s participation was minimum.

I agree. And that brings me to another question. If there had been no Tango, probably Seven Wonders and one or the two other songs would have been on TOSOTM. But what would have happened to Everywhere, Isn't It Midnight, etc.?

Yes, exactly! Seven Wonders, Everywhere and Isn’t it Midnight are Fleetwood Mac at their best.

Correct. In this interview, Buckingham identified "Big Love" and "Family Man" as songs that he originally intended to include on his third solo album. He also said that the band went through some of his demos and selected "Caroline" as a song they wished to develop further. If I remember correctly, Buckingham said that the original riff for "Caroline" was written around 1984 or 1985. This link demonstrates what the song sounded like before the additions of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepjvdsyZ8c

Mick Fleetwood said in both of his memoirs that the title track was also planned for Buckingham's solo album, but I have yet to see Buckingham confirm this. The guitar solo during the song's outro was developed in the studio with Fleetwood during a jam session, but it is possible that Buckingham had a rough outline of the verse and chorus by the time the band convened for the Tango in the Night sessions.

Nice. Thanks.

The chorus for "Street of Dreams" was also written in the mid-1980s, but Buckingham did not complete the verses until much later, so I'm not entirely sure if we could count this song as an eligible contender. It's certainly possible that he could have prioritized its completion had he forged ahead with his third solo album on his planned timetable.