Analyzing album covers: Tango in the Night

[Villavic]

We have discussed about the inspiration of this cover in previous posts. Wikipedia details: The distinctive cover art for the album was a painting by Australian artist Brett-Livingstone Strong which was hanging in Buckingham's home. It is a homage to the 19th Century French painter Henri Rousseau, emulating his colorful jungle theme works such as The Snake Charmer and The Repast of the Lion.

What is not known is how they chose it. Since part of the album was recorded at Lindsey's home, maybe there is a story behind the painting with the band and it's not just Lindsey election. According to Mick:

We then moved production to the studio Lindsey built in the garage of his house, called the Slope, where we would mix and do the overdubs. It wasn't really a proper studio per se; everything was recorded right in the control room. The acoustics were the wooden floor, the bathroom, the carpet, the hallway.

Anyway, it's a nice painting but I'm not fan of paintings as album covers, I would have chosen any of the inner or back pictures with the 5 members as the front cover. The only Fleetwood Mac related thing of this picture is that there is a penguin there. In this case I think it's a Southern Rockhopper penguin. So probably it was John's idea (he is a penguins fan) instead of Lindsey's.