Mirage: The Most Underrated Pop Record

[welcomechris]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

I agree, but I think that the most commercial album of the Rumours line-up is Tango In The Night.
Lately I've seen most music magazines have revaluated Mirage along with Tusk as well. Many times in the reviews since the 80s I've read that Mirage is seen as a refreshing come-back to the Rumours simplicity after the experimentation and eccentricity of Tusk.
I think the key word with this album is ambivalence. It seems everyone thinks that Mirage is the album the band needed to do after Tusk, but noone ended up truly satisfied by this.
I think this album is simple and beautiful and as a whole I prefer it on Tango In The Night. It's a true pop record, in the good meaning of the word; If it had included smile at you as well it would have been almost perfect to me.

I don't really know what you mean by "Commercial" but here's a quick sales chart by most successful of Rumours lineup to least.

US Sales

Rumours - 20 Million
Greatest Hits - 8 Million
Fleetwood Mac - 5 Million
The Dance - 5 Million
Tango In The Night - 3 Million
Tusk - 2 Million
Mirage - 2 Million
Live - 500,000

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by welcomechris

I don't really know what you mean by "Commercial" but here's a quick sales chart by most successful of Rumours lineup to least.

US Sales

Rumours - 20 Million
Greatest Hits - 8 Million
Fleetwood Mac - 5 Million
The Dance - 5 Million
Tango In The Night - 3 Million
Tusk - 2 Million
Mirage - 2 Million
Live - 500,000

I checked if I had been mis-translated the term but I see in english is quite the same than in my country. Commercial means "of high consumption" or "popular" and is a term that in my country, when it's referred to music, can also imply that the thing in question is thought as being first of all profitable and then artistic and thus can be of lower quality.
That being said I guess you could say that I just think Tango In the Night is more "pop" than Mirage, as it followed more the trends of its age.
Your list is not completely accurate on the matter because it's just about sales in the US, while if you take into account Europe Tango In The Night is the second most sold Fleetwood Mac album.
However commercial doesn't even necessarily mean successful and vice-versa, as you can see in the opposite cases of Mirage and Tusk.

[Macfanforever]

Looking at Billboards summer 1982 charts .

As I see .

Paul McCartney And Stevie Wonder,The Human League and Survivor clogging up the charts for weeks and months of that summer. No offense to great music from them but FM could had a chance if these artists and bands were not present on the charts at that time .

"Hold Me" got into a traffic jam for weeks at number 4.It could of been number one if the heavyweights were not in the way.

Mirage probably could sold more then 2 mill .

Always thanks Joe Welcomechris for your hard work with the numbers and info.

[KenB]

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

"Hold Me" got into a traffic jam for weeks at number 4.It could of been number one if the heavyweights were not in the way.

Mirage probably could sold more then 2 mill .

Well, with the exception of Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac were more of a "heavyweight" than those other artists. Human League and Survivor were very successful, but only for a short moment in time. Compared to FM, they were relative flashes-in-the-pan, commercially speaking.

As far as those acts' Hot 100 positions preventing Mirage from selling better, the charts don't really work that way. An album doesn't sell more copies because its singles happened to reach #1. Rather, what drives the album chart is simply the number of people who choose to buy the music.

On the topic at hand, Mirage was my favorite Mac album for a very long time. And on some days it still is. I like it better than the '75 white album and MUCH better than Tango. With the exception of Oh Diane and Wish You Were Here, I like every track on it.

[Macfanforever]

Originally Posted by KenB

Well, with the exception of Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac were more of a "heavyweight" than those other artists. Human League and Survivor were very successful, but only for a short moment in time. Compared to FM, they were relative flashes-in-the-pan, commercially speaking.

As far as those acts' Hot 100 positions preventing Mirage from selling better, the charts don't really work that way. An album doesn't sell more copies because its singles happened to reach #1. Rather, what drives the album chart is simply the number of people who choose to buy the music.

On the topic at hand, Mirage was my favorite Mac album for a very long time. And on some days it still is. I like it better than the '75 white album and MUCH better than Tango. With the exception of Oh Diane and Wish You Were Here, I like every track on it.

Thanks Ken for clearing that up.My brain is rusty on the info.

[Macfanforever]

What I'm pissed about is "Hold Me" was not on this tours setlist.

More likely "Hold Me" must of sold some LP's at that time.

MTV played the crap out of it along with Gypsy.Which I was so happy that they did.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

What I'm pissed about is "Hold Me" was not on this tours setlist.

More likely "Hold Me" must of sold some LP's at that time.

MTV played the crap out of it along with Gypsy.Which I was so happy that they did.

yep. it had a great video. in its own way the video captured the essence of each of their personalities

[Wdm6789]

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

What I'm pissed about is "Hold Me" was not on this tours setlist.

More likely "Hold Me" must of sold some LP's at that time.

MTV played the crap out of it along with Gypsy.Which I was so happy that they did.

Totally. They should have done Hold Me instead of Little Lies. They already had Everywhere. It was cool to see them do Little Lies live with Lindsey though. There was no Tusk or Mirage songs from Christine. Hold Me does not get the attention it deserves. It seems like Everywhere has kinda become Christine's big hit because of this tour. I would have been so happy if they did Hold Me.

[welcomechris]

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

Looking at Billboards summer 1982 charts .

As I see .

Paul McCartney And Stevie Wonder,The Human League and Survivor clogging up the charts for weeks and months of that summer. No offense to great music from them but FM could had a chance if these artists and bands were not present on the charts at that time .

"Hold Me" got into a traffic jam for weeks at number 4.It could of been number one if the heavyweights were not in the way.

Mirage probably could sold more then 2 mill .

Always thanks Joe Welcomechris for your hard work with the numbers and info.

No problem haha. Always happy to help