About Behind The Mask

[michelej1]

Australia Advertiser, Sunday Mail, May 20, 1990

THERE are those who say that Fleetwood Mac should have called it a day when Lindsey Buckingham decided to quit and, by some accounts at least, the group's recent visit to Melbourne may well have lent weight to that point of view.Behind The Mask (Warner), the big Mac's latest album and the first to showcase new boys Billy Burnette and Rick Vito, carries arguments both for and against.Surely the band's greatest plus these days is Christine McVie whose contributions, especially in the writing and singing departments, show little sign of waning. But Stevie Nicks is fast becoming a liability.McVie had a hand in writing four of the 13 tracks and three are among the album's best: the bouncy opener Skies The Limit, the uptempo and commercial Save Me and, especially, Do You Know, a melodic and lyrical collaboration with Burnette.Nicks's contribution are at the other end of the scale: Love Is Dangerous and Affairs Of The Heart are merely repetitive, Freedom (written with Heartbreaker Mike Campbell) is a tedious attempt to repeat the success of Stop Dragging My Heart Around (written with chief Heartbreaker Tom Petty), and The Second Time is a nice ballad spoilt by that tiresome nasal whine which is having trouble breathing and phrasing.Vito's Stand On The Rock, a solid rocker featuring his sweet slide guitar, and Burnette's rockabilly offerings, When The Sun Goes Down and When It Comes To Love, are respectable but unremarkable.Paul Speelman