If you had to choose: MIRAGE vs. TANGO IN THE NIGHT

[seekerj]

Originally Posted by StandbackStevie

I agree that is why I voted Mirage, Tango In The Night Christine and Lindsey are strong and Stevie is weak on that album, When I See You Again and Welcome To The Room Sara are her weakest songs on a fleetwood mac album.Stevie was stronger on Behind The Mask even the song on the greatest hits No Questions Asked I like that song. Stevie Strong point is Seven Wonders on Tango.I prefer Mirage over Tango myself but I do love both albums except for the songs When I See You Again, Welcome To The Room Sara should have been scraped.

No. The complete opposite of this.

IMO the worst song on a FM album is a tie between "Everywhere" and "Family Man", and oh, gee, they're on the same album. Oh, wait, forgot one! "You And I, Part (Anything)". Right up there with the other two for the biggest waste of vinyl space in the history of the world. What a trilogy of pure crap.

I don't understand how anyone can pick on those two Stevie songs yet not see these others mentioned for the pure dribble that they are. At least the Stevie songs have something to say, even if you don't like the delivery.

[StandbackStevie]

Originally Posted by seekerj

No. The complete opposite of this.

IMO the worst song on a FM album is a tie between "Everywhere" and "Family Man", and oh, gee, they're on the same album. Oh, wait, forgot one! "You And I, Part (Anything)". Right up there with the other two for the biggest waste of vinyl space in the history of the world. What a trilogy of pure crap.

I don't understand how anyone can pick on those two Stevie songs yet not see these others mentioned for the pure dribble that they are. At least the Stevie songs have something to say, even if you don't like the delivery.

That is your opinion and I am a big fan of Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac since 1979. That is my opinion and that is your opinion above.Stevie Nicks will always be to me my favorite singer/songwriter.We are comparing Mirage/Tango In The Night Albums together side by side Mirage is a better album in my opinion and yes out of the all the FM albums Stevie is at her weakest on Tango In The Night. I am sure Stevie would agree on that one and everyone else.I have an opinon and so do you.Sorry you don't like my opinon on the two albums.I do love the both albums don't get me wrong but I prefer Mirage over Tango.

[RockawayBlind]

Tough choice, but I went for Tango, just based on remembering which one I spun more back in the day. I think Tango suffers from very poor Stevie songs and blah songwriting all around, lyrics-wise. But it has a very cool sound, which unfortunately hasn't aged well, and gives us a very good glimpse at what is to come from Lindsey. Could there have been a brilliant OOTC without Tango?

Mirage is OK. It has a couple of standout tracks -- Eyes of the World and Gypsy. Hold Me is a really nice track too, but overall it lacks something.

[Stew_Matthews]

.....I am surprised Mirage isn't way ahead. I think it has the last two 'great' tracks from Fleetwood Mac; Gypsy & Hold Me. And Love in Store & Eyes of the World are brilliant too. I much prefer the Mirage production. The drums/bass sounds like the Fleetwood Mac I like and the arrangement of the songs is superb.

Tango is fine but the synthesizer sound on the more 'pop' tracks has dated less well than Mirage and the songwriting quality is much more variable.

[TrueFaith77]

I started this poll but still can't choose.

[BaronVonBielski]

Tango by a mile.

[bluefox4000]

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

.....I am surprised Mirage isn't way ahead. I think it has the last two 'great' tracks from Fleetwood Mac; Gypsy & Hold Me. And Love in Store & Eyes of the World are brilliant too. I much prefer the Mirage production. The drums/bass sounds like the Fleetwood Mac I like and the arrangement of the songs is superb.

Tango is fine but the synthesizer sound on the more 'pop' tracks has dated less well than Mirage and the songwriting quality is much more variable.

Funny you should mention the production. It's one of the few 80's albums where I think the 80's production works beautifully

Mick

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

.....I am surprised Mirage isn't way ahead. I think it has the last two 'great' tracks from Fleetwood Mac; Gypsy & Hold Me. And Love in Store & Eyes of the World are brilliant too. I much prefer the Mirage production. The drums/bass sounds like the Fleetwood Mac I like and the arrangement of the songs is superb.

Tango is fine but the synthesizer sound on the more 'pop' tracks has dated less well than Mirage and the songwriting quality is much more variable.

I agree ..Gypsy and Hold Me are the match of any of the classic "Rumours era" singles that preceded them.I also think that Family Man aside, that of the 3 writers only Lindsey 's Tango songs are stronger than his Mirage contributions.So Mirage gets my vote.

[redbird]

Mirage for me. I can't get into the sound of Tango, though it's absolutely a more ambitious record. I wish I could like it more than I do, especially for that brooding romantic thing Lindsey has going on. I suspect I would love it if it sounded less, well, 80's. I also miss the three part harmonies a lot by that point in time.

I think Stevie is the best part of Mirage while for me Christine's songs are the most forgettable, while on Tango Stevie is the weak link and Lindsey and Chris have the memorable songs. I love "That's Alright" a bit more than "Big Love", "Gypsy" more than "Little Lies", "Straight Back" more than "Mystified". I like retro rockabilly Lindsey quite a bit too (even "Oh Diane", which reminds me a lot of Chris Isaak actually). And my least favorite Mac song is on Tango ("Family Man").

Tango is the kind of album I would've loved to see done on MTV Unplugged or something like that. But I think I'll always find "Welcome to the Room" to be a hot mess, whereas the worst Mirage got was boring.

[Andrew Smith]

This is such a hard question, I just can't vote. Both albums I can listen to all the way through without skipping any tracks and neither albums have what I would say were filler tracks. Having said that, the two albums are different. Tango is more of an 1980's pop album than Mirage. Mirage sounds closer to Rumours.

When I think of Tango In The Night, I always think how sad it was that Lindsey didn't participate in the tour for that album in 1987/88. Because of that, I can say that I'd rather watch a Mirage tour concert than a Tango In The Night tour concert because of that reason.

The one thing these two albums have in common is that they have both been severely neglected by Warner/Rhino. It's time for remastered & expanded versions I think, instead of milking Rumours!

[Fannymac]

This is tough.....Stevie's MIRAGE stuff is ten times better than her TANGO, but I think Christine's material on TANGO is so much stronger than her songs on MIRAGE.
Soooo.....it comes down to Lindsey, and I just like his MIRAGE stuff a WHOLE lot more!

[dontlookdown]

Mirage any day. Loved the record when it came out, and I still think that tour had some of the loudest, fiery performances I've ever heard from the band.
Tango In The Night has some great moments and it was a strong album for Christine.
Stevie's songs are all dreadful and her voice was at it's absolute worst.
Big Love, Caroline and the title track are all great, but as a whole it feels really dated. I think it's the one FM album with the "Rumours 5" that hasn't held up very well over time.

Mirage is tuneful and melodic from start to finish and I still think has some of their best harmony as a band. Love In Store, Can't Go Back, Book of Love, That's Alright, Gypsy, Straight Back and Eyes of the World still sound great today.

[SpyNote]

I definitely think this is a classic older fan versus newer fan question.

[UndoingTheLaces]

I can't choose because I like them both so much. But it's interesting that these two would be put together for this poll because to me they both have always sounded like Lindsey solo albums with some Stevie and Christine songs thrown in. But Tango more than Mirage.

[Ulpian]

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

I can't choose because I like them both so much. But it's interesting that these two would be put together for this poll because to me they both have always sounded like Lindsey solo albums with some Stevie and Christine songs thrown in. But Tango more than Mirage.

I don't feel that about Mirage; it sounds much more a band album than TITN, which does sound a bit fragmented, a bit like a collection of (very good) solo songs.

I'm interested to hear the term "80s" used in derogatory fashion here by some in respect of TITN's vibe. I love it. For some of us, the sound produced at that time is second to none.

I also never get the vitriol directed at Little Lies and Everywhere. There are crimes far greater than writing a song with a killer hook, 'bland' as you might think the lyrics to be. If you're gunning for Christine, go for some of her Tusk songs - TITN was her moment to stand out. Lindsey, too; the darkness he conveys is marvellous.