If There Had Been an Album Between Mirage and Tango...

[aleuzzi]

I have occasionally wondered what an album in the "between" years would have sounded like. I'll go with a list from the three albums mentioned in the original post, but technically "The Wild Heart" and Mick's Zoo should be considered, too.

I chose 12 songs. Since we're in fantasy land, I chose 4 from Lindsey, 5 from Christine, 3 from Stevie--though I know the Christine-Lindsey distribution would most likely have been reversed.

Go Insane
Got a Hold on Me
I Sing for the Things
Ask Anybody
Playing in the Rain
Some Become Strangers

Love Will Show Us How
Lovin' Cup
Has Anyone...
One in a Million
DW Suite
Smile I Live For


My thoughts:

All of the songs--except Smile I Live For--would have to be rearranged and recast to fit a FM sound. Got a Hold on Me and Love Will Show Us How have great verses and bland choruses; Go Insane is a wonderful tune that sounds better both on The Dance and in the re-tooling of it for the Unleashed tour; Lindsey's other songs are really quite strong contributions that could fit right alongside his Tango songs, given the FM treatment. Stevie's songs are strong but arranged in a calculated 80s synth style that doesn't suit her as well as the arrangements on albums before or since Rock A Little. I'd have loved to hear what the band would have done with them...As much as I love Has Anyone... I don't think the album version sounds nearly as good as it does when Stevie sang it for the Storytellers special in 1998. THAT was a classic performance.