Interesting read about Behind the Mask

[bwboy]

By the time they achieved massive mainstream success in the mid-'70s, Fleetwood Mac had already been through more lineup changes than most bands manage in their entire careers. Rumours, their best-selling album, was partly inspired by a pair of collapsing relationships between bandmates.

They were accustomed to forging on in the face of personal and professional drama, in other words — but even so, the trials they faced before recording 1990's Behind the Mask, their 15th studio album, proved particularly threatening. All things considered, it should have been an easy time for Fleetwood Mac, who battled back from some early '80s doldrums with 1987's commercially resurgent Tango in the Night.

With another multiplatinum hit at their backs and a fresh slew of Top 40 singles marching up the charts, the band might have been able to settle into the sort of groove that had proven difficult in the years after Rumours' unwieldy success, if not for one thing: the inconveniently timed exit of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, whose songwriting and meticulous studio work had increasingly come to define their sound.

Buckingham's departure was confirmed in the summer of 1988, causing the band to scramble to fill his parts before their tour for Tango. It was just the kind of painful and potentially disastrous conflict that the band had unfortunately become known for, but as drummer Mick Fleetwood later admitted, the split was a long time coming — and exacerbated by moves the other band members had made in the years leading up to it.

Admitting the group essentially tricked Buckingham into co-producing Tango in the Night by hiring a producer they knew he wouldn't want to work with, Fleetwood told Q the guitarist's long exit from the band ultimately came down to his unwillingness to tour.

"He didn't want to go out on the road, and we knew that, and he kept putting us off," explained Fleetwood. "We said, 'You – out of anyone with the amount of work you put into this album – you're not going out on the road? That's crazy! You want to piss this down the drain? Don't you want people to hear this?' But by saying we were going anyway, we got him off the fence. He said he'd do it."

Buckingham had a list of conditions for the tour, however. "He said he wanted two, maybe three, other guitar players, percussion players, all sorts of interesting things. So, now we were over a barrel," Fleetwood recalled. "'Whatever you want,' we said, 'Just let's get out there.' For a while he looked as if he was going to do it – but he changed his mind after we booked the tour. It was not amusing."

As many problems as Buckingham's sudden change of heart may have caused, Fleetwood professed no hard feelings after the split: "He'd realized he'd been forced into a situation and had cracked. He said that touring would have destroyed him and been hell for everyone else, and that's not what this is all about. He made the right decision," Fleetwood said.

Buckingham, for his part, didn't "blame them for any tactics they might have used. It was natural. I was trying to be a nice guy, but I really didn't want to do the tour. I said no, then I said, 'Oh, okay.' They said, 'Good, let's all go out to dinner and have fun,'" he conceded to Q in 1992. "I didn't even show up at the restaurant — that's how close I was to not doing it. I finally said I could not do it. It wasn't just the touring. I had to jump this bridge and take a little responsibility for my own happiness and creativity, because it's a little bit overdue. It was tough telling them, not a happy day."

It was ultimately on the Tango in the Night tour that Fleetwood Mac tested out Buckingham's successors. Drafting rhythm guitarist Billy Burnette from Fleetwood's side project the Zoo and adding Bob Seger sideman Rick Vito on lead guitar, the new lineup solidified its chemistry in front of thousands of fans before heading into the studio for Behind the Mask. "It was almost predetermined that they would join after Lindsey left," Fleetwood told the Pioneer Press. "They turned what could have been a catastrophic event into a smooth transition."

Fans may have been disappointed by Buckingham's absence, but Fleetwood Mac ultimately saw it as restoring a spark that had been increasingly absent during the past few years of his tenure. "We had been sitting around for years not doing too much, and Fleetwood Mac had started to drift apart," mused Fleetwood after Behind the Mask's arrival. "But his departure brought about a real commitment by the rest of us to what we're doing."

Long-time singer and keyboardist Christine McVie agreed. "I like the fact that we really did pull it off," she told Rolling Stone. "The record was well arranged and well thought out, despite the fact that Lindsey wasn't there."

Fleetwood confirmed that McVie filled whatever leadership void remained. "Christine really took the bull by the horns this time," he said during a conversation with the Boston Globe. "And with Lindsey gone, the older members of the band enjoyed getting back to how we used to make albums. It was very much a team effort. ... No offense to Lindsey, but he was becoming obsessive in the studio and we were beginning to take a backseat."

The newly collaborative spirit Fleetwood felt was reflected in the Behind the Mask songwriting credits, which were spread fairly evenly between an expanded roster of writers that now included Burnette, Vito, McVie and singer Stevie Nicks, as well as their attendant collaborators. But if the atmosphere was more relaxed in the studio — Buckingham even showed up for a cameo, contributing acoustic guitar to the title track — it didn't necessarily add up to music that captivated fans.

While it would be unfair to call Behind the Mask a flop, it didn't come anywhere near the level of sales success the band enjoyed with Tango in the Night, topping out at No. 18 during a relatively brief stay on the chart and sending only one song, "Save Me," into the lower reaches of the Top 40. Although "Save Me" was an adult contemporary hit, as was "Skies the Limit," the album couldn't help but feel like a comedown.

Fleetwood Mac were also far from settled on the lineup front. The band's 1990 tour would prove to be the only one mounted by the six-piece roster responsible for Behind the Mask; by the end of the year, both McVie and Nicks would depart, along with Vito. McVie returned for the group's next outing, 1995's little-heard Time, but most of the next decade was spent with the band in varying degrees of flux.



Read More: How Fleetwood Mac Tried to Move on With 'Behind the Mask' | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/flee...edium=referral

[WalkAThinLine.]

I'm pretty much at a point where I've read nearly every Fleetwood Mac article that is currently readily accessible. Ultimate Classic Rock does a lot of retreads where they dig up various sources and synthesize them for the masses. To their credit, some of the information they extract can be somewhat difficult to find, but they don't really generate any new information by conducting interviews. It's mostly recycling material that has already been published. The one key exception to this are their reviews, which are fine enough.

[SteveMacD]

I vividly remember Mick’s comments about Lindsey wanting the percussionists and extra guitarists and had goosebumps when I saw Lindsey doing just that on his 1993 tour.

[Macfan4life]

That seems to be an old article. Christine in her later years did not speak fondly of BTM. Lindsey left the summer of 1987, not 1988.
BTM was a flop in the States. It barely cracked the top 20 albums for a week or so and charted no big hits in the States. It was the first album to not go platinum since Stevie and Lindsey joined. Its poor sales facilitated band member's exits.
BTM was successful in the UK and Greece where it went to #1. Save Me and Paper Doll both were top ten hits in Canada.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

I'm pretty much at a point where I've read nearly every Fleetwood Mac article that is currently readily accessible.

I don't think every, but I have read lot of articles. Many of them have wrong details, like GYOW written by Christine, or wrong dates. Then the reliability of the articles become questionable, but I do share it here sometimes, to share some interest info or to evaluate other data.

I wouldn't call BTM a flop, but Time was. I think Time showed that for Fleetwood Mac the era of constantly changing members was long over. A modified band name would have been more appropriate. Like Starship, that band was not Jefferson Starship, and J. S. was not Jefferson Airplane.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

I don't think every, but I have read lot of articles. Many of them have wrong details, like GYOW written by Christine, or wrong dates. Then the reliability of the articles become questionable, but I do share it here sometimes, to share some interest info or to evaluate other data.

I wouldn't call BTM a flop, but Time was. I think Time showed that for Fleetwood Mac the era of constantly changing members was long over. A modified band name would have been more appropriate. Like Starship, that band was not Jefferson Starship, and J. S. was not Jefferson Airplane.

By Fleetwood Mac standards it was. The BTM tour started in Australia and brief Japan dates before heading to the states. Save Me was already dropping out of the top 40 when they touched down in Washington state. It was new and already tanking. To have a Mac album with no hits and not go platinum was shocking. Stevie hit the same wall with OSOTM. All of her solo albums had at least 1 top 10 single and all went platinum. The albums were not great and the music business was changing. Now its fun to imagine if BTM was a top 5 album charting as many hits as Tango. That could have changed the course of the band. Personally I really like BTM but living through 1990 in real time it felt like a rug was pulled out from under me. I could not believe or understand people were not into them.
In 1980 many music critics called Tusk a flop album. They said that because it was compared to Rumours. But Tusk was platinum and charted 2 top 10 hits and hit #4 on the album charts. Tusk was anything but a flop. Even if BTM never had hit singles, no one was buying it thus it never climbed the charts. They were considered a washed up band holding on to nostalgia.

[Mr Scarrott]

Christine's no-holds-barred opinion:


What was the trigger for leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1998? Did it have anything to do with the Mac albums that preceded it, Behind The Mask (1990) and Time (’95)?

I don’t think anyone likes those albums. They’re terrible. They’re scrubbed under the carpet. Did they have anything to do with it? Yeah, very possibly. Dave Mason [ex Traffic guitarist/vocalist, who joined the Mac from 1993 to ’95] and I did not get along, and I thought the music was suffering. I think Mick thought it was the end of the road as well, for the first time. Also, I was more gone than them during the making of Time. Emotionally not there, physically not here. I just didn’t show up. I left Mick and John holding the baby. I couldn’t bear watching it all fall apart. And I couldn’t keep peace with Dave Mason, I’m afraid. It was very acrimonious with him and I just bailed. Mick and John were OK. Also, I was tired of living out of a suitcase, tired of travel, plus I had a fear of flying. I’d been doing it longer than Stevie and Lindsey and I’d just had enough. Plus, my father was really sick and I wanted to come back to England and rediscover my roots and I was quite adamant that this was what I wanted to do.

https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/...ie-remembered/

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Mr Scarrott

Christine's no-holds-barred opinion:


What was the trigger for leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1998? Did it have anything to do with the Mac albums that preceded it, Behind The Mask (1990) and Time (’95)?

I don’t think anyone likes those albums. They’re terrible. They’re scrubbed under the carpet. Did they have anything to do with it? Yeah, very possibly. Dave Mason [ex Traffic guitarist/vocalist, who joined the Mac from 1993 to ’95] and I did not get along, and I thought the music was suffering. I think Mick thought it was the end of the road as well, for the first time. Also, I was more gone than them during the making of Time. Emotionally not there, physically not here. I just didn’t show up. I left Mick and John holding the baby. I couldn’t bear watching it all fall apart. And I couldn’t keep peace with Dave Mason, I’m afraid. It was very acrimonious with him and I just bailed. Mick and John were OK. Also, I was tired of living out of a suitcase, tired of travel, plus I had a fear of flying. I’d been doing it longer than Stevie and Lindsey and I’d just had enough. Plus, my father was really sick and I wanted to come back to England and rediscover my roots and I was quite adamant that this was what I wanted to do.

https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/...ie-remembered/

I remember her saying that.
She also said that In The Meantime was in the pits of hell and that is a great album.
I think Chris changed in the 1990s and was even unhappy with The Dance.
Chris also ragged on Mirage and even Tusk for a while.

She was one tough cookie. She loved Rumours btw

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by Mr Scarrott

Christine's no-holds-barred opinion:


What was the trigger for leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1998? Did it have anything to do with the Mac albums that preceded it, Behind The Mask (1990) and Time (’95)?

I don’t think anyone likes those albums. They’re terrible. They’re scrubbed under the carpet. Did they have anything to do with it? Yeah, very possibly. Dave Mason [ex Traffic guitarist/vocalist, who joined the Mac from 1993 to ’95] and I did not get along, and I thought the music was suffering. I think Mick thought it was the end of the road as well, for the first time. Also, I was more gone than them during the making of Time. Emotionally not there, physically not here. I just didn’t show up. I left Mick and John holding the baby. I couldn’t bear watching it all fall apart. And I couldn’t keep peace with Dave Mason, I’m afraid. It was very acrimonious with him and I just bailed. Mick and John were OK. Also, I was tired of living out of a suitcase, tired of travel, plus I had a fear of flying. I’d been doing it longer than Stevie and Lindsey and I’d just had enough. Plus, my father was really sick and I wanted to come back to England and rediscover my roots and I was quite adamant that this was what I wanted to do.

https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/...ie-remembered/

It’s interesting that Christine lumps the two albums together, but when she talks specifics about how much she hates that era, she mentions only Time. She was very enthusiastic about BTM at the time, and while I get that she could have been faking it for the press, that doesn’t really seem like her. Plus, I’ve never seen her speak about Time like she did BTM, probably because she’s not fake, and wouldn’t say an album was good if she didn’t really believe it.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bwboy

It’s interesting that Christine lumps the two albums together, but when she talks specifics about how much she hates that era, she mentions only Time. She was very enthusiastic about BTM at the time, and while I get that she could have been faking it for the press, that doesn’t really seem like her. Plus, I’ve never seen her speak about Time like she did BTM, probably because she’s not fake, and wouldn’t say an album was good if she didn’t really believe it.

When 1990 hit, she changed which changed her entire outlook on life. Her father passed, their hard work with As Long As You Follow and BTM was not successful. She was tired and over the touring. She despised a certain guitarist during Time. Her marriage to Eddy was failing. Now we can all understand how unhappy she was during The Dance.
Stevie had a rough period in the 80s when she did not appreciate the music she put out either. We never or rarely hear a song from RAL or OSOTM in her sets. I think looking back on the 1990s brought back bad memories.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

When 1990 hit, she changed which changed her entire outlook on life. Her father passed, their hard work with As Long As You Follow and BTM was not successful. She was tired and over the touring. She despised a certain guitarist during Time. Her marriage to Eddy was failing. Now we can all understand how unhappy she was during The Dance.

While I have no doubt she was thrilled for John and Julie, I’m sure it wasn’t entirely easy seeing John become a father during that time. John becoming a dad and Cyril dying within a year and a half all while the band was starting to commercially falter had to have her evaluating everything.

Stevie had a rough period in the 80s when she did not appreciate the music she put out either. We never or rarely hear a song from RAL or OSOTM in her sets. I think looking back on the 1990s brought back bad memories.

Stevie was overexposed when she was starting to fail. Tango songs sucked, the Greatest Hits album doomed the creative future of the band and was unnecessary four years before they were going to do a boxed set, and the concert videos were unforgivable. Doing TOSOTM before BTM was also a terrible mistake.

After the Tango tour, a new Fleetwood Mac album should have been the only focus for any of them, but especially Stevie. If she had put her best songs on BTM instead of doing TOSOTM, she would have appeared in much better shape than she actually was. BTM would also have greatly benefited by putting better Billy and Rick songs on the album and a different producer. In other words, they needed to have one solid album after the TITN tour instead of a bunch of ill advised, half-assed projects.

Skies the Limit
Victim of Love
Long Way To Go
Intuition
Do You Know
Save Me
In the Back of My Mind
Whole Lotta Trouble
—
Behind the Mask
Juliet (like the TITN demo version)
Got No Home
Doing the Best I Can
When the Sun Goes Down
Rooms On Fire
As Long As You Follow
Game of Love

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

After the Tango tour, a new Fleetwood Mac album should have been the only focus for any of them, but especially Stevie. If she had put her best songs on BTM instead of doing TOSOTM, she would have appeared in much better shape than she actually was. BTM would also have greatly benefited by putting better Billy and Rick songs on the album and a different producer. In other words, they needed to have one solid album after the TITN tour instead of a bunch of ill advised, half-assed projects.

Skies the Limit
Victim of Love
Long Way To Go
Intuition
Do You Know
Save Me
In the Back of My Mind
Whole Lotta Trouble
—
Behind the Mask
Juliet (like the TITN demo version)
Got No Home
Doing the Best I Can
When the Sun Goes Down
Rooms On Fire
As Long As You Follow
Game of Love

I can’t see Stevie giving up her own solo album for FM, even though Lindsey did for Tango. Your suggestions for songs that might have been better for Behind the Mask is fascinating, though. You left off some of my favorites- No Questions Asked, When It Comes to Love, and Love is Dangerous, and included some of my least favorites- Whole Lotta Trouble and Juliet. I never understood why Game of Love and Intuition were left off BTM.

[bwboy]

I kind of like this for Behind the Mask:

In the Back of My Mind
Skies the Limit
Love is Dangerous
Game of Love
Save Me
Freedom

Behind the Mask
No Questions Asked
Do You Know
Intuition
When It Comes to Love
When the Sun Goes Down
As Long As You Follow