Mirage at 40

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Did not Mick say in his book he was the only one in the band that wanted to keep the Mirage tour going?

Mirage could of had a few more singles but MTV was huge and Love In Store needed a video. The band used MTV in a huge way to promote Mirage and its ground breaking music videos. However the band barely got through the Hold Me video and no way they could have tolerated each other again for another video.

Yes, Mick literally said he "felt sick when we stopped touring", and Mirage died after left the road and five weeks at number one.

I agree the video Hold Me was an evidence that they couldn't stand each other. If the band's mood had been different, they might have even tried to make a video for one of Lindsey's songs, to maintain balance. Although I don't know which one I would have chosen. Mirage wasn't Lindsey's masterpiece as far as singles go.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Yes, Mick literally said he "felt sick when we stopped touring", and Mirage died after left the road and five weeks at number one.

I agree the video Hold Me was an evidence that they couldn't stand each other. If the band's mood had been different, they might have even tried to make a video for one of Lindsey's songs, to maintain balance. Although I don't know which one I would have chosen. Mirage wasn't Lindsey's masterpiece as far as singles go.

Hold Me and Gypsy were some of the biggest videos on MTV in 1982. If the band had cut a third one for Love In Store my hunch it would have been a top 10 hit. The song went to #22 without a video and back then every song in the top 30 had a video to go along with it. Even if it was a basic video it would have extended the life of Mirage. Love In Store is the perfect pop song.

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Yes, Mick literally said he "felt sick when we stopped touring", and Mirage died after left the road and five weeks at number one.

I agree the video Hold Me was an evidence that they couldn't stand each other. If the band's mood had been different, they might have even tried to make a video for one of Lindsey's songs, to maintain balance. Although I don't know which one I would have chosen. Mirage wasn't Lindsey's masterpiece as far as singles go.

"Oh Diane" achieved success in Europe but flopped in the UK. "Book of Love" could have been a decent option for a single.

[cbBen]

From the demos I've run across on YouTube (if dated correctly), it appears Stevie had written "Gypsy" in time for it to have gone on Bella Donna.

Jimmy Iovine or Benmont Tench (whom Iovine gave the task of reviewing Stevie's demos for songs to consider for the album)–or both (though it is the producer's ultimate responsibility)–somehow overlooked it, passed on it, or failed to get a good enough arrangement to reveal how good a song it is; and the oversight (or failure) became Fleetwood Mac's good fortune. Or, as Stevie has said, FM to some degree had right of first refusal on her songs and exercised it on this one.

Because without that song, Mirage becomes a markedly different album both commercially and artistically.

One of the demos (or run throughs) on YT is with the Heartbreakers. Perhaps that performance is part of the sessions or pre-production work for Bella Donna. Tom Petty says [I believe in VH1's Behind The Music documentary on Lindsey Buckingham (link below)] that Stevie has given him material to produce that he didn't know what to do with, whereas Lindsey knew exactly what to do with it. Perhaps "Gypsy" is the song (or among the songs) to which Petty is referring.

https://vimeo.com/442119289

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by cbBen

From the demos I've run across on YouTube (if dated correctly), it appears Stevie had written "Gypsy" in time for it to have gone on Bella Donna.

Jimmy Iovine or Benmont Tench (whom Iovine gave the task of reviewing Stevie's demos for songs to consider for the album)–or both (though it is the producer's ultimate responsibility)–somehow overlooked it, passed on it, or failed to get a good enough arrangement to reveal how good a song it is; and the oversight (or failure) became Fleetwood Mac's good fortune. Or, as Stevie has said, FM to some degree had right of first refusal on her songs and exercised it on this one.

After reading Mick's book I understood it was Stevie's decision to save Gypsy for Fleetwood Mac. But, as we know now, not all Mick's memories are completely reliable. Who knows.

Stevie's songs including the utterly majestic "Gypsy" were what she had saved for us after recording her first album, Bella Donna, which was about to sell ten million copies and make Miss Nicks the Queen of Rock. Some leftover! "Gypsy" is one of Fleetwood Mac's greatest works of art; for me it really crystallises that whole period of the early 1980s, when we were in our mid-thirties and beginning to look back on our lost youth.

[cbBen]

Originally Posted by Villavic

After reading Mick's book I understood it was Stevie's decision to save Gypsy for Fleetwood Mac. But, as we know now, not all Mick's memories are completely reliable. Who knows.

Stevie's songs including the utterly majestic "Gypsy" were what she had saved for us after recording her first album, Bella Donna, which was about to sell ten million copies and make Miss Nicks the Queen of Rock. Some leftover! "Gypsy" is one of Fleetwood Mac's greatest works of art; for me it really crystallises that whole period of the early 1980s, when we were in our mid-thirties and beginning to look back on our lost youth.

Thanks. I wonder why she cut it with the Heartbreakers then (perhaps just for fun, or perhaps she decided only afterward to hold the song over for Mirage).

If she did earmark it for FM, it demonstrates she still had a good enough head on her shoulders at that point to discern which of her songs would work better in which context. Maybe she even cut "Gypsy" for Bella Donna and, on hearing the results, thought, "For this one Lindsey is the more suitable producer" (and/or "FM is the more suitable band").

I wonder how Lindsey would have produced songs such as "After The Glitter Fades" and "Kind Of Woman."

[HomerMcvie]

Does anyone really believe a word that comes out of her mouth?

She's a DELUSIONAL NUT.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by cbBen

Maybe she even cut "Gypsy" for Bella Donna and, on hearing the results, thought, "For this one Lindsey is the more suitable producer" (and/or "FM is the more suitable band").

I wonder if she thought that, too. This 1979 sounds very different from the Mirage version. I wonder how Lindsey would have transformed it if it had been included in Tusk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoMMnt131pg

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

However the band barely got through the Hold Me video and no way they could have tolerated each other again for another video.

It's curious that Tango, where I think the mood within the band was much more complicated (to say the least), had three videos where they appear together, while Mirage only had one.

Although in Little Lies, I'm not sure if all five were together on the same day at the filming location. But I still see more interaction between some members than in Hold Me.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

It's curious that Tango, where I think the mood within the band was much more complicated (to say the least), had three videos where they appear together, while Mirage only had one.

Although in Little Lies, I'm not sure if all five were together on the same day at the filming location. But I still see more interaction between some members than in Hold Me.

All band members appear together in all 3 Tango videos. In the Songbird documentary that is posted Stevie talks about the Little Lies video in the barn and Lindsey constantly walking away out of the barn.
Mirage and Tango had similar tensions for sure. But the band had been away for 5 years so there was effort to appear together even though Tango was mostly a Lindsey solo album.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Yes, Mick literally said he "felt sick when we stopped touring", and Mirage died after left the road and five weeks at number one.

I agree the video Hold Me was an evidence that they couldn't stand each other. If the band's mood had been different, they might have even tried to make a video for one of Lindsey's songs, to maintain balance. Although I don't know which one I would have chosen. Mirage wasn't Lindsey's masterpiece as far as singles go.

I think the album would have obviously done much better. They missed so many cities and opportunities to promote locally. Worldwide Tour would have really pushed the album a lot bigger.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Does anyone really believe a word that comes out of her mouth?

She's a DELUSIONAL NUT.

Usually, the opposite is true. Or, she makes sh*t up. I don't believe hardly any of the stories she tells as far as... "when we made this.. blah blah blah..."

[Villavic]

So since I was checking some Facebook pages about charts, several related posts have been appearing on my feed for a while now. This one from a week ago shows Mirage.

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by Villavic

So since I was checking some Facebook pages about charts, several related posts have been appearing on my feed for a while now. This one from a week ago shows Mirage.

Mirage shot up the charts very quickly and surpassed the chart peak of Tusk in just three weeks.

[Macfan4life]

The next week following this chart, Mirage hits #1 after 4 weeks on the charts. It would stay there for 5 weeks and then get knocked off by John Couger's American Fool. American Fool stayed at #1 for about 2 months. During that time Mirage stayed at #2.