DISCUSSION: Christine's songs from Mirage

[ryan4136]

First I'll give a little Mirage run down before we break down these tunes.

A lot of lukewarm feelings towards this album so far, and probably justifiably so. When I hear Mirage, I sigh a little thinking about what could've been on this album. To me this always sounds like an album that was only 2/3 of the way done. But with the double album of tusk, and some solo work the artists were just running on empty for album quality material. Imagine if Tusk had been a single, or the solo albums had been pushed back what it would've sounded like. Imagine for a minute if in the tusk sessions they had to choose between a beautiful child and a storms, or LB put trouble on this album, or if Brown eyes got the bump to this album, or a little edge of seventeen? I hear the album and I hear some greatness, surrounded with average or leftover tunes.....very sad.

Love in store....to me this sounds a bit like a leftover song, generic in it's form. As an opener it gets your feet tapping, but it doesn't draw you in like any of the previous openers...even Over and Over (which I love) makes you say "What's going on with this album" Love in store doesn't make you think at all. With that said it has a decent sing a long quality. It fits better on the road than in the studio. I do find the backing vocals a solid add in, but this feels like a bare bones song that for FM is borderline filler.

Only Over You....I will say at first I really didn't like this song. I wondered how in the world this ever made the cut. I had to force myself to listen to this for a while. Then it was obvious and it makes much more sense. The dedication to Dennis Wilson cleared it all up. I'm not much of Dennis Wilson fan as a solo artist. But if you sit down and listen, OOY has a very similar tempo to many of his songs. It also has a brooding meloncholic feel, which is exactly what DW portrays in nearly every song. I don't know the DW catalog well enough to know if OOY is actually a response to one of his songs or not. It's clear that CM, and probably LB are attempting thier best DW impression, and they hit it pretty spot on. With all that said...I still really don't find it melodically attractive, but I find it a solid artistic attempt to pay homage.

Hold Me---probably nearly everyones favorite, not just for CM, but for the Mac on this album. Great upbeat song, one of the best duets you'll find in pop music. JM's bass in this song doesn't get the credit it deserves, the transitions seem flawless here. I'm always left wanting to press repeat, but I can't help but feeling that it could've used another verse...2 minutes of Hold Me, Hold Me etc.....I get it...I'll hold you.

Wish you were here.......2 things.....great outro........you already wrote songbird...why must we keep trying to write another one.