Stevie's Extra Vocals on Tango

[David]

Originally Posted by starshine

Its more of a Lindsey/Christine record really. Which if I'd been a member and wasn't really aloud to contribute to it that would've made me angry. Yes, Stevie had 'issue's than but they should've had some sort of understanding really. Its not like they didn't know her. I just don't think they handled well on all fronts really.

Agreed.

Nobody was very mature or sensible, & nobody laid down the law. Stevie Nicks should have said, way back at the Village Recorder in 1979, "The next time somebody in this band makes fun of me or my contributions, or criticizes me in a destructive rather than constructive way, I'm walking. I'm not going to stay in this band just to be belittled & mocked." And Fleetwood Mac should have told Stevie, "When this band is recording, you are expected to attend most, if not all, the sessions. Demos mailed to us in the studio from your sojourns in Australia or elsewhere will be marked RETURN TO SENDER."

TANGO's problems, as everyone seems to agree, seem attributable to drug use, unprofessionalism, & emotional fragility. Given Stevie's & John's absence & Mick Fleetwood's drunkenness day & night, Lindsey made the mistake of continuing to captain the project on through to completion. He should have said to the band during the troubled sessions, "We're done. There won't be an album -- at least one that I am creating or even participating in. I'd like you all to leave. When Stevie, Mick, & John decide to take the album seriously & commit their time & effort to it, we can reconvene & finish these tracks. If that takes six months or if that takes six years, it's up to the band members."

I now think that's what Lindsey should have done: sent everybody home. Stevie might have gone ahead with her cocaine treatment, Mick might have sought help for his drug & alcohol use (which had rendered him an obnoxious idiot by that time), & John too might have put the bottle down. The band might have reconvened in much better circumstances in 1988, 1989, or even 1990, & finished the album & toured.

[starshine]

Originally Posted by David

Agreed.

Nobody was very mature or sensible, & nobody laid down the law. Stevie Nicks should have said, way back at the Village Recorder in 1979, "The next time somebody in this band makes fun of me or my contributions, or criticizes me in a destructive rather than constructive way, I'm walking. I'm not going to stay in this band just to be belittled & mocked." And Fleetwood Mac should have told Stevie, "When this band is recording, you are expected to attend most, if not all, the sessions. Demos mailed to us in the studio from your sojourns in Australia or elsewhere will be marked RETURN TO SENDER."

TANGO's problems, as everyone seems to agree, seem attributable to drug use, unprofessionalism, & emotional fragility. Given Stevie's & John's absence & Mick Fleetwood's drunkenness day & night, Lindsey made the mistake of continuing to captain the project on through to completion. He should have said to the band during the troubled sessions, "We're done. There won't be an album -- at least one that I am creating or even participating in. I'd like you all to leave. When Stevie, Mick, & John decide to take the album seriously & commit their time & effort to it, we can reconvene & finish these tracks. If that takes six months or if that takes six years, it's up to the band members."

I now think that's what Lindsey should have done: sent everybody home. Stevie might have gone ahead with her cocaine treatment, Mick might have sought help for his drug & alcohol use (which had rendered him an obnoxious idiot by that time), & John too might have put the bottle down. The band might have reconvened in much better circumstances in 1988, 1989, or even 1990, & finished the album & toured.

Great post also!! Yeah, maybe none of those projects really should've been completed. For Stevie maybe RAL should've been shelved too. She should've continued her treatment instead of rushing to get out so she could tour for RAL. Of course alot of fans will probably be mad that I'm saying that but when the work is released and its really not the 'best' and you only get junk that passes off for an LP its kinda sad when you know what potential exsists esp with said members involved. I agree with your comments about Tango. It really sounds like no one in Fmac really should've been making that LP. Execept maybe Lindsey/Chris. It really should've just been Lindsey's solo LP and a Christine solo LP than. Of course thats not what occured. Other than emotional issue's with Lindsey and Stevie as well. Its just said that no one else in the FMac camp spoke up but really the record company (Warner Brothers) wants a new LP cause of the $$ aspect so why would they stop them. Sad but true. I'm guessing they were there cash cow's than still though I would think they had other bands in the 80's that were more cash cow's than (not sure whom though?).I just think and feel personally cheated with that LP so I guess thats why its not my favorite. Its ok though if others love it. Just isn't the best to me really. It could've been so much better really.

[ahafan02]

Originally Posted by David

Agreed.

Nobody was very mature or sensible, & nobody laid down the law. Stevie Nicks should have said, way back at the Village Recorder in 1979, "The next time somebody in this band makes fun of me or my contributions, or criticizes me in a destructive rather than constructive way, I'm walking. I'm not going to stay in this band just to be belittled & mocked." And Fleetwood Mac should have told Stevie, "When this band is recording, you are expected to attend most, if not all, the sessions. Demos mailed to us in the studio from your sojourns in Australia or elsewhere will be marked RETURN TO SENDER."

TANGO's problems, as everyone seems to agree, seem attributable to drug use, unprofessionalism, & emotional fragility. Given Stevie's & John's absence & Mick Fleetwood's drunkenness day & night, Lindsey made the mistake of continuing to captain the project on through to completion. He should have said to the band during the troubled sessions, "We're done. There won't be an album -- at least one that I am creating or even participating in. I'd like you all to leave. When Stevie, Mick, & John decide to take the album seriously & commit their time & effort to it, we can reconvene & finish these tracks. If that takes six months or if that takes six years, it's up to the band members."

I now think that's what Lindsey should have done: sent everybody home. Stevie might have gone ahead with her cocaine treatment, Mick might have sought help for his drug & alcohol use (which had rendered him an obnoxious idiot by that time), & John too might have put the bottle down. The band might have reconvened in much better circumstances in 1988, 1989, or even 1990, & finished the album & toured.

Interesting post but then we might never have gotten Big Love, Little Lies, Everywhere, Isn't It Midnight and Seven Wonders...

[tabruns]

Well I think that's the thing.....the band felt that they really had something with "Big Love", "Little Lies", "Everywhere", "Isn't It Midnight", "Tango In The Night" and "Caroline". That's what kept them going through the record, even though Stevie was absent. If Stevie had turned in three strong songs, like she had every prior album, Tango In The Night could have potentially rivaled Rumours.

Imagine this:
Big Love
Seven Wonders
Everywhere
Smile At You (original demo-style mix)
Tango In The Night
Mystified
Little Lies
Family Man
Planets Of The Universe (extended single version)
Caroline
Isn't It Midnight
You And I, Part II

[Fannymac]

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

The Little Lies extended (Jellybean) mix has a bit more of Stevie in it.

I'm assuming Buckingham didn't use a lot of Stevie's parts because, well, they weren't very good.Also, I have a feeling that her contributions were minimal... Lindsey said she was "hardly" there (I think only a few weeks out of the year it took to make the record)... God knows.

Not true.....when I was interning at Modern, I heard an early copy of the disc....Stevie was ALL OVER the disc, travelling back from the Petty/Dylan tour and just before Betty Ford....and she sounded GREAT!

It was Lindsey who got his nose in a snit about something and ERASED almost all of her vocals....he almost took her off of "Little Lies" as well, but Christine put her foot down.

Trust me, they did exist at one time, but I believe that they're long, looong gone!

[mikebise]

Originally Posted by Fannymac

Not true.....when I was interning at Modern, I heard an early copy of the disc....Stevie was ALL OVER the disc, travelling back from the Petty/Dylan tour and just before Betty Ford....and she sounded GREAT!

It was Lindsey who got his nose in a snit about something and ERASED almost all of her vocals....he almost took her off of "Little Lies" as well, but Christine put her foot down.

Trust me, they did exist at one time, but I believe that they're long, looong gone!

This confirms what Ginny Kamano told fans in Early 1987 ~ Fleetwood Mac/Lindsey had decided she would only be on TWO songs period after all the recording had finished. Warner Bros. said, "No way!" and forced FM/LB to make sure Stevie had three songs of hers and could be heard on at least one other song. That was their edict, and LB kept strictly to it, deleting all of Stevie's other vocals that she'd recorded from the finished product.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by Fannymac

Not true.....when I was interning at Modern, I heard an early copy of the disc....Stevie was ALL OVER the disc, travelling back from the Petty/Dylan tour and just before Betty Ford....and she sounded GREAT!

It was Lindsey who got his nose in a snit about something and ERASED almost all of her vocals....he almost took her off of "Little Lies" as well, but Christine put her foot down.

Trust me, they did exist at one time, but I believe that they're long, looong gone!

Wow, that's really interesting. Why did Lindsey have a little bitchfit and take all her vocals off? I'm not really sure on why he'd do that at all.

[blinker12]

Fleetwood Mac/Lindsey had decided she would only be on TWO songs period after all the recording had finished. Warner Bros. said, "No way!" and forced FM/LB to make sure Stevie had three songs of hers and could be heard on at least one other song. That was their edict, and LB kept strictly to it, deleting all of Stevie's other vocals that she'd recorded from the finished product.

I thought the "I am what I am..." on the breakdown of the album version of "Family Man" was her. You can tell better on the extended remix I think.
I mean, not that it really sounds much like Stevie, but that's one other song she's on. I wonder if Lindsey even meant this as a cruel joke... Like, "Yeah I'll keep your vocal on this one but manipulate it to the point it doesn't even sound like you."

[mikebise]

Yeah, Stevie is totally obvious on the Remix. I remember delivering flowers in Austin in Fall 1987, and one of the radio stations did a dance remix lunch hour. "Family Man" came after some other song, and I hadn't bought the 12" because of being poor then. Suddenly, that sped up part slowed down and it was TOTALLY STEVIE!!!!! And then her extra vocals that had been stripped off ~ "He is what he is! Whoooaaaa OWWW!!!"

So, even there, Stevie had recorded more vocals that were taken off, and she was disguised in the track on the album.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by mikebise

She turned in:

"Seven Wonders"
"When I See You Again"
"Juliet"
"Whole Lotta Trouble"
"What Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You?"
"Joan Of Arc"
"Welcome To the Room... Sara"

Pretty good songs to me!

Great tunes... And I don't care the she didn't write Seven Wonders.. I think it's a fantastic FM tune..

[HejiraNYC]

For me, Tango was a very sterile, pristine album. Not a single note out of place. No stray sounds or blips. No idiosyncratic bits. Every note, every syllable had its purpose. Except when it came to Stevie. Despite the very tamed, refined sound field, her vocals were raw and practically uncontrollable. To heck with precision! She would "whoaah" and "weeelll" and mutter under her breath ("Sara, er, Tara, er, Sara..."). She vamped out improvised lines at the end of her songs, which is something Lindsey or Christine couldn't/wouldn't do. In a word, Mama was wild! And quite honestly, I just can't imagine those extra Stevie vocal bits fitting in seamlessly with those Lindsey and Christine songs. I hate to say it, but it's like that old bull in a china shop analogy. She would have simply "Stevie-ized" these pristine songs, which, IMHO, is not necessarily a bad thing. But I could imagine Lindsey, wearing his producers cap, was having a hard time trying to integrate her vocals without totally disrupting the immaculate sound. And his resentment was probably further fueled by the fact that she was not available to re-record her parts when he needed her.

[jbrownsjr]

^^^^

Haha!! great post.. I will say that some of her "improvs" remind me of a drunk drag queen falling into the drums on stage...

But when mama is on.. her improvs are awesome... examples.. The Chain Mirage tour... where Stevie puts a perfect..."ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" sounds sublime...

where Lindsey is barking like a sick dog.. and Christine is doing her best man voice impression...

[GoldDustOrphan]

For me, Tango was a very sterile, pristine album. Not a single note out of place. No stray sounds or blips. No idiosyncratic bits. Every note, every syllable had its purpose. Except when it came to Stevie. Despite the very tamed, refined sound field, her vocals were raw and practically uncontrollable. To heck with precision! She would "whoaah" and "weeelll" and mutter under her breath ("Sara, er, Tara, er, Sara..."). She vamped out improvised lines at the end of her songs, which is something Lindsey or Christine couldn't/wouldn't do. In a word, Mama was wild! And quite honestly, I just can't imagine those extra Stevie vocal bits fitting in seamlessly with those Lindsey and Christine songs. I hate to say it, but it's like that old bull in a china shop analogy. She would have simply "Stevie-ized" these pristine songs, which, IMHO, is not necessarily a bad thing. But I could imagine Lindsey, wearing his producers cap, was having a hard time trying to integrate her vocals without totally disrupting the immaculate sound. And his resentment was probably further fueled by the fact that she was not available to re-record her parts when he needed her.

I agree with every single sentence - make that every single letter and punctuation mark - in the above review. Lindsey tried to poison her "WEELLLLS," but they're a force of nature. Those "wells" injected some life into the live version of "Isn't It Midnight" and her throwaway vocal on the Big Love remix is my absolute favorite moment from the entire project.

[mikebise]

Originally Posted by GoldDustOrphan

I agree with every single sentence - make that every single letter and punctuation mark - in the above review. Lindsey tried to poison her "WEELLLLS," but they're a force of nature. Those "wells" injected some life into the live version of "Isn't It Midnight" and her throwaway vocal on the Big Love remix is my absolute favorite moment from the entire project.

You know, I almost posted exactly what you did! Hej just really nails it sometimes!

I still think "Joan Of Arc" would have added to the creepy Late Eighties distantness of the album. I mean, the album just screams "1987!" and rightly so. That's why it was a hit. But "When I See You Again" is part of that Late Eighties crash from the highest heights that so many people experienced. I think "Joan Of Arc" would work well, too.

And Stevie's EXTRA "Big Love" vocals are some of my favourite things, too!

[APerfectLie]

Originally Posted by blinker12

I thought the "I am what I am..." on the breakdown of the album version of "Family Man" was her. You can tell better on the extended remix I think.
I mean, not that it really sounds much like Stevie, but that's one other song she's on. I wonder if Lindsey even meant this as a cruel joke... Like, "Yeah I'll keep your vocal on this one but manipulate it to the point it doesn't even sound like you."

I always heard that that was actually Lindsey, but he altered it to make it sound like Stevie without actually putting her on the track.