Behind the mask --- Fleetwood Mac --- 1990 (Reprise)
Often somewhat forgotten among the likes of “Rumours”, “Mirage” and the multi-platinum “Tango in the night”, 1990's “Behind the mask” is a very capable little album. Fleetwood Mac could have turned out a simple replica of the mega-successful “Tango”, but instead they created a solid, mature album that, although it had nothing like the success of its predecessor, still featured the band at their best, even without Lindsey Buckingham, and which contains some truly excellent tracks. It's an album that should not be forgotten, so here I am to remind you how good it is.
As mentioned, the previous album had completely put a somewhat ailing band firmly back on the map, and in the charts. Prior to 1987's “Tango in the night”, Fleetwood Mac were remembered mostly for hit singles like “Rhiannon”, “Dreams” and “Go your own way”, mostly from the records-shattering “Rumours”, so when this album came on the scene no-one really expected that much. It had in fact been five years since their last moderately successful release, 1982's “Mirage”, but “Tango” blew that out of the water. And the problem with mega-success like that is that is it generally very hard to trump it, even equal it. In many ways, you could say that “Tango” was
too successful, taking everyone, including the band, by surprise and leaving them with the ever-worrying problem of following up such a huge smash hit.
In the event, it wasn't possible. Something like 1977's “Rumours”, “Tango” was a one-off, a phenomenon that perhaps just came at the right time. It's a great album, but had it been released a few years later maybe it might not have been so well received. The right music, at the right time, perhaps, a set of happy circumstances? Whatever, it left their next project under the oppressive cloud of having to live up to that album, and to be fair, “Behind the mask” never came close.
Perhaps people expected the same sort of poppy, radio-friendly hits that spewed from “Tango” like a candy machine, but this album is different. I would say it's more mature, and in terms of “Tango” being close to a pop record, this is more correctly rock. It starts off with “Skies the limit” (sic) a pretty little pop jingle, with Christine McVie in fine form, but it's essentially forgettable, and any possibility that this was going to be “Tango part 2” is dispelled when the second track gets going. “Love is dangerous” is a rocky, bluesy little number, and if they no longer have Lindsey Buckingham on guitar, he's ably made up for by both Rick Vito AND Billy Burnette. Stevie Nicks sings this one, and is at her raunchy best, similar to songs like “Stand back” and “Enchanted” from her own solo albums.
This then leads into a much heavier and slower track, the introspective “In the back of my mind”, which starts off with what sounds like backwards-masking on the vocals, a sort of slow jungle drumbeat, swirling synths with a long intro --- about two minutes of the seven-plus the track runs for --- before the guitars chime in and the song proper gets going. It's mostly a male vocal, though whether it's Burnette or Vito I don't know, as each are credited with vocals on the album. Stevie Nicks provides the backing vocals and the song is a slow churner, smouldering along for the remainder. Definitely NOT written with radio airplay in mind.
There are a few ballads on the album, as you would expect, best of them probably being
“Do you know”, a typical Fleetwood Mac song, a semi-ballad that should really have made it as a single. But it's “Save me”, faster and more commercial that made it as one of the three singles, and had the most success in the charts. It's an enjoyable song, with some good harmonies and great guitar. There are quite a few hard rockers on the album, notably “Stand on the rock”, “Freedom” and the delightfully rockabilly “When the sun goes down”, but it's tracks like “In the back of my mind” and the title track that really make this album stand out as a more aggressive and mature offering from a band who had by now almost become synonymous with the likes of “Seven wonders” and “Little lies”.
One of the standout tracks on the album, although written by neither, could very well refer to the troubled personal history between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, the acid “Hard feelings”, one of the most honest love/anti-love songs I've heard in quite a long time.
”I've got hard feelings/ When it come to you and me/ And these hard feelings/ Just won't let me be/ These hard feelings run deep.” Indeed.
As I say, a much more mature and rockier album than its predecessor, and anyone who was expecting a continuation of “Tango in the night” would certainly have been disappointed. It was a bold step for the band, avoiding the easy path of churning out more hits and further diluting their unique sound, and it hurt them commercially, the album yielding only one major single. Indeed, it was five years before they released their next album, and really, that wasn't what I'd call Fleedwood Mac, as neither of the ladies were involved, so the next proper Mac record was not till 2003, when they came back triumphantly with “Say you will”, proving that they still had it.
If all you know of Fleetwood Mac is “Tango” (or the singles from it), do yourself a favour and listen to this to hear a true rock band breaking out of the mould the record labels and popular trends tried to force them into.
And listen to “Rumours”, too, before you're much older....
TRACKLISTING
1. Skies the limit
2. Love is dangerous
3. In the back of my mind
4. Do you know
5. Save me
6. Affairs of the heart
7. When the sun goes down
8. Behind the mask
9. Stand on the rock
10. Hard feelings
11. Freedom
12. When it comes to love
13. The second time