Fleetwood Mac Mirage

Release date: 19-08-2016(originally released in 1982)

2016 EU remaster! on 180g LP- Fleetwood Mac's streak of five consecutive multi-platinum albums began in the '70s and continued in 1982 with Mirage, the follow-up to the band's 1979 double-album, Tusk. During the summer of 1982, Mirage topped the album chart and added to the band's already impressive canon of hits with "Hold Me," "Love In Store" and "Gypsy." It is every bit as fresh and accessible as Rumours, whilst its production sound (mainly courtesy of principal producers Lindsey Buckingham, Richard Dashut and Ken Caillat) is as lively and distinctive, as Tusk's.

Tracks:
A1 Love In Store
A2 Can't Go Back
A3 That's Alright
A4 Book Of Love
A5 Gypsy
A6 Only Over You

B1 Empire State
B2 Straight Back
B3 Hold Me
B4 Oh Diane
B5 Eyes Of The World
B6 Wish You Were Here

Each of Fleetwood Mac's three resident composer/vocalists are represented here with some of his or her strongest contributions yet. Christine McVie's four songs include the first single, "Hold Me" (co-written by Robbie Patton), as well as "Love In Store" (written with Jim Recor) and two ballads, "Only Over You" and "Wish You Were Here" (the latter with lyrics by Colin Allen). Stevie Nicks' songs are "That's Alright," "Gypsy" and "Straight Back," while Buckingham contributes five: "Can't Go Back," "Eyes Of The World," and three co-written by Dashut, "Book Of Love," "Empire State" and "Oh Diane."

As always, the instrumentation features Buckingham's guitars and McVie's keyboards backed by the rock solid rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. Some slightly more exotic instruments were used as well, including vibes and harp, both played by Buckingham. Meanwhile, the vocals of Lindsey, Stevie and Christine have never sounded so lush, lovely and completely together as they do on Mirage.

Fleetwood Mac retreated from the insular strangeness of Tusk and returned to straightforward pop songcraft for Mirage. Boasting a glossy, friendly production that makes even the lesser numbers pleasant and ingratiating, Mirage nonetheless suffers from a lack of substance. Rumours had raw emotion to give it a core, and Tusk had Lindsey Buckingham's runaway ambition. For its part, Mirage sounds as if its sole goal is to sustain Fleetwood Mac's popularity, and while there may be a handful of terrific songs -- notably the hit singles "Gypsy," "Love in Store," and "Hold Me" -- it simply isn't as compelling as the group's previous three albums.