- Mirage (Fleetwood Mac album)
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Mirage Studio album by Fleetwood Mac Released June 1982 Recorded 1981–82, Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France Genre Rock Length 42:52 Label Warner Bros. Producer Lindsey Buckingham, Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut, Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac chronology Live
(1980)Mirage
(1982)Tango in the Night
(1987)Singles from Mirage Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic [1] Robert Christgau (B+)[2] Mirage is the 13th studio album by Fleetwood Mac, released in June 1982.
Following a hiatus of over a year after the completion of the worldwide Tusk tour, the band temporarily relocated to Château d'Hérouville in France to record this 12-track collection. By this time Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham had each commenced a solo side-career, the former to multi-platinum #1 success with 1981's Bella Donna, the latter faring not as well with his first outing Law and Order (US Billboard #32).
Mirage found the band venturing further into radio-friendly soft rock than it had in any of its previous incarnations. It stood in stark contrast to its highly experimental predecessor, 1979's Tusk. Mirage yielded several hit singles: "Hold Me" (which peaked at #4 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Chart, remaining there for seven weeks), "Love in Store" (#22 US Pop Chart), "Oh Diane" (which reached #9 in the UK), and finally, "Can't Go Back" (issued on 7" and 12" in the UK).
The Stevie Nicks composition "Gypsy" (#12 Pop, #4 Rock, and a #1 hit in Canada) was the second single from the album and was accompanied by a lengthy video, the highest-budget music video ever produced at the time,[citation needed] directed by Russell Mulcahy, and was the very first "World Premiere Video" on MTV in 1982.[citation needed] The single and album edit of "Gypsy" ran for only 4:24, but a 5½-minute version had been originally recorded and it was this version used for the video. This full-length version was not made available on CD until 1992's retrospective box set 25 Years – The Chain.
Of the other two compositions from Nicks on the album, "That's Alright" dated back to the Buckingham/Nicks days of 1974, whilst "Straight Back" was written in the winter of 1981 and referred to her separation from (then) lover, producer Jimmy Iovine, and the huge wrench she experienced having to leave her newly established and highly successful solo career to re-join Fleetwood Mac for the 1982 project (Nicks refers to this on the DVD commentary to her 2008 retrospective Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks). "Straight Back" was also a US radio hit in winter 1982.
The album was certified double platinum for shipping two million copies in the US[3] and returned the group to the top of the U.S. charts for the first time since their 1977 hit album Rumours, spending five weeks at the top. It also reached #5 in the UK, and #2 in Australia.[citation needed]
Contents
Track listing
- "Love in Store" (Christine McVie, Jim Recor) – 3:14
- "Can't Go Back" (Lindsey Buckingham) – 2:42
- "That's Alright" (Stevie Nicks) – 3:09
- "Book of Love" (Buckingham, Richard Dashut) – 3:21
- "Gypsy" (Nicks) – 4:24
- "Only Over You" (C. McVie) – 4:08
- "Empire State" (Buckingham, Dashut) – 2:51
- "Straight Back" (Nicks) – 4:17
- "Hold Me" (C. McVie, Robbie Patton) – 3:44
- "Oh Diane" (Buckingham, Dashut) – 2:33
- "Eyes of the World" (Buckingham) – 3:44
- "Wish You Were Here" (C. McVie, Colin Allen) – 4:45
Tour
The Mirage Tour in Autumn 1982 only lasted for a few weeks and was confined to US dates in 18 cities only.[citation needed]
Setlist:
- "Second Hand News"
- "The Chain"
- "Don't Stop"
- "Dreams"
- "Oh Well"
- "Rhiannon"
- "Brown Eyes"
- "Eyes of the World"
- "Gypsy"
- "Love in Store"
- "Not That Funny"
- "Never Going Back Again"
- "Landslide"
- "Tusk"
- "Sara"
- "Hold Me"
- "You Make Loving Fun"
- "I'm So Afraid"
- "Go Your Own Way"
- "Blue Letter"
- "Sisters of the Moon"
- "Songbird"
Mirage Tour Video/DVD
Two of the final shows of the Mirage tour were filmed in Los Angeles in 1982. Originally released on VHS and CED videodisc in 1983, many tracks were edited out, with the loss of "Second Hand News", "Don't Stop", "Dreams", "Brown Eyes", "Oh Well", "Never Going Back Again", "Landslide", "Sara", and "Hold Me", reducing the 135 minute show to just 80 minutes on cassette. The running order was also completely rearranged so that Nicks' "Gypsy" followed "The Chain", whilst "You Make Loving Fun" and "Blue Letter" were moved to the first half of the edited show.
The performance also includes what is often referred to as the 'speaking in tongues' version of "Sisters of the Moon", in which Nicks delivers the song's coda in such intense gravelly vibratos that her words are rendered mysteriously indecipherable.
The concert was not released on DVD until 2003, but this was limited to Brazil on the Studio Gaba label, and featured an unmastered soundtrack.
In 2006 a good quality release was issued in Australia, with an added special feature comprising six Stevie Nicks solo promotional videos for some of her singles released between 1981 and 1986. This collection had previously been issued separately on VHS in 1986 under the title Stevie Nicks – I Can't Wait, and exclusively includes a live solo version of her top ten hit "Leather and Lace" (a duet with Don Henley), which was recorded on the final night of Nicks' 1981 Bella Donna tour. The clip was not included in the 9-track edit of Nicks' "White Wing Dove" live concert VHS release in 1982, and neither was it included in the DVD supplement to her 2008 retrospective Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks. To date, this is therefore the only DVD availability of this live performance.
In 2009, another DVD incarnation of the Mirage concert was released under the title Fleetwood Mac – In Performance by the Showline label on a region-free disc.
Credits
Fleetwood Mac
- Stevie Nicks – vocals
- Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, vocals, keyboards
- Christine McVie – keyboards, vocals
- John McVie – bass guitar
- Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion
Additional personnel:
- Ray Lindsey – additional guitar on "Straight Back"
Charts
Album
Year Chart Position 1982 US 1 1982 UK 5 1982 AUS 2 Singles
Year Single Chart Position 1982 "Gypsy" Adult Contemporary 9 1982 "Gypsy" Mainstream Rock 4 1982 "Gypsy" Pop Singles 12 1982 "Gypsy" UK 46 1982 "Hold Me" Adult Contemporary 7 1982 "Hold Me" Mainstream Rock 3 1982 "Hold Me" Pop Singles 4 1982 "Straight Back" Mainstream Rock 36 1983 "Love in Store" Adult Contemporary 11 1983 "Love in Store" Pop Singles 22 1983 "Oh Diane" Adult Contemporary 35 1983 "Oh Diane" UK 9 1983 "Can't Go Back" UK 83 Certifications
Region Certification Sales/shipments Canada (Music Canada)[4] Platinum 100,000^ United Kingdom (BPI)[5] Platinum 300,000^ United States (RIAA)[3] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^ ^shipments figures based on certification alone
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Robert Christgau review
- ^ a b "American album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Mirage". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Mirage%22. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
- ^ "Canadian album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Mirage". Music Canada. http://www.musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=Mirage&sa=Fleetwood+Mac&smt=0.
- ^ "British album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Mirage". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx. Enter Mirage in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
Preceded by
Asia by AsiaBillboard 200 number-one album
August 7, 1982 - September 4, 1982Succeeded by
American Fool by John CougarCategories:- Albums certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
- Albums certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
- Fleetwood Mac albums
- 1982 albums
- Albums produced by Richard Dashut
- Albums produced by Ken Caillat
- Albums produced by Lindsey Buckingham
- Warner Bros. Records albums
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