Maps of Music

Behind the Mask (1990)

Where the lyrics of Behind the Mask take you, and where it was really made.

The first Fleetwood Mac album without Lindsey Buckingham entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, yet it barely reached the US Top 20.

Key places

Recorded and mixed at The Complex in Los Angeles (1990)

Recording site The Complex — The band recorded and mixed the album at The Complex in Los Angeles. Most songs were recorded on a sound stage inside the facility. The point marks the building in Lincoln Heights. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Behind the Mask: fifteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac
• Released 9 April 1990
• First album released after guitarist Lindsey Buckingham left the band
• Replacements Billy Burnette and Rick Vito, both guitarists, singers, and songwriters
• Band became a six-piece with four singer/songwriters

Background

• Buckingham left shortly after Tango in the Night in 1987
• Burnette and Vito recruited for the tour that followed
• Band recorded two new songs for the Greatest Hits compilation of 1988 before the album sessions
• New members got their first chance to record a full album in 1989
• Don Gehman was first chosen as producer, but the initial sessions did not work out
• Christine McVie said the chemistry was not right
• Greg Ladanyi was hired as producer; he had previously worked with Don Henley on solo albums

Recording

• Band spent between eight months and a year making the album
• Recorded and mixed at The Complex in Los Angeles
• Most songs recorded on a sound stage inside the facility to get a larger drum sound
• Sound moved away from the ornate production of earlier albums toward adult-oriented rock
• Stevie Nicks said the album was easier to record than the band's other work
• Synclavier sampling replaced the layered guitar overdubs Buckingham had used

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in July 1967 by Peter Green after leaving John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, with Mick Fleetwood on drums.
• The name combines Fleetwood's surname with bassist John McVie, who joined in 1967.
• Early line-up was primarily a British blues band; "Albatross" reached UK No. 1 in 1968.

Members

• Core members over time: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham.
• Buckingham and Nicks joined at the end of 1974 and drove the band's global success.

Career

• Rumours (1977) is one of the best-selling albums of all time and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1978.
• The band has sold more than 120 million records worldwide.
• Received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1979 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
• Received the MusiCares Person of the Year award in 2018.
• Christine McVie died in 2022; Stevie Nicks later said she saw no reason to continue the band.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Reviews were mixed to negative overall
• Entertainment Weekly called the album bland and likened it to an anthology of solo projects
• Los Angeles Times gave 3.5 out of 5 and praised the group effort without Buckingham
• Billboard saw the lineup as a return to the blues-oriented sound of the Peter Green era
• Billboard felt Nicks and Christine McVie gave their strongest performances and material in recent years
• Rolling Stone gave 4 out of 5 and called the addition of Rick Vito and Billy Burnette the best thing to happen to the band

Reappraisal

• AllMusic retrospectively gave the album 1.5 out of 5, its lowest rating for any Fleetwood Mac album
• AllMusic called Buckingham's departure a severe blow to the band
• AllMusic said the songs were among the least inspired the band ever recorded

Records

• Less successful than the predecessor Tango in the Night
• No big hit singles; Save Me reached the American and Canadian Top 40
• Entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1
• Achieved platinum status in the UK
• Barely reached the US Top 20
• August 1990: certified Gold in the United States, the band's tenth Gold album there

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The original CD release was among the first to use the CD+G format, which shows graphics such as pictures and lyrics on a TV screen in time with the music.
• Stephen Croes played most of the Synclavier parts; Christine McVie said the band used most of his contributions.
• Lindsey Buckingham came to the studio to play acoustic guitar on the title track, written by Christine McVie.
• Rick Vito attributed Buckingham's appearance on the album to Mick Fleetwood's willingness to make amends with Buckingham.
• Stevie Nicks and Rick Vito left the band after the album's release and world tour; Nicks rejoined in 1997.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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