Maps of Music

Tango in the Night (1987)

Where the lyrics of Tango in the Night take you, and where it was really made.

Tango in the Night began as one of Buckingham's solo projects, and two outside producers were tried before Buckingham and Dashut took over the production.

Key places

Backing tracks at Rumbo Recorders (1987)

Recording site Rumbo Recorders — The backing tracks were recorded over three months at Rumbo Recorders before the production moved to Buckingham's home studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Tango in the Night: fourteenth studio album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac
• Released 13 April 1987 by Warner Bros. Records
• Fifth and final studio album with the band's most successful lineup: Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks
• Christine McVie made guest appearances on the 2003 album Say You Will
• The lineup did not reconvene for another album until the 1997 live album The Dance
• Produced by Buckingham with Richard Dashut
• Contains several hit singles, including four US top 20 hits
• Sold over 15 million copies worldwide
• Remastered deluxe editions released in March 2017

Background

• After the Mirage Tour in 1982, four members released five solo albums with varying success
• Buckingham described the band as a bit fragmented in the mid-1980s
• 1985: Christine McVie recorded a cover of Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love for the soundtrack of A Fine Mess
• Buckingham, Fleetwood and John McVie supplied the instrumentation for that song, recorded in August 1985
• That effort re-energized the band, which began planning its next studio album the following month
• Buckingham was working on his third solo album with Greg Droman during the early stages of this album
• The band first tried working with Nile Rodgers, but the collaboration fell through
• Jason Corsaro, who had worked with the Power Station, was also judged unsatisfactory
• Nicks was touring Australia with Tom Petty and Bob Dylan during the week of rehearsals without her
• Buckingham then paused his solo album and transferred some of its planned tracks to this album

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

• Billboard: called Buckingham the driving force behind the album, said the other songwriters offered impressive material, and noted the lack of obvious single choices
• Cashbox: described the album as a showcase of the band's progressive vision of pop craftsmanship
• Steve Hochman, Los Angeles Times: singled out Buckingham's production work
• Robert Christgau: an improvement over Mirage but short of the band's 1975 eponymous release and Rumours
• Peter Kane, Sounds: more critical, saying the band was going through the motions
• Alexis Petridis, The Guardian: found it more deserving of the flawed masterpiece tag than Tusk
• Ivy Nelson, Pitchfork: complimentary of Buckingham and McVie's songs but critical of Nicks' vocals
• Mojo: described it as a perfect Mac showcase for the McVie and Buckingham musical partnership
• Alex Henderson, AllMusic: praised Buckingham's contributions and his use of synthesizers

Records

• US: peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200 for three weeks, with over seven months in the top 20
• US: certified 3x Platinum in October 2000 for three million copies
• US: four singles reached the Billboard top 20
• UK: reached number 1 three times in 1987–88, five weeks in total, with over eight months in the top 10
• UK: certified 9x Platinum (2.7 million copies), the seventh-biggest-selling record of the 1980s in the UK
• UK: spent 115 weeks in the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart
• Worldwide: sold 1.5 million copies six weeks after release

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Fleetwood said his cocaine use during these sessions was worse than during the Rumours sessions
• When drug use hindered studio work, Buckingham placed a Winnebago in Fleetwood's driveway for him and his friends
• When I See You Again was planned as the closing track but was judged too down and depressing; Christine McVie wrote words to an instrumental track from Buckingham, creating You and I, Part II
• After a band meeting at McVie's house, Buckingham announced his departure, which infuriated Nicks; she attacked him and the fight spilled into the street
• Book of Miracles, the B-side of Seven Wonders, eventually became the song Juliet on Nicks' 1989 solo album The Other Side of the Mirror

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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