Tango in the Night

After the completion of the Mirage Tour in 1982, four members of Fleetwood Mac released five solo albums, with varying degrees of success. Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham each released one, while Stevie Nicks issued two. Buckingham described the band as being "a bit fragmented" during the mid-1980s. In 1985, Christine McVie was hired to record a cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" for the soundtrack of the movie A Fine Mess. Richard Dashut, who had engineered and produced Rumours, Tusk, and Mirage, was brought in to assist with the song's production, and Greg Droman served as the audio engineer. Reenergized by this effort, the band began plans for their next studio album the following month. Buckingham was working on his third solo album with Droman during the initial stages of Tango in the Night and split his time between both projects. Corsaro also proved unsatisfactory, and Fleetwood Mac finally resorted to having Buckingham and Dashut produce, with Droman serving as engineer. Buckingham then paused progress on his solo album and transferred some of its planned tracks to Tango in the Night. ==Recording==

After the release of Mirage, John McVie had spent much of his time sailing the Caribbean island of Saint Thomas and barely played bass in the years leading up to the making of Tango in the Night. In an attempt to be more productive in the studio, he quit drinking cold turkey, though this proved to be unsuccessful, and he grew concerned that he had lost his ability to play. Although the record took eighteen months to complete, Stevie Nicks spent a total of two weeks in the studio with the band. She was promoting Rock a Little throughout this period and sent the band demos while she was on tour. One of those songs, "Welcome to the Room... Sara", was inspired by her thirty-day stay at the Betty Ford Center to overcome her cocaine addiction in October 1986 (Nicks used the pseudonym "Sara Anderson" when she checked into the facility). When Nicks did go to the studio, she often felt unmotivated: "I can remember going up there and not being happy to even be there... I didn't go very often." Vocal sessions took place in Buckingham's master bedroom, where Nicks frequently recorded her parts for Buckingham and McVie's songs under the influence of alcohol; Buckingham deleted most of Nicks' vocals after she left the studio. She later said, "I'm not blaming him for that because I'm sure they totally sucked. Vocals done when you're crazy and drinking a cup of brandy probably aren't usually going to be great." On certain songs, Buckingham "pull[ed] performances out of words and lines" from various sources to make some of the vocals sound like Nicks. ==Composition==

Some of Buckingham's compositions on Tango in the Night, including "Big Love" and "Family Man", were originally developed for his shelved solo album. These songs were mostly complete by the time Buckingham presented them to the band, although he recalled that "Family Man" was "sweetened up" during the mixing process. The band also sifted through Buckingham's demos and selected "Caroline", which he had written a few years prior. McVie composed and recorded several of her demos on a 16-track machine at her home studio. Three songs on the album were co-written by Buckingham and Christine McVie. One of those songs, "Mystified", began with a melody from McVie, which Buckingham further developed at his home studio. McVie remarked that the two "didn't sit down at a piano and decide the chords together" but believed that the creative process during Tango in the Night was more collaborative than their past efforts. ==Outtakes==

Four songs from the Tango in the Night sessions did not make the final album cut and subsequently became B-sides. "You and I (Part I)" was the B-side to the single release of "Big Love". Nicks contributed three additional songs that failed to make the final album. "What Has Rock & Roll Ever Done for You?" was considered, but it was replaced by "When I See You Again". The band shelved "Ooh My Love" after Nicks realised that the instrumental track she acquired from Mike Campbell was intended for Tom Petty. The third song, titled, "Joan of Arc", remains unreleased. "I still want to record it", she explained. "The song has its really good moments but it's not good enough to go out as that version." The other, "Special Kind of Love", was described by Pitchfork as a "completely developed Buckingham song". ==Cover art==

The album's cover is a painting by Australian artist Brett-Livingstone Strong that was hanging in Buckingham's house. Titled "Homage à Henri Rousseau", it is an homage to the 19th-century French painter Henri Rousseau, emulating his colorful jungle theme on works such as The Snake Charmer and The Repast of the Lion. ==Release==

Tango in the Night was released on 13 April 1987. To promote the album, MTV aired a series of interviews with the band during an event dubbed the "Mac Attack promotional weekend", during which the music video for "Big Love" was premiered. Shortly after the release of Tango in the Night, a band meeting was held at Christine McVie's house to discuss the accompanying tour. During the meeting, Buckingham announced his departure, which infuriated Nicks. She physically attacked him, and the ensuing fight between the two spilled into the street. Buckingham partially attributed his decision to leave Fleetwood Mac to the rigours of touring, which he believed would have exacerbated the interpersonal turbulence experienced in the studio. He later said, "Compared to making an album, in my experience, going on the road will multiply the craziness by times five. I just wasn't up for that." He later reflected that at the time of the album's release, "everybody was leading their lives in a way that they would not be too proud of today". Following Buckingham's departure, guitarists and vocalists Rick Vito and Billy Burnette were hired to replace him on the subsequent tour, Disc two of the collection features the B-sides "Ricky", "Down Endless Street", and "Book of Miracles"; both halves of "You and I", released and combined for the first time; and demos, alternate versions, and other recordings. ==Critical reception==

Tango in the Night received mixed reviews upon release. Billboard called Buckingham "the driving force" behind the album and said that the other songwriters offered "impressive" material. They also thought that the album lacked "obvious single choices". Steve Hochman of the Los Angeles Times singled out Buckingham's production work, saying that "relatively conventional material [such] as McVie's straight rocker, 'Isn't It Midnight' and Nicks' dreamy 'When I See You Again' benefit from the subtly bizarre undercurrents Buckingham creates." Alex Henderson of AllMusic praised Buckingham's contributions to the album, saying that his "thoughtful use of synthesizers were a major asset" and that he "consistently [brought] out the best in his colleagues on this superb album". ==Commercial performance==

Tango in the Night is the band's second-biggest-selling studio album after the phenomenally successful Rumours, which was released ten years earlier. The intervening albums, Tusk (1979) and Mirage (1982), although big sellers in key territories, had not matched their predecessor's success. Tango in the Night was a worldwide hit, with several singles gaining global popularity. Six weeks after its release, the album had sold 1.5 million copies internationally. Tango in the Night was a success in the United States, where it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 for three weeks, spending more than seven months within the top 20 and more than ten months within the top 40. It was certified 3× Platinum in October 2000 for selling three million copies. and it is still currently one of the UK's top 100 best-selling albums of all time. "Big Love", "Seven Wonders", "Little Lies", "Family Man", and "Everywhere" were all released as extended 12" remixes in most territories. ==Track listing==

Deluxe edition This edition includes three CDs. The first one consists of a 2017 remaster of the original album; the second one of bonus, rare, or unreleased recordings; and the third one of remixes of most of the album's singles. The information on disc two has been adapted from Fleetwood Mac's official website. ==Personnel==

Fleetwood Mac • Lindsey Buckingham – vocals, guitars, keyboards, Fairlight CMI, bass, percussion, drum programming • Stevie Nicks – vocals • Christine McVie – vocals, keyboards, synthesizers • John McVie – bass guitar • Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion Production • Lindsey Buckingham – producer, arrangements, additional engineer, cover concept • Richard Dashut – producer, cover concept • Greg Droman – engineer • Stephen Marcussen – mastering (at Precision Lacquers, Hollywood, California) • John Courage – studio coordinator • Roy Hopper; Ray Lindsey; Steve Matteucci – studio crew • Brett-Livingstone Strong – cover painting ("Homage à Henri Rousseau") • Greg Gorman – cover photography • Jeri Heiden – art direction ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications and sales==