Fleetwood Mac Tango In The Night Poll. Pick Your Favourites & Discuss.

Tango in the Night is the 14th studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. Released in April 1987, it is the fifth and to date last studio album from the band's most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood.

Produced by Buckingham with Richard Dashut, Tango in the Night began as one of Buckingham's solo projects, but by 1985 the production had morphed into Fleetwood Mac's next album. It contains several hit singles, including "Big Love", "Seven Wonders", "Everywhere", and "Little Lies". The cover art for the album was a painting by Australian artist Brett-Livingstone Strong which was hanging in Buckingham's home. The painting is a homage to the 19th Century French painter Henri Rousseau, emulating his colorful jungle theme works such as The Snake Charmer and The Repast of the Lion. It was also used as the cover of "Big Love", the album's first single. The album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. In March 2017, remastered deluxe editions of Tango in the Night were released, the first a double-CD set and the second a 3CD/1DVD/1LP boxset.]

Tango in the Night is the band's second biggest selling studio album after the phenomenally successful Rumours which was released 10 years earlier. The intervening albums, Tusk (1979) and Mirage (1982), although big sellers in key territories, had not matched their predecessor's huge success. Tango in the Night was a worldwide hit with several singles from the album becoming popular all over the world. "Little Lies" and "Everywhere" in particular are now considered classic hits of the late 1980s and they continue to appear on retrospective albums of that decade.

The album was a success in the United States, where it peaked at No. 7 for three weeks, spending more than seven months within the top 20, and more than ten months within the top 40. It was certified 3x platinum in October 2000 for selling 3 million copies in the United States. Four singles from the album reached the Billboard Top 20: "Big Love" (No. 5), "Little Lies" (No. 4), "Everywhere" (No. 14) and "Seven Wonders" (No. 19). The album was particularly successful in the UK where it reached No. 1 three times during 1987-88 for a total of five weeks, and spent more than eight months within the Top 10 of the UK albums chart. It is the seventh biggest selling album of the 1980s in the UK, being certified 8x Platinum (2.4 million copies), and it is still currently one of the UK's Top 100 best selling albums of all time. Three singles were Top 10 hits in the UK: "Big Love" (No. 9), "Little Lies" (No. 5) and "Everywhere" (No. 4). A total of six singles were eventually taken from the album over a period of 15 months.[1] The album has spent 115 weeks in the Top 75 of the UK Album Chart.

"Big Love", "Seven Wonders", "Little Lies", "Family Man" and "Everywhere" were all released as extended 12" remixes in most territories.



I was ready for a new Fleetwood Mac album in 1987. I’d gotten into them through Mirage 5 years earlier, and to this day that remains my favourite album by the group. Tango carried on the feel of Mirage. Hooky, commercial songs and with nothing that made you scratch your head like on Tusk. It was very successful in the UK. Far more so than Mirage which only spawned one hit single (Oh Diane). Hold Me and Gypsy totally flopped! I loved Big Love, the lead single, and couldn’t wait for the album to come out a few weeks later. This was in the early days of CD and Tango was an excellent one. No real need for it to be remastered. Though they did in 2017.

What did you think of Tango In The Night? One of their best, or one of their blandest? Tell us what you think of it now and what your original take on it was. I’ve included a poll and have added the non-album B-sides to pep it up. These were released most recent on the aforementioned Tango deluxe remaster.

Pick as many as you like.

 

Q review from time of release.

 

It was all over the airwaves in the summer of 87 and beyond. I didn't know what to think of it when it was released, I had just graduated high school and Fleetwood Mac seemed to be a little more mature for my musical taste at that time. I absolutely love it now.........I would put it high on the list of Buck/Nicks albums.

 

It’s very slick and commercial. They’d learned their lesson from Tusk.

 

The first thing I ever heard from Fleetwood Mac, and just recently too, when thread starter @Bobby Morrow told me to check it out! $3 I'll never get back... Thank goodness! This is an absolutely brilliant album. Unlike others here I don't mind '80s sound (in fact, I really dig it frequently), so that doesn't bother me at all. It's catchy, but not all surface and no substance, there's definite quality in this album. Plus, the artwork is fabulous. I voted "I love the album" and "I love the artwork", as well as these songs:
Big Love
Seven Wonders
Everywhere
Tango In The Night
Little Lies
Isn't It Midnight

Keep in mind that these are just standouts from a great album! "Isn't It Midnight" is probably my favorite FM song.

 

This one I like a lot. Very sad that it was the last gasp from the five of them together. Do I remember correctly that Stevie really wasn't all that involved in the session?

 

I was a kid when this came out and I absolutely loved "Little Lies". I didn't hear the full LP until much later. I think the album is strong overall. It's hard to sway people from FM and Rumors, but I think it's definitively worthy of repeat listens.

 

At the time it felt like Rumours was 'old' at ten years back, now Tango is thirty years old! Where the hell did that go?
I love Tango In The Night.
Played cassette tape to death in 1987/88.
Have record, CD, boxset too.
My sole quibble with the art work is Buckingham standing on one leg on the group photo. Always annoyed me. Looks like he'll fall over.

 

Family Man is one of my favorites off this album. Especially when listening to it under headphones.

 

That Q review reads very insipid when I look at it again. Miaow!

 

Love Little Lies. Love the swift smooth McVie synth throughout the tune.

 

Great album — the purest pop record Fleetwood Mac ever made, but it was also rock in a way that Mirage wasn't (especially "Isn't It Midnight?" and the remarkably heavy guitar solo on the title track). Buckingham and McVie were both on top form as songwriters, but the less said about Nicks's two contributions the better.

 

Probably my least favorite of the five Buckingham Nicks-era studio albums, but it's still a very good album with some classic tracks and an amazing production. Unfortunately Stevie's minimal contributions due to her personal issues at the time really hurt; if she had been at full strength and able to contribute three or four strong tracks it would have been a great album rather than just very good. As it is it holds up quite well until 2/3 of the way through but it runs out of steam pretty severely by the end. I do love the recent Deluxe box set reissue, and highly recommend it to fans of the album.

 

I stopped buying the albums after Tusk but I've always liked Big Love and Little Lies.

 

I’d class Stevie’s When I See You Again as the weakest track. It sounds like an old B-side. The rest of it, especially side 1, I think is excellent. Love the Hi Res version in the recent boxset.

 

Q could be snooty. Perhaps if they’d known it would be the last proper FM album we’d ever get they’d have been kinder.

 

I got you into Fleetwood Mac... You owe me.

 

I've never owned this album. I was surprised how many songs off it that i know.
Big love has always been a favourite, especially the version on the dance.

 

By the way, should anybody fancy giving the Buckingham McVie album from 2017 a go, it’s currently only £4.99 on Amazon UK. I recommend it. Especially if you like Tango In The Night.

 

"You and I pt 2" is a very catchy and very dark song. "I wake up with my eyes shut tight... hoping tomorrow will never come for you and I." Whichever way you look at it, that's a very messed up sentiment. Love it, one of the great deep track treasures.

 

I play this more than s/t or Rumors. Probably because it didn't get as oversaturated?

It's actually aged quite well despite the 80's production values.

 

It's true, it's true...

Just spun this again, as inspired by the poll... Love it. Just love it. The only thing I wish is that "Isn't It Midnight" didn't end right when Buckingham starts to shred; love the heaviness on that song. The only one I'd classify as filler is "When I See You Again". I see Bobby Morrow agrees with this sentiment as well...

 

I hope you’ll like Mirage too. When you get to hear it.

And I think you’d enjoy the 2017 Buckingham McVie album I mention in post #20.

 

I'm not sure why it sold so well. Maybe because it was the first release during the time everyone started buying CDs. It's a good album, but, I think the fact that Buckingham left the band before the resulting tour happened kind of left people in the lark. I prefer Mirage because Nick's songs were much stronger.