Fleetwood Mac: Tango in the Night

1987

1. Big Love
2. Seven Wonders
3. Everywhere
4. Caroline
5. Tango In The Night
6. Mystified
7. Little Lies
8. Family Man
9. Welcome To The Room...Sara
10. Isn't It Midnight
11. When I See You Again
12. You And I, Part II

Listen to the wind on the water

Listen to the waves upon the shore

Try to sleep, sleep won't come

Just as I begin to fade

Then I remember

When the moon was full and bright

I would take you in the darkness

And do the tango in the night

Tango...

Tango in the Night was unlike anything I had ever listened to before. The lyrics seemed so complex, even cryptic at times & it was so much darker than other albums I loved (say what you will about Culture Club and The Judds, but dark they are not). Years later I would also come to recognize some of the more sexual references in the music, but at 14, that was a bit over my head. I was completely captivated by the album though & it would prove to be significant in a variety of ways.

First, it is one of three entries on my list from 1987. Looking back, I can now see this as a pivotal year in my "musical development" & probably the year I went from loving music to LOVING music.

In addition, it helped cement a pattern (that started with Rockin' With The Rhythm) in which I discovered new music not from the radio, but from television. Although my family always enjoyed music, we were never a big radio family. We always listened to albums or tapes (at home & in the car) or watched music television. Even today, I am more often than not exposed to new music via TV or the Internet. Anyway, in this case, I saw the video for Seven Wonders on VH-1 and just loved it. I already liked Stevie Nicks (having bought The Wild Heart years earlier), but oddly, I'm not even sure I really knew Fleetwood Mac at that time. Regardless, I had to have it.

Tango in the Night also represents the first time I was compelled to go digging in an artists' back catalog for more more more. I was completely unsuccessful at first because I ended up buying Mystery to Me from the early 70s, which was a completely different sounding Fleetwood Mac (although it did include one song I liked, Hypnotized). Undeterred, I tried again, and holy hell, I hit the jackpot -- Rumours. I mean, seriously, Gold Dust Woman, The Chain, Go Your Own Way, You Make Loving Fun, Dreams, Songbird. Can it get better than that? I was so close to putting Rumours on this influential albums list, but it was Tango that led me to Rumours and ultimately had the bigger impact.

Lastly, I was inspired by Tango to share my passion with others. I remember my friend Lonnie was spending the night & I basically wanted to force feed him the entire album, making him listen to each song & then discuss it. He wasn't really into that, but I did manage to get him to listen to small clips of each song. My parents had already gone to bed, so we couldn't listen out loud. So I plugged in my earphones and gave him the left one and I kept the right one as we listened together on my bedroom floor to a minute or two of each song. And in a scene that would repeat itself hundreds of times over the following 20 years, I was hurt when he didn't love it as much as I did. I've tried to work on that over the years, but when I am really moved by something, I just want my friends to be moved as well. Not as any kind of credit to me, but because I want them to feel that passion and joy.