Fleetwood Mac

In 1982, the singles "Hold Me" and "Gypsy" kept Fleetwood Mac at the top of the charts, combining the earthy pop-sense of Rumours with slick but inoffensive helpings of '80s production. This isn't the masterstroke that Rumours was, but few records are, and fans of the band will not be disappointed.

Fleetwood Mac boasts the rarest of chart-topping, adult-oriented rock virtues – a group
personality. In the three-part harmonies and the assured snap of the rhythm section, we
hear five distinct personalities merge into a sound that is unmistakably Mac. On Mirage,
Lindsey Buckingham once again reaches into his bag of magicianly production tricks and
pulls out an elusive gem of a Fleetwood Mac record that, to borrow some lines fr... More >

This is the safe follow-up Rumours wasn't, and I find myself alternately charmed by its craft and offended by its banality. After seven years, you'd think they'd weary of romantic tension-and-release. But despite the occasional I'm-scareds and can't-go-backs, you'd never know how much passion they've already put behind them--they write about infatuation and its aftermaths like twenty-year-olds. This is obviously a commercial advantage, and I wouldn't want to be immune to its truth. But pop music offers endless variations on that truth, and since only the most graceful are worth pondering I have to say that there isn't another "Hold Me" here. (Grade - B+)