[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by tabruns

Eh, I don't know Travis. When I first heard Behind The Mask I thought overall it was a decent album and it didn't deserve the bad reviews it got. BUT, I thought from the very start that Stevie's songs were sub-par. I thought this from Tango In The Night onward (until The Dance). With the occasional exception, her songs just aren't at the same excellent level as they had been on Fleetwood Mac/Rumours/Tusk/Bella Donna/Mirage/Wild Heart/Rock A Little. As I've said at other times on here, they sound very "pedestrian" for a writer of Stevie's calibre.

To me there's just nothing special about "Affairs of the Heart" or "Love Is Dangerous" or "Freedom". "The Second Time" is just very basic. Of the batch the best one is probably "Freedom", and "Freedom" might have had a shot at being a hit had it been mixed differently with the twirling whistle sound during the verses coming up in the mix. That would have created something of a hook to hang on to. As it was, it was buried, with just a hint of it barely audible.

On the other hand, Christine, Billy and Rick did turn in some good strong songs. "Behind The Mask", "Do You Know", "When It Comes To Love", "Hard Feelings", "When The Sun Goes Down" and "In The Back Of My Mind" are all very good and fun to listen to. And one thing Behind The Mask has over Tango In The Night is that you can hear Stevie in the background on most of the songs on Mask.

You took the words and thoughts out of my head. I think Stevie was a little shakey on this album because Lindsey was absent. She has credited him for making the best of her songs. Lindsey challenged and guided Stevie with her material. Without him in the band for the first time, she was creatively adrift.