It's hard when reading anything about Mystery To Me to NOT find some kind of comment referring to it as the "shoulda, coulda, woulda" album of the Welch/McVie dominated period of the band. When I first got Mystery To Me a couple months ago, I could see where they were coming from. Here was an album full of excellent, catchy rock and pop songs, with just enough of an experimental edge to set it apart from everything else. This is all without mentioning the stellar production, and nobody noticed.
However, the more I listen to Heroes... the more obvious it becomes that this is the REAL lost Fleetwood Mac album. Stylisticly it's more diverse and the songs are better. McVie's anthemic title cut really should have been there first huge hit. Not only are the lyrics hilarious, they are unfortunately true in most cases (it takes a guy to know one, I guess
) and are probably her most creative and funny example of lyric writing. It's tracks like these that make Believe Me, Just Crazy Love, Why, and The Way I Feel look like toss-offs. Her other songs on here are absolutely steller for Christine as well, especially the insanely catchy Prove Your Love and her most "make my heart a-flutter" song, Come A Little Bit Closer. I'm afraid that if I were alive and she sang that song to me in the early 70's I would have asked her to marry me. Bad Loser isn't bad either.
Welch also REALLY shines on this album. Angel just rocks and She's Changing Me just glistens with high chart placement. The line "She will bring you joy, but don't you know she can destroy?" line just really sounds good to me. Coming Home shows the Mac way out of their territory in the psyche-rock department, and it surprisingly works well despite it's depressing shortness.
Overall, I just find the hooks on this album to be much bigger, and, well, hookier. There's more lyrics on this album that will get stuck in your head than any on Mystery To Me, and the music is just more memorable. This morning is the first time I've played it top-to-bottom in it's entirety, and I think I'm just realizing that this is my favorite Fleetwood Mac album.
What do you guys think?