Mirage

Fleetwood Mac came to Mirage wanting to pull the curtains open after the deliberate sprawl of Tusk. Where that album had embraced odd textures and studio experimentation, its 1982 follow-up was shaped by a desire to reconnect with the more immediate, melodic appeal of Rumours. The result is polished without being bland, a record full of soft-focus surfaces that still leaves room for the competing personalities of Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks.

The band had scattered after the Tusk tour, with Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Buckingham all pursuing solo work, and Nicks scoring major success with Bella Donna. Fleetwood wanted the group back together and, crucially, away from Los Angeles. Much of Mirage was recorded at Château d’Hérouville in France from spring 1981, with further work continuing in Los Angeles into March 1982. Buckingham, Richard Dashut and Ken Caillat shared production duties with the band, giving the album a clean, controlled sound while keeping its rhythm section supple.

The singles reveal how many versions of Fleetwood Mac could coexist on one record. Christine McVie’s “Hold Me” is poised pop craftsmanship, Buckingham’s material adds a nervous edge, and Nicks’s “Gypsy” turns memory and self-mythology into one of the album’s most atmospheric moments. “Love in Store” became another US hit, while “Oh Diane” performed particularly well in the UK. Beneath those singles, John McVie and Fleetwood provide the steady pulse that makes the album’s sheen feel grounded rather than weightless.

Mirage topped the US Billboard album chart, but what lasts is not the chart restoration so much as the mood. This is Fleetwood Mac in a reflective, elegant register, returning to concision without pretending the turbulence and experimentation of the previous years had never happened. Listen past the immaculate surfaces and there are small tensions everywhere: longing, nostalgia, distance and musicians trying to find the centre of a band whose members had increasingly strong worlds of their own.