Maps of Music

Mirage (1982)

Where the lyrics of Mirage take you, and where it was really made.

Fleetwood Mac went back to a soft-rock sound after Tusk by recording part of the album at a French château, far from Los Angeles, on Fleetwood's wish to echo Rumours.

Key places

Recorded at Château d'Hérouville (1982)

Recording site Château d'Hérouville — The band recorded for five weeks at Château d'Hérouville in France, then finished the album in California. Caillat chose the studio after scouting for options. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Overdubs at Larrabee Sound (1982)

Recording site Larrabee Sound Studios — Larrabee Sound was one of the Los Angeles studios where the band worked to complete the album. Sabrina Buchanek did additional engineering there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Additional engineering at Record Plant (1982)

Recording site Record Plant (Los Angeles) — Record Plant in Los Angeles was one of the studios used for the album. David Bianco did additional engineering there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Mirage: thirteenth studio album by Fleetwood Mac
• Work of the British and American rock band
• Released 2 July 1982 by Warner Bros. Records
• Soft rock sound, in stark contrast to the more experimental Tusk (1979)

Background

• After the worldwide Tusk Tour, the band took a year-long hiatus
• Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham each started solo careers
• Nicks reached multi-platinum, number-one success with 1981's Bella Donna
• Ken Caillat returned as producer after Rumours and Tusk
• Fleetwood wanted the album recorded outside Los Angeles, unlike the band's previous four albums
• Goal: replicate the commercial appeal of Rumours and drop the experimentation of Tusk

Recording

• Caillat scouted studios and came across Château d'Hérouville in France
• The band spent five weeks recording there, then finished the album in California a few months later
• Caillat recorded at +3 CCIR to aim for cleaner high frequencies and a strong lower end
• Nicks spent between ten and fifteen days at various Los Angeles studios for further overdubs

Cover

• Cover art by George Hurrell, who also did the cover art for Buckingham's solo album Law and Order

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in July 1967 by Peter Green after leaving John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, with Mick Fleetwood on drums.
• The name combines Fleetwood's surname with bassist John McVie, who joined in 1967.
• Early line-up was primarily a British blues band; "Albatross" reached UK No. 1 in 1968.

Members

• Core members over time: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham.
• Buckingham and Nicks joined at the end of 1974 and drove the band's global success.

Career

• Rumours (1977) is one of the best-selling albums of all time and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1978.
• The band has sold more than 120 million records worldwide.
• Received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1979 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
• Received the MusiCares Person of the Year award in 2018.
• Christine McVie died in 2022; Stevie Nicks later said she saw no reason to continue the band.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Billboard praised all three songwriters for "contributing their strongest songs yet."
• Billboard said the album showed Buckingham's skill as an arranger, especially in the vocal harmonies
• Cashbox found the Fleetwood Mac sound "abundantly evident" and a return to Rumours-style production
• Ken Emerson of The Boston Phoenix called it a "winning synthesis" of the best of Rumours and Tusk
• Sandy Robertson of Sounds heard a "superficial resemblance" to Rumours and picked "Hold Me" and "Only Over You" as the best songs
• Blair Jackson of BAM rejected the idea of a Rumours part II, heard similarities to Tusk, and found Buckingham's songs the most interesting

Reappraisal

• Jackson found Nicks' three songs "strangely unsatisfying"
• Buckingham dismissed Mirage in 1987 as "safe" and "uninspiring"
• Christine McVie called it a "wimpy Rumours"
• Fleetwood said the band would "never go there again in terms of playing it safe"

Records

• US Billboard chart: number one for five weeks, the group's first return to the top since Rumours in 1977
• 18 weeks in the US top ten
• US: double platinum for shipments over two million copies
• UK: number five, platinum for 300,000 copies
• Australia: number two
• Singles: "Hold Me" US number four; "Gypsy" US number 12; "Love in Store" US number 22
• Singles: "Oh Diane" UK number 9; "Can't Go Back" UK number 83
• "Wish You Were Here" was released in Jamaica only and topped the Jamaican singles chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Caillat brought two video machines with taped baseball games to the studio after Buckingham and Nicks complained about the food and the lack of television.
• Nicks wrote "Gypsy" in 1979 and considered it for her Bella Donna solo album, but saved it for Mirage.
• "Oh Diane" started with a chord progression played by Richard Dashut on a seven-foot Yamaha grand piano in Buckingham's living room.
• Buckingham spliced the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon into "Eyes of the World".
• Nicks' original submission "Smile at You" was later released on Fleetwood Mac's 2003 album Say You Will.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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