Ask most people about Fleetwood Mac, or the line up that they know, and it will almost certainly contain Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Ask most people which albums are the best and the answers will generally be Rumours, Fleetwood Mac or Tango in the Night. One answer that won’t be given is Behind the Mask. Why? Their first post-Buckingham album has been harshly criticized for not being up to the Mac’s previous high standards, largely because of Buckingham’s absence. While reaching No. 1 in the UK, it didn’t hit the Top 10 in the US and only one single made the Top 40, whereas previous albums were more successful.

Their first post-Buckingham album has been harshly criticized for not being up to the Mac’s previous high standards

Following Buckingham’s abrupt departure from the group before the Tango in the Night tour, Mick Fleetwood had hired Billy Burnette and Rick Vito to stand in on the tour, and afterwards as new members of Fleetwood Mac. Following the tour, the group went into the studios to record one of their most interesting albums. With four singer-songwriters in the group and the less obsessive nature of Buckingham on studio perfection, the band were able to function more as a band, rather than as individual writers. This is evident in the distribution of song writing credits; each songwriter either wrote or cowrote around a quarter of the songs, meaning they all had equal distribution. Usually in albums prior to that, Buckingham would have held the lion’s share of any songwriting credits and usually had the most tracks on Fleetwood Mac albums, albeit for good reasons. This in many ways improves the quality of the album, as it feels more cohesive and less disjoint than previous releases.

Each songwriter either wrote or cowrote around a quarter of the songs, meaning they all had equal distribution

Another reason why this album is severely underrated is its more adult take on relationships. Songs like ‘When it Comes to Love’ and ‘Affairs of the Heart’ show a more depressing and negative take on love in the lyrics, as well as some darker musical themes. While songs of a more negative side of love had been shown on other Fleetwood Mac albums, they tended to have more upbeat music e.g. ‘Little Lies’ or ‘Go Your Own Way’. But I would argue this is one of the album’s great strengths that they approached topics like love from a more adult slant, which makes it radically different from other releases, and somewhat unique in their catalogue.

They approached topics like love from a more adult slant, which makes it radically different from other releases

One of the biggest yet underrated parts of this album is the songs themselves. Stevie Nicks wrote or co-wrote four songs for this album, the most she had written for the group in 10 years. Her songwriting had significantly improved since Tango in the Night, and it shows in the hit ‘Love is Dangerous’ (with Rick Vito) and ‘Affairs of the Heart’. Christine McVie produces some of her strongest songs out of her tenure in Fleetwood Mac on this album such as ‘Skies the Limit’ and ‘Save Me’, while experimenting with singing in different styles on songs like ‘In the Back of My Mind’ and ‘When it Comes to Love’. Newcomers Vito and Burnette also write some impressive songs with ‘Stand on the Rock’ and ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ which incorporated radically different styles of music, with some influences of country and folk. The musicianship had not decreased either; only the song writing had become more straight forward and thus they eschewed most production techniques on previous releases. This meant that the album would always sound less like a pop album, making Behind the Mask a blend of different types of music and more raw in sound, something the Mac hadn’t done since the early ’70s. 

I believe this album is severely underrated because of its unique blend of styles of music, but also because of its more adult take on relationships and its darker edge which was why it was never given the kind of credit that it deserved. It is a chapter of the bands history that is very much brushed over, and I would argue that this line-up of Fleetwood Mac wrote the strongest group album since Rumours over a decade before.

Behind the Mask is available via Warner Records Inc.

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