Saturday, April 29, 2017

Albums resequenced: Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night

Since Fleetwood Mac's 1987 classic Tango in the Night finally got the "super deluxe" treatment, I've been having fun creating my own alternate version of the album, which is one of my favorite things to do with good music. I've always enjoyed good remixes and alternate versions, and I love to plug them into the album. 

Thanks to a generous amount of material, we are able to replace all but three Tango album tracks ("Caroline," "Welcome to the Room... Sara" and "When Will I See You Again") with either a demo, an alternate version or a dance remix, while also extending the track listing with B-sides and demos of songs that didn't get released. For those remaining three tracks, we at least have the new remasters, although I'll reserve judgment on the merits of those results. As for the remixes, the treatments of "Little Lies" and "Everywhere" are among the best of their type from the late '80s, with excellent embellishments — would have been nice to get remix/edits of those as we did for "Big Love." The b-sides and demos are, by and large, fun additions.

For my alternate version, I've excised my least favorite track from the album, "When I See You Again," and added the best of the extras. I've made the instrumental demo of "Mystified" the album opener. It's got a wonderfully creepy vibe; it sounds like it should play in a scene of a movie like The Wicker Man or The Stepford Wives.

Here's my track listing, with a total run time of 1 hour, 19 minutes:

Mystified (Instrumental Demo)
Down Endless Street (B-side of "Family Man")
Big Love (Remix/Edit)
Seven Wonders (Early Version)
Everywhere (12" Version)
Caroline
Special Kind of Love (Demo)
Tango in the Night (Demo)
Mystified (Alternate Version)
Little Lies (Extended Version)
Ooh My Love (Demo)
Family Man (Extended Guitar Version)
Welcome to the Room... Sara
Isn't It Midnight (Alternate Mix)
You and I, Part II (Full Version)
Book of Miracles (Instrumental)
Where We Belong (Demo)
Ricky (B-side of "Little Lies")

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