1987 promotional single by Fleetwood Mac
"Tango in the Night" is a song by British–American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their album of the same name. The song received airplay and reached No. 28 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. However, the title track was overshadowed by the album's hit singles.[1]
Background
Following the release Lindsey Buckingham's second album, Go Insane, the guitarist began crafting songs for what he intended to be his third solo album. Among the songs recorded for the album was "Tango in the Night".[2] By late 1985, Fleetwood Mac reconvened to record a new studio album, so Buckingham allowed the band to include the song as the title track.[3] The drum track for "Tango in the Night" originated from a jam session between Mick Fleetwood and Buckingham, which became the basis of the song. Buckingham took further inspiration from live versions of "I'm So Afraid" during the making of the title track.[4] The song possesses a stepwise descending harmony and a I-VII-VI chord progression.[5]
An early demo of the song, included on the 2017 deluxe edition of Tango in the Night, featured a trembling vocal line at the end of every chorus, which was eventually incorporated into another Buckingham-penned track, "Caroline".[6] The Miami Herald praised the rhythm section of Fleetwood and John McVie on "Tango in the Night", saying that there was "a new sense of muscle" to their contributions on the deluxe edition of Tango in the Night.[7] Pitchfork commented that the song's "sense of space imparts the feeling of rowing through fog and mystery", and further added that the song's "coordinated staccato harmonies" are warmer and brighter on the deluxe edition.[6] The Guardian wrote that "the title track surges from quiet tension to florid solos".[8] Dave Fawbert of ShortList praised the song's instrumentation, mentioning that the "synth-harps and soft percussion [give] way to a big, angry chorus where Mick and John lay down the groove".[9] Ultimate Classic Rock stated that the title track "is just as dysfunctional as the album’s recording process — and that’s what makes it work. Jumping between whispered tones and explosive guitar solos, past and present tenses, loneliness and the sudden lack of, the song is a masterpiece of bewilderment, lyrically and sonically."[10]
