The Dance (Fleetwood Mac album)

The Dance
Live album by Fleetwood Mac
Released	19 August 1997
Recorded	Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank, California; 23 May 1997
Genre	Rock
Length	79:11
Label	Reprise
Producer	Lindsey Buckingham and Elliot Scheiner
Fleetwood Mac chronology
Time (1995) The Dance (1997) The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (2002)

The Dance is a live performance by Fleetwood Mac, released on Cassette, CD and VHS in 1997, and later on DVD. It hailed the return of the band's most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since 1987's Tango in the Night exactly a decade earlier. It was the first Fleetwood Mac release to top the US album charts since 1982's Mirage.

History

This was the last Fleetwood Mac album to feature Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac has announced a new album featuring Christine to be recorded in 2015), who departed the group a year after the album's release. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 199,000, The Dance became the fifth best-selling live album of all time in the United States, selling a million copies within eight weeks, spending more than seven months within the top 40, and eventually selling over 6,000,000 copies worldwide. The DVD version has been certified 9x platinum in Australia for selling 135,000 copies. The 44 date tour grossed $36 million.

The concert was recorded for Fleetwood Mac's MTV The Dance special at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California on 23 May 1997, and features the University of Southern California Marching Band who perform on the tracks "Tusk" (having played on the original studio recording) and "Don't Stop".

Although predominantly a live greatest hits package, The Dance also features new material written by each of the primary songwriting members of the band (two from Buckingham) as well as popular album tracks. For example, "Bleed to Love Her" was a previously unreleased track when this album was released, although a studio recording of the song was later included on the Say You Will album. No tracks from the Mirage album were included on the CD, although "Gypsy" is included in the video and DVD versions.

The album cover, taken by David LaChapelle, has Mick Fleetwood recreating his pose from the cover of Rumours, the band's most successful album and Lindsey Buckingham holding the cane used on the cover of the Fleetwood Mac album, Rumours' predecessor.

This album spawned three singles; "Landslide", "The Chain" and "Silver Springs", and earned the band 3 Grammy nominations in 1998, in the categories "Best Pop Album", "Best Rock Performance by a Group or Duo" for "The Chain" and "Best Pop Performance by a Group or Duo" for "Silver Springs".

CD track listing

1. "The Chain" (Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks) – 5:11
2. "Dreams" (Nicks) – 4:39
3. "Everywhere" (C. McVie) – 3:28
4. "Rhiannon" (Nicks) – 6:48
5. "I'm So Afraid" (Buckingham) – 7:45
6. "Temporary One" (C. McVie) – 4:00
7. "Bleed to Love Her" (Buckingham) – 3:27
8. "Big Love" (Buckingham) – 3:06
9. "Landslide" (Nicks) – 4:28
10. "Say You Love Me" (C. McVie) – 5:00
11. "My Little Demon" (Buckingham) – 3:33
12. "Silver Springs" (Nicks) – 5:41
13. "You Make Loving Fun" (C. McVie) – 3:50
14. "Sweet Girl" (Nicks) – 3:19
15. "Go Your Own Way" (Buckingham) – 5:00
16. "Tusk" (Buckingham) – 4:22
17. "Don't Stop" (C. McVie) – 5:31

DVD / Video track listing

The DVD video in 1.33:1 aspect ratio, audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM stereo

1. "The Chain" (Buckingham, Fleetwood, C. McVie, J. McVie, Nicks)
2. "Dreams" (Nicks)
3. "Everywhere" (C. McVie)
4. "Gold Dust Woman" (Nicks) *
5. "I'm So Afraid" (Buckingham)***
6. "Temporary One" (C. McVie)
7. "Bleed to Love Her" (Buckingham)
8. "Gypsy" (Nicks) *
9. "Big Love" (Buckingham)
10. "Go Insane" (Buckingham) * **
11. "Landslide" (Nicks)
12. "Say You Love Me" (C. McVie)
13. "You Make Loving Fun" (C. McVie)
14. "My Little Demon" (Buckingham)
15. "Silver Springs" (Nicks)
16. "Over My Head" (C. McVie) *
17. "Rhiannon" (Nicks)
18. "Sweet Girl" (Nicks)
19. "Go Your Own Way" (Buckingham)
20. "Tusk" (Buckingham)
21. "Don't Stop" (C. McVie)
22. "Songbird" (C. McVie) *

* Exclusive to the VHS/DVD version

** "Go Insane" was later released on the 2CD USA version of The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac, along with this version of "Big Love"

*** "I'm So Afraid" was later released on the 2CD USA version of The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac, although an edited version.

Credits

Fleetwood Mac

• Stevie Nicks – vocals, tambourine
• Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, banjo on "Say You Love Me", vocals
• Christine McVie – keyboards, piano, vocals, accordion on "Tusk", tambourine on "Say You Love Me", maracas on "Everywhere"
• John McVie – bass, background vocals on "Say You Love Me"
• Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Brett Tuggle – keyboards, guitar, background vocals
• Neale Heywood – guitar, background vocals
• Lenny Castro – percussion
• Sharon Celani – background vocals
• Mindy Stein – background vocals
• USC. Trojan Marching Band, Dr. Arthur C. Bartner – Director

CD production

• Producers: Lindsey Buckingham, Elliot Scheiner
• Engineers: Guy Charbonneau, Barry Goldberg, Elliot Scheiner
• Assistant Engineers: Charlie Bouis, John Nelson
• Mastering: Ted Jensen
• Mixing: Elliot Scheiner
• Technical assistance: Ted Barela, David Gallo, Eric Johnston
• Digital editing: Paul DeCarli, Scott Humphrey
• Photography: David LaChapelle, Neal Preston

Video production

• Producers: Lindsey Buckingham, Elliot Scheiner
• Director: Bruce Gower
• Photography: David LaChapelle, Neal Preston
• Recording: Barry Goldberg, Elliot Scheiner
• Mixing: Elliot Scheiner
• Director, USC Marching Band: Dr. Arthur C. Bartner

Charts

Album

Singles

Certifications

References