Jump to content

The Visitor (Mick Fleetwood album)

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Visitor
Studio album by
Mick Fleetwood
Released29 June 1981[1]
RecordedJanuary–February 1981
StudioGhana Film Industries, Inc. (Accra, Ghana)
Genre
Length37:57
LabelRCA Records
Producer
Mick Fleetwood chronology
The Visitor
(1981) 		I'm Not Me
(1983)
Singles from The Visitor
  1. "You Weren't in Love"
    Released: September 1981[3]
  2. "Walk a Thin Line"
    Released: 1981 (Aus/NZ)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]

The Visitor is an album by Mick Fleetwood, released by RCA Records in 1981. All the songs were recorded in Accra, Ghana between January and February 1981 at the "Ghana Film Industries, Inc. Studio" and produced by Richard Dashut, and were later mixed in various studios in England. The album has been re-released several times, including a US CD release by Wounded Bird Records on October 18, 2011.

Background

[edit]

At the conclusion of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk Tour, the band agreed to take an extended hiatus to pursue individual projects.[5] Fleetwood had expressed interest in making a record rooted in African music in 1978,[6] although this idea was not fully realized until he travelled to Ghana. During the trip, he formulated the idea of collaborating with local musicians in Ghana and asked Warner Brothers to finance it.[5] However, the record label turned him down as they were unwilling to give him three hundred thousand dollars to fly the necessary equipment out to Ghana and arrange for the recording sessions. Upon reaching out to RCA Records, the label's president, Robert Summer, met with Fleetwood for lunch and agreed to fund the project.[7] Once this was settled, Fleetwood flew out to Accra, the capital of Ghana, where Fleetwood and his manager Mickey Shapiro scouted the area for musicians.[5]

Fleetwood's original plan was to send mixing desks and tape machines to local musicians in Ghana so they could record at their home localities, although he decided against this as the road conditions in the country rendered it impossible to transport the equipment.[5] Fleetwood instead arranged for studio sessions with Faisal Helwani, who had the only functioning professional studio in Accra.[8]

Fleetwood had originally asked Bob Welch, a former member of Fleetwood Mac, to appear on The Visitor, but Welch was too busy to participate. Instead, George Hawkins accompanied him on the trip. He later appeared on Fleetwood's I'm Not Me album from 1983 as a member and co-lead vocalist of Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo.[9]

Recording

[edit]

During the recording sessions, Fleetwood, Hawkins, Todd Sharp, and Richard Dashut stayed at the Star Hotel in Accra. Fred Shruers of Rolling Stone, who visited the facility to interview Fleetwood, described living quarters as a "small, drum-cluttered 'chalet' where the members lived "dorm-style".[7] Hawkins said that the group was sick with dysentery and that one person also came down with malaria. They were assigned a houseboy who according to Hawkins, stole their beer and underwear; in one instance the houseboy also "caught the kitchen on fire".[10]

Two tracks on The Visitor were covers of Fleetwood Mac songs: "Rattlesnake Shake" was originally recorded for the 1969 album Then Play On, and "Walk a Thin Line" first appeared on the 1979 album Tusk. Peter Green sang lead vocals and played lead guitar on "Rattlesnake Shake", and was credited as Peter Greenbaum. Fleetwood, who was in Henley at the time, convinced his former brother-in-law, George Harrison, to appear on "Walk a Thin Line".[11] Hawkins recalled that they played "Walk a Thin Line" for Harrison, who thought that the song could benefit from slide guitar. Upon hearing that Harrison was willing to play on the track, Hawkins said that "Richard Dashut had him set up and ready to go in about ten seconds, before he had a chance to change his mind."[10]

Following the seven-week recording session in Ghana, Fleetwood returned to England for of mixing and overdubbing. These sessions took place at a studio situated in a mill that was owned by Jimmy Page. In total, the album cost between $400,000 and $500,000 to make, and Fleetwood failed to recuperate those losses through album sales.[12][13] Upon the album's release, Shapiro commented that the album "was not received with a great deal of enthusiasm by commercial recording interests in the US."[13]

Track listing

[edit]
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rattlesnake Shake"Peter Green3:49
2."You Weren't in Love"Billy Field3:55
3."O' Niamali"Nii Amartey2:47
4."Super Brains" (instrumental)A. B. Crentsil4:07
5."Don't Be Sorry, Just Be Happy"Todd Sharp4:24
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Walk a Thin Line"Lindsey Buckingham3:19
2."Not Fade Away"
2:22
3."Cassiopeia Surrender"George Hawkins4:34
4."The Visitor"C. K. Ganjo4:05
5."Amelle (Come on Show Me Your Heart)"Amartey4:35
Total length:37:57

Personnel

[edit]

Band

  • Mick Fleetwood – drums (1–3, 5–9), percussion (1, 6), extra percussion (1), water gong (5)
  • George Hawkins – lead vocals (2, 5–8), bass guitar (1–3, 5–8, 10), piano (2, 6, 9), guitar (6), organ (8, 10)
  • Todd Sharp – guitars (1, 2, 5, 7), rhythm guitar (4), lead guitar (8)

Charts

[edit]
Chart (1981) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[14] 80
US Billboard 200[15] 43

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "FMQB" (PDF). p. 34.
  2. ^ a b Waynick, Michael. "Mick Fleetwood - The Visitor Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  3. ^ Melody Maker review- 5 September 1981 edition, page 13
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  5. ^ a b c d Evans, Mike (2011). Fleetwood Mac – The Definitive History. New York, NY: Sterling. pp. 181–182, 187. ISBN 978-1-4027-8630-3.
  6. ^ Irvin, Jim (2016). Tusk (2015 Remastered Deluxe Edition) (Liner Notes). Fleetwood Mac. Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Records Inc. p. 15. Publisher Warner Bros #2HS-3350.
  7. ^ a b Shruers, Fred (28 May 1981). "Ghanaian Encounters: Mick Fleetwood and the Drums of Africa". Rolling Stone. pp. 60, 62.
  8. ^ Fleetwood, Mick; Bozza, Anthony (October 2014). Play On: Now Then & Fleetwood Mac. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 253–254. ISBN 978-0-316-40342-9.
  9. ^ "Bob Welch, November 8 - 21, 1999 - Section 8". The Penguin. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  10. ^ a b "George Hawkins Question and Answer Session - April 4 - 19, 2000". The Penguin. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  11. ^ Leng, Simon (2006). The Music of George Harrison: While My Guitar Gently Weeps. 7777 Bluemound Road, P.O. Box 13819, Milwaukee, WI 53213: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 159. ISBN 1-4234-0609-5. Retrieved 1 September 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  12. ^ Fleetwood, Mick; Davis, Stephen (1990). Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures with Fleetwood Mac. New York: William Morrow and Company. pp. 248–249. ISBN 0-688-06647-X.
  13. ^ a b Dalton, David (6 June 1981). "A Lavish Launch For Fleetwood" (PDF). Music Week. p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2025 – via World Radio History.
  14. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 114. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  15. ^ "The Billboard 200". Billboard. 29 August 1981. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Visitor_(Mick_Fleetwood_album)&oldid=1267302941"