The Visitor (Mick Fleetwood album)

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.

The Visitor
Studio album by
Mick Fleetwood
ReleasedJune 1981[1]
RecordedGhana, Africa - January–February 1981
GenreRock
LabelRCA Records
ProducerMick Fleetwood, Richard Dashut
Mick Fleetwood chronology
The Visitor
(1981)		 I'm Not Me
(1983)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]

Background

At the conclusion of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk Tour, the band agreed to take an extended hiatus to pursue individual projects.[3] Fleetwood had expressed interest in doing an African record back in 1978 when Fleetwood Mac was about to begin work on the Tusk album,[4] although this idea was not fully realized until Fleetwood travelled to Ghana with the intention of collaborating with local musicians. Fleetwood approached Warner Brothers about the idea, but the label turned him down as they were unwilling to give the drummer $500,000 to fly out the necessary equipment to Ghana and arrange for the recording sessions. RCA Records eventually agree to fund Fleetwood's plan, so he flew out to Accra, the capital of Ghana, where Fleetwood and his manager Mickey Shapiro scouted the area for musicians.[3]

Fleetwood's original idea was to send mixing desks and tape machines to musicians so they could record at their home localities, although Fleetwood decided against this as the road conditions rendered it impossible to transport this gear.[3] Fleetwood instead arranged for studio sessions with Faisal Helwani, who had the only functioning professional studio in Accra.[5]

George Hawkins, who performed most of the lead vocals on this album, later appeared on the I'm Not Me album from 1983 as a member and co-lead vocalist of Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo. Fleetwood had originally asked Bob Welch, a former member of Fleetwood Mac, to appear on The Visitor, but Welch was too busy to participate.[6]

Two of the tracks 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. George Harrison appeared on "Walk a Thin Line".[7] Following the seven-week recording session in Ghana, Fleetwood returned to England for the purpose of mixing and overdubbing the existing tracks. These sessions took place at a studio owned by Jimmy Page that was situated in a mill. In total, the album cost five-hundred thousand dollars to make, and Fleetwood failed to recuperate those losses through album sales.[8]

Track listing
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"A. B. Crentsil4:07
5."Don't Be Sorry, Just Be Happy"Todd Sharp4:24
6."Walk a Thin Line"Lindsey Buckingham3:19
7."Not Fade Away"Charles Hardin, Norman Petty2:22
8."Cassiopeia Surrender"George Hawkins4:34
9."The Visitor"C. K. Ganjo4:05
10."Amelle (Come on Show Me Your Heart)"Nii Amartey4:35

Personnel

Production
  • Executive producer – Mickey Shapiro
  • Produced by Mick Fleetwood and Richard Dashut
  • Engineered by Bill Youdelman, Randy Ezratty, and Richard Dashut

Charts
Chart (1981) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[9] 80
US Billboard 200[10] 43

References
  1. Martin E. Adelson. "The Visitor - Mick Fleetwood". Discog.fleetwoodmac.net. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  2. Waynick, Michael. "Mick Fleetwood - The Visitor Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  3. Evans, Mike (2011). Fleetwood Mac – The Definitive History. New York, NY: Sterling. pp. 181–182, 187. ISBN 978-1-4027-8630-3.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. "Bob Welch, November 8 - 21, 1999 - Section 8". The Penguin. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  7. 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)
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. "The Billboard 200". Billboard. 29 August 1981. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
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