Quote:
Originally Posted by elle
if there was no Tusk, all their albums would just be trying to be commerciality-attempting replicas of Rumours.
as far as songs go, i adore Think About Me but all other Chris songs are too slow for me. i adore alternate version of SOTM, and am ok with album versions of BC and Storms but adore live versions from BN FM. i could never stand Sara, such a dirge. Lindsey songs are a great solo album on their own and i used to listen to just them. i adore WMYTYTO and WATL, and Tusk is my Gen Z daughter's favorite Mac song. i've never been at FM or LB show where Tusk was not a huge crowd pleaser. guess everyone knows it from football games. short punkish NTF on OWTS tour was fantastic. TAFE has been revered by newer artists as huge influence but i just don't care for it.
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Which is exactly what happened post Tusk (seeking commercial success ahead of the integrity of the music). I like Mirage but even Christine commented how it was not daring at all. Its very safe and very light pop purposely made commercial music because of the backlash to Tusk. After a half decade apart and Mick's bankruptcy, Tango was even less daring than Mirage and most songs did not even sound like Fleetwood Mac. Its sad that we never got another Mac album with these 5 members free of pressure to make the music they want to make. Tusk made the band lose their rock chops. Classic rock stations only play songs from the White Album and Rumours.
There was no way to duplicate the success of Rumours so it would be silly to try. The Eagles are a great example. Hotel California and Rumours were released not far apart. They both were hugely successful selling similar amount of copies and Grammy nominated with multiple hit singles. The Eagles too were under pressure to make Hotel California 2. Their 1979 release The Long Run vs Mac's Tusk took different approaches. The Eagles were attacked for being blase. Disco was dominating the charts and Henley stated the title track was about the long run to see who would really survive and keeping their band together. The Long Run kept a similar formula from Hotel California and The Long Run debuted at #2 the first week and then went to #1 for 9 weeks with the same amount of hit singles. Oddly enough "In the City" was not officially released as a single but was played so much it literally was the 4th hit single from the album. The album sold 9 million copies which was huge but still half of Hotel California. There was a little rebellion in the album (not as much as Tusk of course) in taking swipes at the current disco trends in music in adding songs "The Disco Strangler" and "Those Shoes." The Long Run was actually supposed to be a double album but Henley stated they discovered they did not have enough good material to put out so curtailed that idea while in the studio.
Fleetwood Mac completely changed their sound. I am not sure how one can best describe the sound of Tusk. Everyone would have a different description. Its lots of folk music sounding IMHO. Many of the songs with drums have very awkward and soft beats that are interesting to say the least. I would love a Sisters on the album like its done live and the same with I know I'm not wrong.
The idea of this thread is "what if" And its an interesting question. The Eagles still put out a hugely successful album that few bothered to compare to Hotel California. I still think the Mac could have put out a similar type of album. But Lindsey was being very rebellious and I love Tusk for the music it is. I just hate the fact how the album led to them chasing commercial success more than ever and putting out bubble gum pop. Tusk created the monster that Lindsey tried to kill. When Gold Dust Woman and Storms were recorded, the band was not focusing on "will this get played on the radio?" Will it be a hit single? You cant say the same for Seven Wonders
