Tusk - 2015 Deluxe & Expanded!!

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Rod~A~Little

I got an early Christmas present. So I connected my turntable to my digital 8-track and made this video for YouTube. Here's one of my faves from the vinyl...Angel!!! It sounds amazing!!!!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1rKaVIXm3A

Wow that sounded fantastic!! Those keys never sounded more crisp. I can hear all three voices so clearly!

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by Rod~A~Little

I got an early Christmas present. So I connected my turntable to my digital 8-track and made this video for YouTube. Here's one of my faves from the vinyl...Angel!!! It sounds amazing!!!!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1rKaVIXm3A

Thanks. I love it.

[michelej1]

Glide Magazine, 9 out of 10 stars

http://www.glidemagazine.com/153512/...-album-review/

Fleetwood Mac Reissue ‘Tusk’ Featuring Unreleased Alternate Takes and Live Renditions (ALBUM REVIEW)

December 23, 2015 by Lee Zimmerman

Tusk, Fleetwood Mac’s 1979 opus was a daring experiment, one that defied commercial possibilities while expanding the band’s musical parameters into areas that were otherwise unimaginable. It was especially daring considering the fact that the band had just come off two LPs that had broken them wide open in the States, Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, albums that would go one to become among the best selling albums in all of music history.

Helmed by the most successful line-up in their lengthy history — that being the front line axis of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie — the band continued to venture even further in from their blues based roots, having been hailed as the champions of soft rock radio in all its endearing essence. In truth, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, the band’s namesakes and longtime standard bearers, had become token players in their own outfit, having ceded control to the trio responsible for their hits. Nevertheless, Fleetwood Mac was more potent and impressive commercially than at any time in their storied history, flush with widespread acclaim and ready to take on the world.

While the album was successful by most standards — it reached the top five in the U.S., spent over five months in the top 40, and was certified double platinum by virtue of selling two million copies — it didn’t come close to matching the levels achieved by its two immediate predecessors. Warner Bros. blamed RKO radio for playing the album in its entirety prior to release, encouraging volumes of home taping. The album cost over $1 million to make, the most expensive record in pop music history up until that time, and with consumers forced to shell out an extra $2 to cover the price of the resulting double album, economics discouraged those on a budget from making a ready purchase. It did produce a pair of hits in “Sara” and the title track, but given the fact it bore 20 tracks in all, expectations were never fully realized.

Nevertheless, in retrospect ,it is a fascinating album, a brilliant combination of excess, eccentricity and studio savvy. Consequently, any reason for reexamination is well worth the time and effort. To be sure this 2015 version isn’t its first reissue; an extensive re-release was launched a decade ago, but it pales in comparison to the expansive treatment the album is accorded this time around. Offered now as a six disc set in its most elaborate configuration, it features an entire side of outtakes, rarities, works in progress and demos, as well as two discs culled from live recordings extracted from the Tusk tour, an alternate version of the album as it was first intended, and a DVD containing a surround sound mix of the original recordings.

Tusk deluxe is housed in an elaborate box that also boasts heretofore unseen photos and an extensive essay by journalist Jim Irvin, who, in turn, offers insights about the circumstances surrounding the album’s recording while reflecting on the general bewilderment it cast on an unsuspecting record label, music critics and the public in general, most of whom were either too confused or too overwhelmed to give it the time and attention the album deserved. As Irvin points out, many second generation copies were obtained from used record stores, discarded by the original owners simply because they had no patience for digesting it all.

More than 35 years later, Tusk can now be seen as the bold effort it is, and in listening to the various rehearsals and formative versions of its staple songs, it’s possible to appreciate all it has to offer. (Buckingham’s multiple takes on “I Know I’m Not Wrong” and his slow construction of “Tusk” offer fascinating insights into the way the genesis of the record was fashioned, one layer at a time.) No, is hardly a perfect record, but in terms of sheer brashness and bravado, it states an exceptionally high bar.

[Hawkeye]

No offense to those songs. And to be completely fair I haven't even listened to brown eyes all the way thru or angel. I've just noticed those 2 songs getting mentioned a lot as being stand outs on a very consistent basis. But I've sen very little mention of the absolutely heavenly sonic journey that is every single freaking tusk demo. Holy ****, this is mind blowing stuff. All 5 are different enough that i wouldn't want any of them excluded from the set, unlike other songs cough IKINW cough.

Tusk has always been a to 5 fleetwood Mac song for me, but after hearing see other versions, it would be very hard for it not to be a landslide victory greatest fleetwood Mac song ever for me.

The acoustic version in particular makes me think the song could easily gone a much different direction, and would've been just as good if not better as an account if, much darker song. Kind like bel air rain 30 years early.

And if I had any way to control one decision the band does on stage next time it would be to do this: swap big love to full band and have tusk replace big love as the acoustic song mid set. It would be such a win win. Tusk would be so perfect acoustic. I think the guitar climax could blow big loves away. And tusk howls would replace big love grunts seamlessly!

[Hawkeye]

And sorry if someone actually has pointed this song out. I just haven't seen it. But I may agave missed reading a lot. The songs that I've seen just get repeated a lot are brown eyes and Angel. And Sara live obviously when it was the only song we heard.

And again I've only heard the second disk so far so those other songs could absolutely either live up to or exceed their hype from me, I'm not questioning that at all, just that even if they're even better to me, it was still worth pointing out that tusk was as I put it a heavenly sonic journey!

[shackin'up]

I totally agree about the Tusk journey. It's divine. But so are the IKINW experiments in my opinion. And the Out On The Road sketch is absolutely nineties experimentalist folk. Could have been on Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 In an aeroplane under the sea- album.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

I totally agree about the Tusk journey. It's divine. But so are the IKINW experiments in my opinion. And the Out On The Road sketch is absolutely nineties experimentalist folk. Could have been on Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 In an aeroplane under the sea- album.

I love them. I'm glad they included all of them. This package is so superior to anything they have released. The sound is so crisp on my speakers.

[UndoingTheLaces]

I went out and got a really nice 5.1 surround sound system because of this DVD. I've been wanting one forever but this was the catalyst for my actually getting one. My partner put it all together and set it all up. And we both sat down on the couch and put on Sara. I cried before it was even half way done. It's really incredibly beautiful.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

I went out and got a really nice 5.1 surround sound system because of this DVD. I've been wanting one forever but this was the catalyst for my actually getting one. My partner put it all together and set it all up. And we both sat down on the couch and put on Sara. I cried before it was even half way done. It's really incredibly beautiful.

What a sweet story. Wish I could have been there with you. I still haven't heard any of this release on GOOD speakers.

[UndoingTheLaces]

Originally Posted by vivfox

What a sweet story. Wish I could have been there with you. I still haven't heard any of this release on GOOD speakers.

Aww, it's really wonderful. And at least now I can listen to my CDs in the apartment even though I can't add them to my iPod. My computer's CD drive doesn't work so I can't rip them. I'm gonna have to find a friend who can rip them for me.

[Andyleo]

Well, finally after having the Aussie release date put back from the 4th to the 11th and then to the 23rd of December and then to discover no shops had received the super deluxe boxset anywhere in my state and after being devastated to think I'd never get my hands on one, I placed an online order with jb hifi, with no real expectations of getting one, my order has been shipped and is finally on the way😜

[sorcerer999]

I finally got this as a Christmas present. It's wonderful. The stand out track for me in this set is the absolutely BEAUTIFUL and heartbreaking "Save Me A Place" (my favorite Lindsey song) from the Alternate Tusk dated 10/18/78. It took my breath away! I wish they had used this version. His vocal here is sublime!

There are a lot of great stand out tracks on The Alternate Tusk, in fact! "Storms" 6/2/79 sounds like "Landslide Part 2" with just her lone vocal and his acoustic guitar. "Angel" has an awesome vocal that, in my opinion, is so much better than what made it to the album. "Brown Eyes" with Peter Green is unique. I can't say I like it better, but I appreciate this "work in progress" version.

The two LIVE discs are a real treat as well. "Angel", "SMAP", "SYLM", "Sisters"...all amazing!!! Even the live "Sara" is still refreshing even already having heard it a million times since it was released early.

I haven't had a chance to listen to the DVD Audio because I don't own a DVD player anymore. Hopefully, someday Blu-Ray will be able to accommodate that format.

[MikeVielhaber]

Originally Posted by sorcerer999

I haven't had a chance to listen to the DVD Audio because I don't own a DVD player anymore. Hopefully, someday Blu-Ray will be able to accommodate that format.

It's not DVD Audio, unlike the Rumours release from 15 or so years ago....it's just a DVD. I believe it has a DTS soundtrack. All blu-ray players will play it.

[michelej1]

'Tusk': New Box Set Expands, Reveals Fleetwood Mac's Enigmatic Opus

By Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press Monday, December 28, 2015 | 1 day ago

http://www.houstonpress.com/music/tu...c-opus-8002956

When the five members of Fleetwood Mac reconvened in the studio in 1978 to record the follow-up to their massively successful/decade-defining/inescapable disc Rumours, it would have been painfully easy to simply spit out Rumours II.

Instead, they took 13 months and spent a then-unprecedented $1 million-plus to birth Tusk, a double album of 20 songs spanning 72 minutes. The effort defied expectations, confounded some fans, sold “only” 4 million units, and produced only two singles resembling hits: the tribal-sounding title track (recorded with the 112-piece University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band), and Stevie Nicks’ ethereal “Sara.”

However, a funny thing happened with Tusk in the ensuing 35 years. Its standing among both Mac fans and musicians has skyrocketed, as has respect for the wildly diverse songs and experimentation. Now, Rhino/Warner Brothers has released Tusk: The Deluxe Edition. The 5-CD/2-LP/1-DVD set includes the original album remastered, a bevy of outtakes and alternate takes, and plenty of live material from the ensuing tour.

In the booklet of liner notes and rare photos, Jim Irvin celebrates the potpourri grab bag of music, spearheaded by Lindsey Buckingham’s newfound infatuation with the sounds of punk and New Wave music, and a desire to not repeat the same old formula. He would even adopt an entirely new look for the photos shoots and tour of closely cropped hair, suits, and…uh…heavy makeup.

“Listening to Tusk is like walking around a ridiculously eclectic art gallery curated by someone who’s keeping their aesthetic a secret,” Irvin offers. “And old master next to an abstract, a kinetic sculpture next to a watercolour. It makes no sense at first.”

Though, contrary to the established Rock History Narrative of him fighting for the change alone, both Nicks and Mick Fleetwood and not just Buckingham were also eager to shake things up, according to their own comments today.

And what of the effect as a whole? Buckingham certainly brings an un-Mac-like tension, nervous energy, and biting sarcasm to efforts like the deranged square-dance sound of “The Ledge,” the punkish “What Makes You Think You’re the One,” the biting “Not That Funny,” and the “rockabilly on acid” of “That’s Enough For Me.”

Stevie Nicks, always given something of a short shrift in terms of songwriting since she doesn’t play an instrument (not counting the tambourine), offers some of her finest work in the longing “Storms,” an upbeat “Angel,” elegiac “Beautiful Child,” and mysterious “Sisters of the Moon,” which surprisingly resurfaced on the set list for the Mac’s recent reunion tours.

Only Christine McVie’s contributions seem slight and listless — both lyrically and musically — save for some soft-and-gentle work on her usual romantic balladry in “Over and Over” and “Brown Eyes.”

Tusk's recording period saw Christine’s involvement with both Grant Curry (the band’s lighting director) and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, while Buckingham fell into an intense involvement with record-company exec/former model Carol Ann Harris (who later wrote a not-that-flattering book about the relationship, Storms).

The shocker, fans later found out, was the news of Nicks and Fleetwood’s brief-but-intense involvement. It led to Fleetwood’s divorce from Jenny Boyd…who had previously had an affair with previous lineup guitarist Bob Weston…and was the sister of Rock’s Greatest Muse, Pattie Boyd, who sent both George Harrison and Eric Clapton into romantic bliss and yearning, poured out on vinyl.

And when Nicks and Fleetwood’s involvement ended, Nicks’ best friend, Sara Recor (partial inspiration for the song), took up with Fleetwood without either bothering to tell Nicks about it, which crushed her (are you following all of this?).

Thus, Nicks admits today that a number of her songs are about Fleetwood, and it’s not hard to interpret many of hers and Buckingham’s lyrics as continued musical snipes and judgments on their relationship.

Of the demos and alternate versions, there’s some very interesting development chronicled in the songs “I Know I’m Not Wrong” and “Tusk” as Buckingham — like he did with much of the material — tinkered with them in his own studio extensively before bringing them to the band. It was a way of songwriting that gave him more control, but which the band agreed to abandon after Tusk.

And on the live discs, listeners will find a band surprisingly willing to take risks with tempos and delivery onstage with material recorded in studio. And that includes tunes from their previous two records, Fleetwood Mac and Rumours.

So, while the hefty Deluxe Edition of Tusk may be for Mac Addicts only (and those with record players), less expensive options included a 3-CD Expanded Edition and a 1-CD Remastered effort.

In either case, for what attention and sometimes derision it received on release, Tusk is the one effort in the band’s discography whose standing has improved with time. Oh, and the meaning the title? It was Fleetwood’s slang term for a penis. You’re welcome for that.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by sorcerer999

I haven't had a chance to listen to the DVD Audio because I don't own a DVD player anymore. Hopefully, someday Blu-Ray will be able to accommodate that format.

Likewise...but I do have a blu ray, and ordered a digital optical cord to connect it to the receiver. But, I don't have a 5.1 speaker setup, so even with the cord I still won't be hearing it the way it was intended.

I'm a bit overwhelmed with the box. I love the Alternate Tusk disc - that's what I've been playing mostly. I agree with you about Save Me A Place. I find that song a bit, um, whiny ordinarily, and the alternate version is not at all whiny. And Angel - yes - so good. I can understand why that particular vocal was discarded, but the soft tone she sings it in is perfect, and makes the ending vocals that much better.

The live stuff is great...I do find the ending of Go Your Own Way abrasive and dissonant, but just the last 30 seconds or so. I just love Rhiannon and Sisters of the Moon.

I Know I'm Not Wrong is a recent obsession of mine, and the different stages of the song on the outtakes disc are fun.

I do feel they held back on us. So this can be done again in a decade.