amazon.uk tusk-reissue review

[shackin'up]

http://www.shop-and-buy.co.uk/buy/de...leetwood%20Mac

maybe you all read this earlier...I didn't......

but THIS is what I call looking back on Tusk in a respectful and reasonable way.


Yes, also because I agree.....

[DownOnRodeo]

Thanks Gerlad, great article.

Here's the text:

---

Wonderful reissue of the Mac's masterpiece from 1979...
I've said it before & I'll say it again:"Rhino do the best reissues." This two-disc take on Fleetwood Mac's Tusk is far superior to the prior-budget price version, which edited the sublime joy that was Sara. The first disc takes in the original Tusk double-album & adds a single-mix of Sisters of the Moon; while the second disc takes in earlier versions/alternate takes/outtakes relating to the recording of Tusk and is worth buying for these stunning curios. This is even better than that deluxe reissue of The Velvet Underground's Loaded & chance to reassess a great, great album...
Tusk was famously the follow-up to the bestselling Rumours (1977) and along with Fleetwood Mac (1975) is the centrepiece of their career (stuff like Mirage & Tango in the Night were distinctly underwhelming). This was the era when Lindsay Buckingham became the mainman, while Christine McVie & Stevie Nicks were more than equal. Tusk is better than Rumours as (i) it's a double-album, the three-songwriters having much to offer (ii) it was recorded in relationship-turmoil, everyone likes a car crash. See: The Visitors, Low, Blemish, Music for a New Society (iii) Camper Van Beethoven recorded the whole album in tribute to it (iv) DJ Shadow sampled Brown Eyes on one of his early recordings (v) the band insisted on a ping-pong table in the studio, the Beastie Boys followed suit on their Tusk: 1989's Paul's Boutique (vi) it's not overplayed/overfamiliar like Rumours (vii) it's quite insane in parts (viii) because it is...

The cocaine-Californian thing has been done wonderfully by others- Warren Zevon, Steely Dan, The Eagles' Hotel California ,Gene Clark, Steve Stills- this does feel like a band living on the edge, in their own world where they can have anything they want. I'm reminded a little of The Band in The Last Waltz or The Stones around Exile on Main Street. Despite the gossip-related problems, this is a wonderful collection of songs- perhaps they were miserable, but in that place, they created something beautiful & enchanting. Perhaps it's a record like Blood on the Tracks, Here My Dear, Station to Station or Third/Sister Lovers that was ultimately more fun to listen to than make?

There is still hints of that perfect FM-country of Rumours- Think About Me, Angel- so I never understood why people didn't take to this set. Many of the tracks could have been put on Rumours & people would have eaten it up! Buckingham & co were getting more adventerous- the production is more experimental and probably has more in common with Lee'Scratch'Perry or PIL than Dire Straits. Tusk is not Metal Machine Music though...

Every track on it is wonderful- from the mad-brass inflected title track (sort of a rap!) to the gorgeous Brown Eyes to Buckingham's modern inversion of Eddie Cochran on The Ledge. I just don't get people who don't get Tusk!- what's not to get? The six-minute plus ethereal joy of Sara?- Nicks bettering herself with Sisters of the Moon and Storms, which are the kind of songs you could lose yourself in (& explains why a few girls I knew in the 80s tended to model themselves on Stevie...). McVie's gorgeous Over and Over is just hypnotic- but the song I could listen to UNTIL THE END OF TIME would be That's All For Everyone, which has a wonderful hook & like many of the great records, doesn't go on long enough...

Tusk is now available in complete, expanded form and is now ripe for rediscovery after the Mac's succesful return last year. It's also one of the great double-albums, easily ranking alongside Warehouse (Songs&Stories), Exile on Main Street, Being There, Sign'O'the Times, Sandinista!, Spirit of 76, Check Your Head & The White Album. A great reissue and Fleetwood Mac's masterpiece, as far as I'm concerned...

[marc402]

great review but weird that in the tracklisting sister of the moon single version is listed twice.
I also noticed this on eil.com
must be an oversight would be no point in puting on the same track twice lol

thanx for the link gerald