Tusk: Your favorite songs, grouped by singer

[Villavic]

I don’t remember if this was asked before, if so anyway here's the 2023 edition poll.

From Tusk, if you had to choose one group of songs that you like the most, which will you choose? Lindsey’s songs? Stevie’s songs? Christine's songs?

[HomerMcvie]

I want to pick Lindsey, but Think About Me won't allow it.

[Mr Scarrott]

I feel I need to forgive myself for this, but I voted for Stevie. Paradoxically, my favourite songs on the album are Brown Eyes and Save me a place but somehow Stevie's five Tusk songs, as a body of work just have this memerising feel to them which to me as a comparison of the three on that album, give them the edge over the other two, which can occasionally veer into throwaway or self-indulgence (Lindsey) or underdeveloped musical ideas (Christine).

Having said that, I suppose there are a couple of caveats. Angel has grown on me over the decades but I still get a nagging feeling that it occasionally plods and runs out of steam. And of course, Mr Buckingham would have played a huge part in realising Stevie's best ideas, so my Lindsey bias is still somehow intact.

[FuzzyPlum]

Grouped in order by singer…..

Best collection…..
Stevie
1 Sara
2 sisters of the moon
3 beautiful child
4 Angel
5 Storms

Second best….
Christine
1 Brown Eyes
2 Think About Me
3 Over and Over
4 Never Forget
5 Honey Hi
6 Never Make Me Cry

Third…..
Lindsey
1 I Know I’m Not Wrong
2 What Makes You Think You’re The One
3 Walk a Thin Line
4 Tusk
5 Save Me a Place
6 That’s All For Everyone
7 That’s Enough For Me
8 The Ledge
9 Not That Funny

[bwboy]

Stevie’s songwriting on Tusk gives her the edge here. I love many of Christine and Lindsey’s songs too, but Stevie’s songs are storytelling at their best. I mean, Storms and Beautiful Child are slow ballads, yet the lyrics are so vivid and yet different from each other. Her songs on Tusk are also more straightforward than her usual material, yet still have that “read between her lines” mystery surrounding them. Sara is a perfect example, where once you realize the song is about Mick, it all sort of falls into place. That mystery in the lyrics is what gives her songs the edge over the other two songwriters. And yes, Lindsey’s production absolutely helps the songs stand out, as well. Well, most of them, anyway.

I agree with much of Mr Scarrott’s notes above, especially about Angel plodding along. Starts off great but quickly stalls.

Sara
Storms
Beautiful Child
Sisters of the Moon
Angel

Brown Eyes
Think About It
Over and Over
Never Make Me Cry
Never Forget

I hate Honey Hi

I Know I’m Not Wrong
What Makes You Think You’re the One
That’s All For Everyone
Save Me a Place
Tusk

I hate the rest of Lindsey’s songs on Tusk.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by bwboy

I Know I’m Not Wrong
What Makes You Think You’re the One
That’s All For Everyone
Save Me a Place
Tusk

I hate the rest of Lindsey’s songs on Tusk.

I would expect nothing less from you... have a nice day...

[cbBen]

That's All For Everyone
I Walk A Thin Line
–and not the album version but live:
Sisters Of The Moon

[Macfan4life]

This is really hard. Chris always has the best songs on Mac albums. But this is too much of a mix that makes it hard. Stevie always had great songs in these days but I am not sure her best was selected for this album. Sara is brilliant, and Sisters is pretty good but the album version would have been forgotten if it was not for the powerhouse live version. Beautiful Child and Storms are nice but I dont think they would have made another album if it was not for the "quirky" Tusk. I like Angel but its sort of cheezy coming from Stevie with all those "goods" thrown around. Lindsey is hit or miss on this album. I love What Makes You Think You Are The One and Save Me A Place. Chris brings her best songs for Think About Me and Never Forget. But songs like Honey Hi are cute but dont sound finished.
Long story short, they all have peaks and valleys on the album but they merge together pretty good. Think About Me sticks out like a sore thumb since its not drowning in the "quirkieness"

Brown Eyes, Think About Me and Never Forget are the win for me. So I would vote for Chris. If Sara was not on Tusk, Stevie's Tusk songs would be forgotten.

[DownOnRodeo]

Hugs Sara, Over & Over, and I Know I'm Not Wrong to his chest and runs for the door, refusing to cast a vote in this impossible competition

[mitzo]

Stevie's songs on Tusk are sublime and made me a (almost) lifelong fan. My disappointment when Bella Donna came out was huge, she went from these magical works on Tusk to the mostly flat thin boring stuff on her solo debut.

Chris comes in a close second on the TUSK album. Lindsey did an unbelievably incredible job producing but to me his songs here unlistenable.

Stevie

Storms
Sara
Beautiful Child
Sisters of the Moon
Angel (a bit too honky tonk and out of place here, IMO)

Christine

Brown Eyes
Never Make Me Cry
Never Forget
Honey Hi
Think About Me
Over and Over

Lindsey

None. Sorry.

[UnwindedDreams]

Stevie’s songs.
Angel to me is the best band song with Stevie on vocals. Christine and John leading the song, Mick giving a great beat and Lindsey popping in here and there. And the harmonies are delish. I would say same for Sara but the keys on Angel to me speak Christine so much more than Sara, in a great way.

[DownOnRodeo]

Mitzo, for the feverishly slooow Lindsey songs, I challenge you to listen to them at 1.5 speed on YouTube. They might still graze the throat but they're much easier to swallow.

Save Me A Place (1.25 x, or 1x)
What Makes You Think You're The One (1.5x)
That's All For Everyone (1.5x)
Walk A Thin Line (1.5x)

George Hawkins and George Harrison et al must have realized this as well, because their cover of Walk A Thin Line for Mick's solo album is much faster than the Tusk track.

[aleuzzi]

I listen to Christine’s more (far more) than the others. But chose Lindsey because, quite frankly, Tusk wouldn’t be Tusk without him. His songs really animate the record in endlessly surprising ways.

To my way off thinking, the title song is one of the best songs in all of rock-n-roll, the best song on the album, and with GYOW his crowning achievement.

Stevie’s Tusk songs are also great but would be considerably less interesting if not surrounded by the colors and tones provided by the other two writers.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

I want to pick Lindsey, but Think About Me won't allow it.

You've made me love that song, just a little more.

[WalkAThinLine.]

Lindsey's nine songs on Tusk are all over the board, but are so endearing that I had to select this batch of material over the others. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" remains one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs, the title track arguably got me into Fleetwood Mac to begin with, and other songs like "Walk a Thin Line" and "Not That Funny" have grown on me over the years.

This is not to downplay the contributions of Stevie and Christine, who both bring their A game. With the exception of "Angel", Stevie's songs on Tusk are all grand slams. If I'm not mistaken, "Sisters of the Moon" was one of my most played songs of 2021 on Spotify when accounting for the studio version, the remix, and the live version found on the deluxe edition of Mirage. While I don't listen to "Storms" or "Beautiful Child" much, I recognize the wonderful songwriting that went into them. "Sara" is absolutely immaculate.

"Think About Me" was an instant favorite of mine, but it took a while to enjoy her other offerings. "Over and Over" is a sublime opener and "Never Forget" is bittersweet bookend to the Tusk album. Recently, I've been listing to "Never Make Me Cry", a song that I usually skipped over on my first dozen playthroughs of the album. Now, I'm a huge fan of it. "Honey Hi" has some of Fleetwood Mac's best vocal harmonies, at least on Tusk, and Christine McVie has never written a song like it since then.