33 1/3 Continuum -Tusk expected 11/2010

[michelej1]

Continuum's 33 1/3 Series still expected to do Tusk in 2010, post by David

http://33third.blogspot.com/2010/09/series-in-2010.html

So, it looks like we'll publish 9 volumes in the series during 2010. Those that have published so far in the year are:

The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka, by Mark Richardson (January)
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Facing Future, by Dan Kois (January)
Public Enemy - Nation of Millions, by Christopher R. Weingarten (April)
AC/DC - Highway to Hell, by Joe Bonomo (May)
Pavement - Wowee Zowee, by Bryan Charles (June)
Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle, by Richard Henderson (June)

and those currently in production to round out the year are:

Radiohead - Kid A, by Marvin Lin (November)
Slint - Spiderland, by Scott Tennent (November)
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk, by Rob Trucks (November)

There's a *very* slim chance that the legendary/oft-rumored Nine Inch Nails book might squeak in by the end of the year - but, who knows?

Slam-dunks for the first half of 2011 include books on Television, the Rolling Stones, Ween and I hope at least a couple of others.

[David]

I hope somebody's written down all that crap, because no one directly involved remembers much any longer.

[justcrazylove]

http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/...archType=Basic

bit of a blurb and the table of contents!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by justcrazylove

http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/...archType=Basic

bit of a blurb and the table of contents!

This is exciting. This thing is really happening. I'm thrilled to have fresh input from LB, but if he makes that comment about the WB executives watching their bonus checks fly out of the window again, I will live the remainder of my life as a bald woman, after pulling out all of my hair.

Michele

[michelej1]

Excerpt from a Chicago Tribune article discussing 33 1/3 Series by Josh Noel

http://www.chicagotribune.com/featur...,3274324.story

Rock of pages
The 33 1/3 book series draws authors interested in sharing a bond with an album

Colin Meloy's take on The Replacements' "Let It Be" is as much about himself as the record (as front man for a successful rock band — The Decemberists — he can probably get away with that). Rob Trucks' "Tusk," about the Fleetwood Mac album initially considered a failure in the shadow of its predecessor, "Rumours," is primarily concerned with a character named Rob and such fascinating tidbits as, "If Rob attempts to raise his arm straight out from his side, like, say, a bird, a shooting pain develops just as his arm reaches parallel to his body."

What does this have to do with Fleetwood Mac? Nothing. But for anyone obsessed with mid-era Fleetwood Mac (guilty), that's the sacrifice for a book-length discussion on "Tusk."

Others split the difference. Amanda Petrusich's "Pink Moon" is, after a slightly self-obsessed first chapter, a poetic tale about 28 of the best minutes ever put to tape, while many have no "I" factor whatsoever. With 33 1/3 you're rarely just getting a critical analysis of an album. But sometimes you are. Which was Barker's intention.

"The people I initially wanted to write, I thought I'd never get them to write to a rigid format," he said. "I thought it might be more fun to see how they wanted to go about it."

Though an early champion of first person-heavy narratives, Barker sees the series pulling away from that trend: "As I grow older and the series grows older, I want slightly different things from it. I'd be reluctant to put out one of these books now without a bit more documentation and history."

Even if 33 1/3 hasn't quite found the formula for a constant run of best sellers (more bondage and vampires?), it isn't going anywhere. Bloomsbury Publishing, which acquired Continuum last year, has affirmed its commitment to the series in its academic wing, and 18 more titles have been slated for release in 2013 and 2014, from Michael Jackson to Dead Kennedys.

The endurance summons a classic line about the Velvet Underground's first record, "The Velvet Underground & Nico" (it's number 11 in the 33 1/3 series), along the lines of, "It sold just 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought one started a band."

"I don't know that we've sold that many books," Barker said. "But everyone wants to write one of these things."

Josh Noel writes about travel and beer for the Chicago Tribune. He is hard at work on a proposal for a 33 1/3 book about the legendary "Bert & Ernie's Greatest Hits."

More information: 33third.blogspot.com

[nodmod]

1.0 out of 5 stars Turgid drivel, avoid, don't waste your money 30 April 2012

I really had high hopes of this book, it was a rare treat to find a book written on the largely ignored Tusk album instead of Rumours, however how disappointed was I in this read, it seems as through the author thought that they had secured interviews with the band and when these supposed interviews never happened the author filled the space within the book with random notes of nothingness, so very disappointing and such a shame, I count myself as a huge fan of the band and would consume anything written or played that involved the band, but I draw the line at reading a book written by an author that has an axe to grind and rather then do some more research they decided to fill the gaps in the book with turgid drivel, no doubt needing to complete so they could get paid, such a shame! All I want to know is where I can get the few hours back that I spent reading this rubbish, however the book did finally become useful as the pages burnt well on the fire!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by nodmod

1.0 out of 5 stars Turgid drivel, avoid, don't waste your money 30 April 2012

I really had high hopes of this book, it was a rare treat to find a book written on the largely ignored Tusk album instead of Rumours, however how disappointed was I in this read, it seems as through the author thought that they had secured interviews with the band and when these supposed interviews never happened the author filled the space within the book with random notes of nothingness, so very disappointing and such a shame, I count myself as a huge fan of the band and would consume anything written or played that involved the band, but I draw the line at reading a book written by an author that has an axe to grind and rather then do some more research they decided to fill the gaps in the book with turgid drivel, no doubt needing to complete so they could get paid, such a shame!

Nice. These writers get mad when they don't get the interviews for which they'd hoped. Rob Trucks hasn't been the only one lately.

Michele

[elle]

http://notyourmamasbookshelf2.blogsp...am-genius.html

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Lindsey Buckingham, Genius

Book Reviewed: Tusk, by Rob Trucks (vol. 77 of the 33 1/3 series)

I love Fleetwood Mac. I mean, I really love Fleetwood Mac. When I was a kid, I remember watching The Dance tour live on TV and wanting to know more about this strange band with its apparent romantic entanglements, the self-mythos they scattered around themselves on stage. As I got older, I learned to appreciate the music for how pretty but robust it was. I listened to Rumours and thought I understood Fleetwood Mac as a band interested in melody first and last. But then I really listened to the song "Tusk" and realized I didn't know this band at all. Have you listened to "Tusk" lately? It's an incredibly weird little song. And it comes from an even weirder album.

When I saw that the 33 1/3 series, a brilliant little series of short books about famous or influential albums written by writers who aren't necessarily music journalists, had a volume on Tusk, I decided I had to read it. It made a nice antidote to the heavy poetry and theoretical lit stuff I have to read for school. Instead, it let me bask in the glow that is a mishmashed band making mishmashed music. Trucks's central premise is that Lindsey Buckingham is the real genius behind Fleetwood Mac and that Tusk is Buckingham's album more than a regular Fleetwood album. I don't think he's going to meet a lot of criticism on that point, although I might be biased. Buckingham isn't just my favorite member of Fleetwood Mac, he's one of my favorite rock stars period. (Note: If you have never heard the 1997 live version of "Big Love," then you are not a real person. That specific version of that song has been firmly in my Top 5 Favorite Songs of All Time list for years now).

Trucks admits from the book's first page that a hardcore fan of either Fleetwood Mac or the Tusk album will probably be disappointed by his presentation here. Trucks uses moments from his own life as a framework for his feelings toward Buckingham, the band, and the album. I have to admit that while I sometimes enjoyed Trucks's asides, I had a rather difficult time connecting them to the narrative at large (the narrative being that Tusk is secretly a stroke of genius and that the genius is all Buckingham's to own). Sometimes, things would just start getting interesting and then Trucks would break in and ruin the moment a bit. For that reason, I tended to most enjoy the "What We Talk About When We Talk About Tusk" chapters, in which other musicians (including a student from the USC marching band that played along on the original recording of the song "Tusk") talk about the album and the band. It's cool to see how many people the band has influenced over the years, particularly Buckingham. Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner in particular said something that made me think about Buckingham in an all-new way:

Lindsey Buckinham has a way of putting together a song that's kind of heartbreaking...I think [his strength] is this unquantifiable way of delivering the melody and the words at the same time, so somehow the delivery and the timbre and the tonality of the voice and the way the notes are shaped and the way they break off, like in 'The Ledge,' you know, it sounds kind of fragile. And then he kind of pulls it back together. And these events just happen in microseconds. That's something that not a lot of performers have.

So while Tusk didn't always deliver the way I wanted it to, mainly due to Trucks's frequent diversions, I admit it made me appreciate Fleetwood Mac and their strangest album in a whole new way. And it reconfirmed my admiration of Lindsey Buckingham's contributions to one of my favorite bands.

Note: I know you're wondering what my 5 favorite Fleetwood Mac songs are. Here they are, folks: "Big Love," "Tusk," "Rhiannon," "Dreams," "The Ledge."
Posted by Beth at 10:36 AM

[michelej1]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/...rpt_the_33.php

By Rob Trucks March 18, 2011

Recently, beloved friend-of-SOTC Rob Trucks (last seen chatting with the Big Star tribute crew and exploring Bob Dylan-centric Greenwich Village landmarks) published a book on Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, adding to the venerable 33 1/3 series the tale of the fraught, outrageously expensive, doggedly uncommercial follow-up to Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all time. Trucks spoke extensively with FM boss Lindsey Buckingham, and also grilled Tusk fans who now make up such bands as Animal Collective, Camper Van Beethoven, the New Pornographers, Wolf Parade, and the USC Trojan marching band. Pick up the book here; below, please find an excerpt that at least begins to explore how much Tusk cost to make, and who was sleeping with who while they were making it.

The double-edged sword of that kind of success is that it gives you freedom, but you've also got to have the perspective to use the freedom. --Lindsey Buckingham, September 5, 2008

After the group's Grammy win in February of 1978, but before the final leg of the Rumours tour that begins again in July, Lindsey builds a home studio. He listens to, among others, new albums by the Talking Heads (Talking Heads: '77) and the Clash (The Clash). He writes and records "That's All For Everyone," "Not That Funny," and "What Makes You Think You're the One," all at home.

And cuts off all his hair.

Reason #497 not to trust Wikipedia:

Buckingham was able to convince Fleetwood to allow his work on their next album to be more experimental and to work on tracks at home, then bring them to the band in the studio. His expanded creative role for the next album was influenced by an appreciation for New Wave music, specifically Gary Numan.

Gary Anthony James Webb, a/k/a Gary Numan, records his first album, Tubeway Army, in August of 1978, a month after Lindsey Buckingham presents his post-Rumours ultimatum to Mick Fleetwood in an upstate New York hotel room. At the time, Numan is 20 years old. The best-selling album of Numan's career, The Pleasure Principle, fueled by his decidedly most well-known single, "Cars," is released in September of 1979, the same month as the "Tusk" single. During the recording of Tusk, Gary Numan is way, way absent from Lindsey Buckingham's radar.

I'd been working at home on songs just by myself, which was sort of more like the painting process, you know, one on one with the canvas, and the idea was to bring some of that stuff back in and let the band work on it, and just to kind of shake it up, and the result was, you know, a much more surprising, to-the-left group of tunes, generally speaking. --Lindsey Buckingham, October 11, 2006

History fades.
Tusk is in no way perfect.
Far from it.
In fact, that may be the point (if not the concept).
Rugged, ragged, fragmenting and fracturing an already fragmented and fractured band.
Say the secret word and win a hundred dollars.

At the end of the never-ending Rumours tour (think of the album as an oil well that won't quite go dry, no matter how many times it's been pumped), Lindsey meets Mick in the drummer's hotel room. It is July of 1978 and the band is in upstate New York, most likely the Hilton in Saratoga.

Mick, despite a long-standing inability to manage money, serves as the band's manager. He is also the band member most likely to accept Lindsey's new direction.
What Lindsey delivers is just short of an ultimatum. "I have these songs . . ."
What Mick returns is just short of an ultimatum. "You're either in the band or you're not."
Sure, Mick didn't want to lose Lindsey, but the fact that Mick and Stevie are now sleeping with each other but unsure whether Buckingham knows and what his reaction will be may have played a part in Mick's willingness to allow Lindsey to do whatever the hell Lindsey wanted to do.
So off Lindsey went, back to his home studio, to kick out some more jams.

Adjectives found in reviews contemporary to the release of Tusk: brave, restless, opulent, nonliterary, audacious, gleeful, allusive, spare, incantatory, luxuriant, spacious, ethereal, histrionic, offbeat, terse, excitable, giddy, spectacular, intense, cutting, nonsensical, mysterious, unintelligible, fragile, obsessive, anticipated.

The final product, a 20-song double album called Tusk, features nine songs of Lindsey's, six of Christine's, five of Stevie's. Lindsey, for the first time, receives individual production credit.

A "Special Thanks to Lindsey Buckingham" graces the liner notes and in one particularly telling photo the other four band members turn, as a group, to gaze upon his visage. Stevie and Christine lay hands like a couple of Mary Magdalenes, while John and Mick, the temple elders, look on with some hesitancy and skepticism.

Lindsey, for his part, beams at his bandmates' presumed adoration. (Around the time of his teenage-basement fumblings with Buckingham Nicks as background, Rob learned, in high school English, that every book contained Christian symbolism. And none more so than Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage ("wafer in the sky" and so forth), though Billy Budd came close. This is the Christian symbolism in this book.)
Tusk is Lindsey Buckingham's album with the band's other four members pretty much along for the ride.

This is how the story goes:
The recording of Tusk begins in Studio D at the Village Recorder in May of 1977, three months before Rumours tour dates finally grind to a halt.
The first night, Stevie Nicks arrives two hours late. Mick Fleetwood has just purchased a $70,000 sports car and, as if in need of a reason to celebrate, the band begins snorting cocaine.
Despite Lindsey's new initiative, some things do not change.
Early evening Mick gets a phone call saying that his sports car, while being towed to his home, was broadsided by a semi and split in half, a total loss. The car is not insured.
The session, for which no recording takes place, ends at six the next morning, and Tusk has officially begun.

The affair between Mick and Stevie, begun while on tour in Australia in November of 1977 and still a theoretical secret, is not quite ongoing, not quite over. Which does nothing to diminish the ever-present in-studio stress.
Christine breaks up with the band's lighting director and begins an affair with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, who later moves into her house, while Lindsey lives with girlfriend Carol Ann Harris. The entire band continues to ingest prodigious amounts of cocaine, though Mick is recently diagnosed with diabetes and Lindsey with a mild form of epilepsy following a collapse in a hotel shower.
John McVie marries Julie Reubens, and Mick, who is still involved with his wife Jenny, still not finished though not quite involved with Stevie, begins dating Stevie's friend Sara Recor, the wife of Kenny Loggins' manager Jim Recor, who may or may not have had an affair with Stevie when Fleetwood Mac and Loggins & Messina shared a tour bill, and Sara leaves her husband to move in with Mick.
Which at least brings some closure to the Stevie-Mick intrigue.

The breaking apart of intraband relationships serves as an advantageous theme in both the music and the marketing of Rumours.
And given that it comes post-breakup, Tusk is one of the few Fleetwood Mac albums that does not try to sell the Stevie-Lindsey love story.
Which may be yet another reason for its disappointing sales.

This is how the story goes:
Before Tusk recording begins, Mick, as manager, approaches the record company, the record company that has just been delivered the best-selling album in its history, and suggests that the band purchase its own studio.
With a record company advance, of course.
The record company says, No. A mistake, considering they will ultimately shell out a record-setting $1.4 million to custom-fit Studio D and receive nothing but the Tusk master tapes in return.
This is the last time the record company will have the opportunity to say, No, for more than a year as, during the recording of Tusk, no executive, no record company representative at all, actually, is allowed past the recording studio lobby.

Music is personal.
Tusk is a symbol.

We did go over to Village Recorders and had something to do, were somehow financially involved in the building of Studio D over there, or the remodeling of it. Whether or not that, at the end of the day, was a good thing for us, I would have to think not. Mick was actually managing the band and, in a way, they had a reason not to want another manager. Clifford Davis, I guess, had screwed them out of some money. But you know when you have the kind of almost immediate success that ignites with that first album and then Rumours, anybody could've been managing and been perceived as doing a good job. --Lindsey Buckingham, October 11, 2006

The first Fleetwood Mac album of the Buckingham-Nicks era takes longer to record than any album in group history yet also garners the band's best sales. Rumours takes even longer, more than a year (they leave their primary studio in Sausalito after nine months with nothing but drum tracks) and sells even better. Thus Fleetwood Mac learns to make themselves happy with the recording process, regardless of the time or financial cost. Tusk is the effect.

[louielouie2000]

^What an enjoyable read. Thanks for passing this along, Michele! You can tell Rob really dug further into the story of Fleetwood Mac & Tusk than anyone else has ever bothered to. I can't say I've ever read an article that rebuts regurgitated information about the band- count me as impressed. I now wonder if I should have bought this book after all. I didn't initially because the author used much of it to talk about himself.