Thirty two years and seven months after buying Tusk, I still wouldn't change a thing about it. It was never meant to be a single album and the transcending moments in the band's history were too brilliant not to capture in music. Not a bad song on the album and contains some of the best vocals we've ever heard from the band. White and Rumours have their place in the band's history and Tusk does as well.

I think it goes deeper than a personal preference between long or short hair. It was also symbolic of the changing of their relationship. When Stevie said it was like her little boy cut his hair, it explained a lot about the lingering emotions. Lindsey was defying her "moving away from him" and he acted out in ways that hurt her too. To us it's no big deal, but to her it must have been a visual reminder everyday of their rift and how he was becoming more and more someone she didn't know. That's a weird feeling when you've been so close.

There is liquefaction of my memory, and all these albums have run together and then sunk into some synaptic mire.

It was just my view and I understand if you dont agree! If you read my posting, I said it was an album that divided people... as it is right now.

And I wouldn't change anything about the design or production. Dont put words in my mouth.

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showpo...&postcount=971 (thanks vivfox!)

Sometimes, the creative force behind a million-selling record doesn't just want to reinvent the style that earned a fortune – they want to tear it down.

In 1979, Fleetwood Mac were perhaps the biggest band in the world, having shifted more than 10 million copies of Rumours. The next album, their 12th, was Tusk, a wildly oscillating double LP that sounded like the work of separate solo artists, was packaged in what was surely a deliberately awful sleeve, and contained no obvious singles. To this day, non-aficionados only know Sara – it and the title track were modest hits at the time.

While the sound of Rumours was pristine and built for radio, Tusk was all over the show. Rumours had famously, fearlessly catalogued the bitter end of Lindsey Buckingham's relationship with Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie's with John McVie, as well as several awkward dalliances that followed. On Tusk, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks sounded all talked out, happy to submit tender, regretful fragments like Honey Hi and Beautiful Child. But they're punctuated by the songs of Lindsey Buckingham, which are best described as furious polkas, and dominate the record.

"Lindsey was a volatile, domineering personality and the rest just went with it," says Paphides. "People were worried about him. He turned up at the studio on day three and had cut all his hair off, standing in front of the mirror with a pair of scissors."

But while Buckingham stuffed his songs with multi-directional rage, and with the influence of punk and new wave, he had also become a skilled producer who could bring out the best in his bandmates' radically different compositions – even those of his ex, Stevie Nicks.

"There's still a lot of love between Stevie and Lindsey and she's happy for him that Tusk has become feted as a classic," says Paphides. "He never tried to inflict his scratchy, lo-fi, I'm-going-crazy production on her. The Stevie songs have lovely, luxuriant waves of elegant melancholy enveloping you. He knows exactly what she wants to achieve. It's the same with Christine McVie: Over and Over sounds just beautiful. As long as Lindsey could have his own way with his songs he'd do a good job for you."

Paphides spent four months tracking down Buckingham and scoring an interview, "Now Lindsey's very LA, very Zen, very 'I've been to therapy'. He's also very aware and proud of Tusk's reputation."

But in '79? "He was angry. If you have a Lindsey Buckingham character, there's a part of you that wants to destroy all you're best known for.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-...welfth)-albums
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When did the band go into the studio? Lindsey performed the entire 1978 summer tour, which started in early July, with short hair & no beard, and the band already had Sisters of the Moon started because they played it at a bunch of those shows.

according to CAH's book (not the most reliable reference, i realize, especially not for timelines :lol:) they were recording Tusk for a while before they went and did the last (?) leg of Rumours tour in 1978. he chopped his hair off early during Tusk recordings, while working on his bathroom floor i guess. :D

Well they were also helping Walter Egan out on his album, Not Shy and he wanted to cut SOTM, but LB said no they were saving it for Stevie for the new FM album. According to Egan it was in the summer, Lindsey told him to go home and write another song and he came up with Hot Summer Nights.

Edit: According to Rob Trucks book 33 1/3rd Tusk, "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."

I don't know if this is accurate.

That would make more sense if it was 1978, unless it's a typo in that case nevermind.
And isn't the 1978 tour technically not part of, or the last leg of the Rumours tour? They finished the Rumours tour in dec 1977, right? I thought the 1978 tour was advertised as the "Summer Safari" or something like that?

Shouldn't really take 4 months to track Lindsey down. Michele

And Egan was performing SOTM himself live. Michele

Kens Pissing Me Off
 

After listening to The BBC Show, something that has been bothering me, even after reading Kens book. What bothers me is the bad taste towards LB, I mean, who the heck is Ken any way ? meaning, I have respect for the man and his craft, but what has he really done since his FM days?, I mean heck if he was as good as he says or acts, then why hasn’t he hooked up with other acts? And don’t get me started on his daughters MUSIC ( not a personal attack ) , but that crap is bubble gum crap, so if Ken has all these great ideas, etc, then where is his track record, nowhere. Heck I don’t even like Iovine, but at least that guy has a proven track record OUTSIDE FM. If I was Ken, I would say thank you for whatever wealth he has and shut up, if it wasn’t for FM or LB, he would never have had a career at the top. I just don’t see where he gets off. Was LB difficult, probably and the rest of the band could have not done Tusk, but LB pushed them that way and I am glad he did.

Im tired of Kens crap and attitude and for this nasty band view on Tusk, musically I think Tusk is Genius.

AGREED!!! In all tones. I couldn't find the energy to respond to the crap Ken has been putting out. A lot could have been true, but we're talking about an engineer/producer without much artistic work on his name. Lindsey had to push them in their "road to slick perfection". And if he had not, I would never have been a fan in 2012.

thanks a lot :)
I was like "dude, what have u done" LOL

and dont even say I produced colbie whatever her name is album, pleaz

im tired of his stuff, granted he has the right and im even tired of this Tusk back lash

Ken is getting on my nerves

I too think Stevie's songs here are outstanding. All of them are strong and all of them exceed the 4-minute mark. And in terms of time on the record, her five songs outstrip his nine.

I do think, however, that there should have been at least one more Christine song--or at least vocal--on the record. She appears twice on the first side and then doesn't resurface until side three. It's strange programming. And it's my only quibble.

Finally got a chance to listen to this. Brilliant.

Best bits:

Love Stevie saying that Christine was "the BOSS"

Interesting insight into Stevie's love life, that during Tusk she started going out with one of the engineers after the whole Mick/Sara thing.

Stevie saying Lindsey was so handsome with his chiseled features...

Lindsey admitting to enjoying his drink, but that he didn't indulge in things that would keep him awake (coke)... cleverly dodging the issue of his love of pot....

What Makes You Think You're the One as the "greatest F*** you song ever"


Boy Ken is just a total downer on Tusk, isn't he? News flash, Ken: it's not your record. It's not your music. It's not your band.

You get the sense that Lindsey has realized how that album has achieved the status over time that he had always hoped it would, that people see the artistic vision he had for it, and he's much calmer about it. Nice.

Ken just comes off a total turd in this.

Indeed. Stevie possesses really bad eyesight, but she ain't blind.

Michele

The Stage Reviews
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/re...ight-programme

"He walks in the room and the fun goes away," was record producer Ken Caillat's unforgiving take on Lindsey Buckingham, the driving force behind Fleetwood Mac's album Tusk, the much-vilified follow up to their 40 million-selling album Rumours. Tusk became known as 'Lindsey's Folly' as it was very much his concept, much influenced by British punk and African rhythms. In his series Follow-Up Albums, Pete Paphides talked to Caillat, Buckingham and Stevie Nicks about the turbulent time they spent producing Tusk, still generally regarded (though not by me) as an artistic failure even though it sold four million copies. The drug-taking and romantic entanglements of various members of the band only served to complicate matters. Even after 33 years it was clear the pain of its delivery was still alive in their minds. Paphides bravely suggested to both Nicks and Buckingham that a creative reunion was long overdue. Neither of them ruled it out.

This is the best statement I've read about Tusk. I've been walking around for days now thinking about what you said. It's so true that no one ever mentions TLR album because it was no different than what The Eagles were already doing whereas Tusk was very different(thanks to Lindsey's songs) than anything FM had done previously.

When Stevie says that Sara did her a favor by dating Mick I first thought it was a really nasty comment about him, especially the way her voice sounded when she said it, but I think it was more saying that if her heart hadn't been broken over him she wouldn't have written such a beautiful song and the fact that Sara helped her record the demo. It did give me a bit of a start when she first said it.