Was it Mick's decision?

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Mick, despite all his flaws, would have been the one to see that giving LB that creative space etc would be best in terms of the long-term continuation of the band (and not just the money from the Tusk album, whether that turned out to be either a single or a double album, but any future albums and tours as well. The others would have been thinking short-term ie just the sales of Tusk and its associated tour). If that meant backing LB's desire for a double album, then Mick would support that (which he did). Or if that meant letting LB bang on Kleenex boxes instead of drums...
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Right, Mick mentioned in his book:
I kept saying that I didn't want the album to be so segregated that people couldn't hear the band. When we were mixing I'd beg Lindsey to make his songs more recognisable as Fleetwood Mac. His songs were fantastic, but my reservations were that they might be too alien for our fans. Do what you're doing, I'd say, but don't forget the ingredients we worked on for years as part of the band. Don't go too far.
To this day, Lindsey feels I wasn't enthusiastic enough about the album. I know he feels I got it all wrong, but in fact I loved Tusk, I think it's a great album, and probably the only artistic reason Fleetwood Mac is still together today. As a double album, it released a lot of creative frustrations.

However I don't think Mick truly thinks 100% about what he wrote here : But Fleetwood Mac's measure was the art. It would be naive to say that we were oblivious to the money, but the music came first. Then maybe you make some money with it. We didn't want to approach our lives with the understanding that "soft rock" is the sort of music we have to do to make money. I sh--t on that whole concept, because the point of the music is lost. It becomes nothing more than another business.

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Mick had more power than Stevie at that point in the band's history.

Yes, it seems that’s right after I read this: (When Stevie heard that we had decided to name the album Tusk, she threatened to quit the band in revulsion. But I chose to ignore her and nothing ever came of it.)