50 great things about Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk"

On a related note, I've recently been going through my vinyl backlog, which includes a lucky bargain purchase some time ago of all the 80s Mac albums and the first two Lindsay solos. I was quite delighted to hear for myself that Law & Order is basically "TUSK II".

Law & Order rules. That cover though...good god does that guy have issues.

...further explored by him and the naked lady in the artwork for Go Insane.

good god does that guy have issues.

See also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nLiQBV6A7c

Such an insane counter to the song's happy go lucky rep.

check out the audience particpation at the end of this!

http://www.youtube.com/v/_nLiQBV6A7c%26fs=1%26hl=en

sorry this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44dS8g4uoNw

I read somewhere at the time that the audience's affection for it astounded him.

It's a pretty dopey song. He's done it every time I've seen him, dog barks and all.

Man, Lindsey needs some kind of boxed set.

that when you put on this record it feels like coming home

I think hearing the first 5 seconds of Over & Over with an emotional hangover finally convinced me that Tusk is indeed a stronger record than Rumours

absolutely

again, what a strange yet perfect opener for an album

I've listened to it regularly ever since I first curled up with it on headphones when it came out, aged 9, so yeah it does feel like home. I think "Honey Hi" is probably the most welcoming / nurturing track though.

Not a fan of demos and rough versions in general but really digging the "alternate Tusk" disc - close enough to the final versions that it's easy to forget you are not listening to the official album and yet there plenty of illuminating minor differences scattered here and there.

Road trippin' at the moment and "Walk A Thin Line" came on and I noticed that towards the final third of the song a second Lindsay drum track comes in towards the end and clumsily doubles the already clumsy first drum track.

Over and Over is like ASMR: the musical.

audacious and perfect choice for opener

the guitar that sounds like a scratch track with dozens of small mistakes in "Storms"

this demo, good lord:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3w5IGdtbAE

All the Lindsey demos in the delux Tusk are wonderful.

It took me forever to realize/recognize that the Lindsey tracks on "Tusk" are more or less all Lindsey, as far as I can tell.

Where can I get a giant "TUSK IS HERE" poster...

(No, not Donald Tusk.)

every
hour of
fear i’ve spent

Where can I get a giant "TUSK IS HERE" poster...

I actually have a small one of these. I'm looking at it right now ...

the stars must be my friends to shine for me

It’s obviously mentioned but,

the laces
undoing the laces

Is the 5.1 mix one of the 50 great things about this album? Because I downloaded it last night and it’s absolutely amazing.

You mean a stereo mixdown or the actual surround mix?

Actual mix. Was part of the box I believe.

Probably a dumb question, but how do you play a 5.1 mix that you've downloaded? Just laptop (or whatever) -> 5.1 receiver and it works? Can Bluetooth process a 5.1 mix?

Not a dumb question at all. And yes, I use the HDMI output out of my computer into my 5.1 receiver using something like VLC or JRiver to play it.

Pretty sure 5.1 doesn't work via Bluetooth yet, but I believe there are wireless HDMI options.

it's been said above but needs to be repeated, Brown Eyes RULES and for me it's the best christine song BY FAR. It's just incomparable. Those drums! Those sha la las! That Peter Green!

hi!

the twinkling guitar at the end of the “who-ooh-ooh-oooooh”s <3

masterpiece

here's a thing about Tusk that annoys me: why did it come with 4 LP inserts when it's only a double album? It's got two extra inner sleeves jammed in there. Explain this.

Lemme call Mick and Stevie, hold up

I believe the two "inner-inner" sleeves are meant to go into the bigger inner sleeves.

This checks out. They fit, and 2 of them are numbered 1/2, the others say 3/4.

That said, my used copy only has 3 inserts, so now I gotta go to discogs and see which one I'm missing...

(it's the one with the giant ear on it)

I just finished Get Tusked by Ken Caillat and Hernan Rojas, which is mentioned in a couple of other Mac threads but not this one yet. Apparently, one plan was for the record to be released as two albums a few months apart, with the second album slotting into the packaging of the first.

Other highlights of the book are photos of the McVies in SS uniform and blackface for Halloween, descriptions of every mic used on every track of every song, lots of information about the authors' sex lives, a list of Lindsey's favourite punk albums, Brian Wilson's visit to the studio, Stevie threatened with machine guns in Chile... Nearly 40 years later,Caillat is still not fond of most of Lindsey's tracks.

lots of information about the authors' sex lives

these sections were definite turds dropping into the cocktail glass of the book for me

I found my copy of Tusk in a thrift store, completely disassembled, with the records loose in a bin. I remember coming across the extra sleeves and initially getting excited that there was another loose copy of Tusk in the store. I figured it out pretty quickly though. Despite this, it played pretty well.

_ lots of information about the authors' sex lives_

these sections were definite turds dropping into the cocktail glass of the book for me

He ends up marrying the girl in the Tusk book and it all takes a little more centre stage, IMO. But I was listening to the 2nd CD of the 2004-ish reissue of Tusk on the way to camping holiday this weekend and things mentioned in the book popped up in my head, so I'd recommend it for a deeper understanding of the album and its environs.

I met Caillat a few years ago after a talk he gave about Rumours, but the main thing I wanted to do was ask him about the production of "Storms" (whose intimacy, space, and minimalism I find devastating) and he seemed genuinely excited to talk about it. He was basically saying, hey, nobody ever asks me about this track, and I put a *lot* into it.... so let me tell exactly how we set up her mic....

tell *you* exactly

I love stuff like that. Producers are often fascinating, and I love when I get a chance to interview them and get under the skin of projects they worked on. The artists themselves are so often "over" what they made, or feel the need to pretend they are.

It really underscores how infrequently producers - or musicians, for that matter - are asked about *anything* technical, or deeper-dives into what they do. Like, where would that information even be published? There was a recent Tape Op issue that featured an interview with Harry Connick Jr., and it was fascinating, just him talking about the equipment in his studio, his love of analog recording and tech, revealing that he's proficient in lots of surprising instruments (from drums to brass), just tons of stuff I've never read him talking about.

hence the fascination with the Rubin-McCartney interviews

Records are a pretty poor financial investment but I was thinking today that if I cleared out every unplayed used copy of Tusk between the mid-90s and like, 2005 and resold them to normies for $10-15 today I’d be able to pay off my loans

— Eric Harvey (@ericdharvey) August 10, 2021