Fleetwood Mac- TUSK

# 1992 Fleetwood Mac - TUSK

click HERE to listen to our commentary about this song!

    Tusk, Warner Bros. Records, 1979

                  BILLBOARD
       CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:
               Pop Singles: # 8

                    GLOBAL
       CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:
                 # 6 in the UK
                  # 6 in Austria
                 # 7 in Germany

                                View the all-time countdown here!

Although all five Macsters were intent on releasing the follow-up to Rumours, they didn't spend much time together in the studio to create it. Lindsey chose to record his songs for the new album in his home studio. Christine and Stevie contributed their fair share of material as well. Tusk morphed into an artistic mosaic of pop-rock songs by three very different songwriters with distinct creative voices.

Lindsey recalled years later: "One of the problems with Tusk was that it was a lot like a one-man experience. It was just me doing overdubs and stuff. It didn't include the band."

The Tusk double album was released in October 1979 with the title track as the first single. The song, written by Lindsey, came out of a jam the band often played around with at rehearsals. Mick then came with the idea of recording the song with a marching band, the U.S.C. Trojan Marching Band. Indeed, the whole concept for the song was eclectic from the start.

However, because Tusk was a double album, it was considered an expensive purchase for music fans. It also threw off the band's American fans who were expecting "Rumours Part 2." The album didn't do as well in the States as the band's two former albums, although it sold 4 million copies in the US and reached # 4 on the album charts. In the UK, Tusk managed to do what Rumours couldn't: reach Number One. Tusk was, and still is to this day, considered to be somewhat of an experimental album and also Lindsey's personal Fleetwood Mac masterpiece.

While admitting that many radio people viewed the “Tusk” single as “an assault on their intelligence,” Lindsey Buckingham added, “I think it’s great. It’s funny, it’s tribal, it’s got a lot of soul to it.”

Offering a more pragmatic defense, Mick Fleetwood said, “I can see why it’s hard to play the ‘Tusk’ single in the middle of a radio set.” As for Tusk’s steep price tag ($15.98 list), he countered, “That’s what records cost these days. No one’s forced to buy it. To me, albums are like shoes--- I buy good ones because I like them and because maybe they’ll last a little longer.”

The second single taken from Tusk was the magnificent Stevie song "Sara." It had been edited down from its original version, which clocked in at 6 minutes, 26 seconds. The edited version is the one we all heard on the radio, so much so that it rocketed up to # 7 on the U.S. charts. The third and fourth singles, Christine's "Think About Me" (#20) and Stevie's "Sisters of The Moon" (#86), didn't fare as well. To this day, however, the latter track is considered by many to be the 'holy grail' of Stevie live performances. She often rocked out and spoke in tongues while performing the song.

The band once again hit the road -- this time for the longest tour ever. For nearly eleven months the band ran themselves ragged around the world, playing for hundreds of thousands of fans. According to the liner notes of their subsequent Live album, Fleetwood Mac played for 1,276,000 people during that tour. They literally went everywhere -- Japan, Australia, New Zealand, back to the States and Canada, then over to Europe. They ended the tour in the States in Los Angeles on    September 1, 1980.

source: www.fmlegacy.com
             Los Angeles Times, November 4, 1979