Tusk
Studio album by
Fleetwood Mac
Released12 October 1979
Recorded1978–1979
StudioThe Village Recorder, Los Angeles, California
Genre
Length74:02
LabelWarner Bros.
Producer
Fleetwood Mac chronology
Rumours
(1977)		 Tusk
(1979)		 Live
(1980)
Singles from Tusk
  1. "Tusk"
    Released: 21 September 1979
  2. "Sara"
    Released: December 1979
  3. "Not That Funny"
    Released: February 1980
  4. "Think About Me"
    Released: March 1980
  5. "Sisters of the Moon"
    Released: June 1980
  6. "Angel"
    Released: July 1980

Tusk is the twelfth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released as a double album on 12 October 1979 by Warner Bros. Records.[5][6] It is considered more experimental than their previous albums, partly as a consequence of Lindsey Buckingham's sparser songwriting arrangements and the influence of post-punk.[7] The production costs were initially estimated to be about $1 million but many years later were revealed to be about $1.4 million (equivalent to $5.64 million in 2022), making it the most expensive rock album recorded to that date.[8][9]

The band embarked on a nine-month tour to promote Tusk. They travelled extensively across the world, including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. In Germany, they shared the bill with Bob Marley. On this world tour, the band recorded music for the Fleetwood Mac Live album, released in 1980.[10]

Compared to 1977's Rumours, which sold ten million copies by February 1978, Tusk was regarded as a commercial failure by the label, selling four million copies. In 2013, NME ranked Tusk at number 445 in their list of "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[11] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[12] In 2000, it was voted number 853 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[13]

Background

Going into Tusk, Lindsey Buckingham was adamant about creating an album that sounded nothing like Rumours: "For me, being sort of the culprit behind that particular album, it was done in a way to undermine just sort of following the formula of doing Rumours 2 and Rumours 3, which is kind of the business model Warner Bros. would have liked us to follow."[14] Mick Fleetwood decided early on that Tusk was to be a double album. After their label turned down Fleetwood's request to buy a new studio to make the record, the band used some of their royalties to construct their own Studio D.[15]

Even with the custom studio, Warner Brothers still charged the band for the recording sessions. Production costs rose beyond a million dollars, far more than Rumours. Regarding the album's production costs, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham stated: "During the making of Tusk, we were in the studio for about 10 months and we got 20 songs out of it. Rumours took the same amount of time. It [Rumours] didn't cost so much because we were in a cheaper studio. There's no denying what it cost, but I think it's been taken out of context."[16]

After the studio was built, Buckingham queried Fleetwood about recording some songs at his home studio. Fleetwood acquiesced, but told Buckingham that the other members needed to be integrated at some point. For certain songs, Buckingham played a Kleenex box as a snare drum and had Fleetwood overdub his own drums over Buckingham's demo.[17] Several songs were recorded with Buckingham playing all of the instruments, including "The Ledge", "Save Me a Place", and "That's Enough For Me".[18] Producer Ken Caillat commented on Buckingham's obsessive nature in the studio: "He was a maniac. The first day, I set the studio up as usual. Then he said, 'Turn every knob 180 degrees from where it is now and see what happens.' He'd tape microphones to the studio floor and get into a sort of push-up position to sing. Early on, he came in and he'd freaked out in the shower and cut off all his hair with nail scissors. He was stressed."[19]

I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Warner Bros. put that on in their boardroom and listened to it for the first time.[20]

—Lindsey Buckingham

Buckingham – infatuated with bands such as Talking Heads – was "desperate to make Mac relevant to a post-punk world", according to music journalist Bob Stanley, who commented that, compared to Rumours, Tusk was "unleavened weirdness, as close to its predecessor as the Beach Boys' lo-fi Smiley Smile had been to Pet Sounds. Much of it sounded clattery, half-formed, with strange rhythmic leaps and offbeat tics."[21] Journalist Adam Webb described the Tusk recording sessions as a "cocaine blizzard" from which Christine McVie's then-boyfriend, Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson, "never really came out."[22] Music historian Domenic Priore claimed that, for research purposes during the album's recording, Buckingham accessed the master tapes for the Beach Boys' unreleased album Smile, and that the tracks "That's All For Everyone" and "Beautiful Child" most strongly exemplify its influence.[23]

Bassist John McVie commented that the album "sounds like the work of three solo artists", while Fleetwood said it was his second favourite Fleetwood Mac studio album behind Then Play On.[24] "You got that sweetness [from Nicks and McVie] and me as the complete nutcase," Buckingham observed. "That's what makes us Fleetwood Mac."[25]

Release and reception

Retrospective professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[26]
Blender[27]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[28]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[29]
Mojo[30]
Pitchfork9.2/10[31]
Record Collector[32]
Rolling Stone[33]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[34]
Uncut[35]

Tusk peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 in the United States and spent almost nine months on the chart. It was certified double platinum for shipping two million copies.[36] It peaked at number one in the UK and achieved a platinum award for shipments in excess of 300,000 copies.[37] The album gave the group two US top-10 hit singles, with the Buckingham-penned title track (US number eight/UK number six), and the Stevie Nicks composition "Sara" (US number seven/UK number 37).[38]

In his review for Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden emphasized the experimental nature of the album, comparing it to the Beatles' "White Album" in that "Tusk is less a collection of finished songs than a mosaic of pop-rock fragments by individual performers."[2] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice was more ambivalent, lauding Buckingham's production and experimentation, while dismissing Christine McVie's and Stevie Nicks's contributions.[39] Retrospectively, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found the album to be timeless, calling it "a peerless piece of pop art" that rivals the more accessible Rumours album in terms of quality.[26] Amanda Petrusich of Pitchfork found the album "self indulgent" and "terrifically strange".[31] Contemporary and retrospective reviewers alike have noted the stark contrast between the album's lush opening track, "Over and Over", and jarring production of the following track, "The Ledge".[16][40]

Though the album sold four million copies worldwide, and earned a Grammy nomination in 1981 for its art design in the category "Best Album Package", the band's record label deemed the project a failure, laying the blame squarely with Buckingham (considering the comparatively huge sales of Rumours and the album's unprecedented recording expense).[41] Fleetwood, however, blames the album's relative failure on the RKO radio chain playing the album in its entirety prior to release, thus allowing mass home recording.[42] In addition, Tusk was a double album, with a high list price of US$16.00, or $56.00 in 2019 terms.[43] The band originally considered the idea of releasing Tusk as two single albums each with the price of $7.98, but the record label decided against this.[44]

Further releases from the album "Not That Funny" (UK-only single release), "Think About Me", and "Sisters of the Moon" were slightly remixed for radio, and were less successful. The latter two appear in their 'single versions' on the 2002 compilation The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac, while "Sara", which was cut to 41⁄2 minutes for both the single and the first CD release of the album, appears in its unedited form on the 1988 Greatest Hits compilation, the 2002 release The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac, and the 2004 reissue of Tusk.[45]

The album was recorded by American alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven and released in 2003.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Over & Over"Christine McVieC. McVie4:34
2."The Ledge"Lindsey BuckinghamBuckingham2:08
3."Think About Me"C. McVieC. McVie, Buckingham2:44
4."Save Me a Place"BuckinghamBuckingham2:42
5."Sara"Stevie NicksNicks6:22
Total length:18:39
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."What Makes You Think You're the One"BuckinghamBuckingham3:32
2."Storms"NicksNicks5:31
3."That's All for Everyone"BuckinghamBuckingham3:03
4."Not That Funny"BuckinghamBuckingham3:11
5."Sisters of the Moon"NicksNicks4:42
Total length:19:59
Side three
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Angel"NicksNicks4:54
2."That's Enough for Me"BuckinghamBuckingham1:50
3."Brown Eyes"C. McVieC. McVie4:27
4."Never Make Me Cry"C. McVieC. McVie2:18
5."I Know I'm Not Wrong"BuckinghamBuckingham3:05
Total length:16:34
Side four
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Honey Hi"C. McVieC. McVie2:41
2."Beautiful Child"NicksNicks5:21
3."Walk a Thin Line"BuckinghamBuckingham3:46
4."Tusk"BuckinghamBuckingham with C. McVie3:37
5."Never Forget"C. McVieC. McVie3:34
Total length:18:59

Notes:

  • On earlier CD pressings, "Sara" is edited to 4:39.
  • The CD mixes of "Not That Funny" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong" differ from their LP mixes.

Personnel

Fleetwood Mac

Additional musicians

Production and design

  • Fleetwood Mac – producers
  • Richard Dashut – producer, engineer
  • Ken Caillat – producer, engineer, remastering
  • Rich Feldman – assistant engineer
  • Hernán Rojas – assistant engineer
  • Ken Perry – mastering
  • Peter Beard – photography
  • Jayme Odgers – photography
  • Norman Seeff – photography
  • Vigon Nahas Vigon – art direction, design

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Tusk
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[77] 3× Platinum 150,000^
France (SNEP)[78] Gold 100,000*
Germany (BVMI)[79] Gold 300,000[80]
Netherlands (NVPI)[81] Platinum 100,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[82] Platinum 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[37] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[36] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^
Summaries
Worldwide — 4,000,000[83]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tusk - Fleetwood Mac | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 Holden, Stephen (13 December 1979). "Tusk". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  3. ↑ Grimstad, Paul. "What is Avant-Pop?". The Brooklyn Rail.
  4. ↑ Molanphy, Chris (14 January 2023). "Thinking About Tomorrow Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast). Slate. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  5. ↑ "...group's new Tusk album scheduled to be released today..." (12 October 1979). "A Star for Fleetwood Mac". Los Angeles Times. pp. A44.
  6. ↑ "Tusk - Fleetwood Mac | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  7. ↑ Elan, Priya (4 August 2011). "Album A&E – Fleetwood Mac, 'Tusk'". NME. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  8. ↑ "The 10 Most Expensive Albums Ever Recorded". HowStuffWorks. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  9. ↑ "15 Albums That Cost a Fortune to Make". Mental Floss. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  10. ↑ Brackett, Donald (2007). Fleetwood Mac: 40 Years of Creative Chaos. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 150. ISBN 9780275993382.
  11. ↑ "Rocklist.net....NME: The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time : October 2013". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  12. ↑ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (7 February 2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 0-7893-1371-5.
  13. ↑ Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 264. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  14. ↑ Graff, Gary. "Lindsey Buckingham on Fleetwood Mac's Risk-Taking Classic Album 'Tusk': Exclusive Premiere". Billboard. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  15. ↑ Evans, Mike (2011). "Superstardom". Fleetwood Mac: The Definitive History. New York: Sterling. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4027-8630-3. It was Mick Fleetwood, however, who made the first decision concerning the new record: that it was going to be a double album. Given that just the one disc of Rumours took so much time to complete, he realized that a double would be far more expensive in terms of studio costs alone. The answer, Mick proposed, was to buy their own studio...the Warner executives turned the idea down without a second thought...So instead of working in their self-owned setup, the band spent a small fortune of its own royalties advance having a custom-designed annex, Studio D, built at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles
  16. 1 2 Giles, Jeff (12 October 2015). "How Fleetwood Mac Made A Masterpiece That Flopped". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  17. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac Create Tusk, 1979". Stevie Nicks Info. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  18. ↑ "Lindsey Buckingham: Musician Magazine No.33". Fleetwood Mac UK. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  19. ↑ Giles, Jeff (12 October 2015). "How Fleetwood Mac Made a Masterpiece That Flopped". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  20. ↑ Appleford, Steve (28 January 2013). "Q&A: Fleetwood Mac on Reissuing 'Rumours' and Making New Music". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  21. ↑ Stanley, Bob (7 March 2008). "How to lose 3 million fans in one easy step". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  22. ↑ Webb, Adam (14 December 2003). "A profile of Dennis Wilson: the lonely one". The Guardian.
  23. ↑ Priore, Domenic (2005). Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece. Sanctuary. p. 151. ISBN 1-86074-627-6.
  24. ↑ Fleetwood, Mick; Bozza, Anthony (October 2014). Play On. New York: Little, Brown, and Company. ISBN 9780316403405. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  25. ↑ Elliott, Paul (October 2013). "Eye of the hurricane". Classic Rock #189. p. 58.
  26. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Tusk – Fleetwood Mac". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  27. ↑ Collis, Clark (April–May 2002). "Fleetwood Mac: Tusk". Blender. No. 7. Archived from the original on 19 October 2006. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  28. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "F". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  29. ↑ Brunner, Rob (18 April 2003). "Then Play On; Bare Trees; Fleetwood Mac; Rumours; Tusk; Time". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  30. ↑ Chick, Stevie (February 2016). "Fleetwood Mac: Tusk". Mojo. No. 267. p. 107.
  31. 1 2 Petrusich, Amanda (17 July 2016). "Fleetwood Mac: Tusk". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  32. ↑ Needs, Kris (January 2016). "Fleetwood Mac – Tusk (Deluxe Edition)". Record Collector. No. 449. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  33. ↑ Walters, Barry (22 December 2015). "Tusk (Deluxe Edition)". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  34. ↑ Coleman, Mark; Kemp, Mark (2004). "Fleetwood Mac". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 303–04. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  35. ↑ Carlin, Marcello (April 2004). "Cocaine heights". Uncut. No. 83. p. 112.
  36. 1 2 "American album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk". Recording Industry Association of America.
  37. 1 2 "British album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk". British Phonographic Industry.
  38. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac - Chart History". Billboard. 9 February 2017.
  39. ↑ Christgau, Robert (31 December 1979). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  40. ↑ Waggoner, Nate (18 September 2013). "Fleetwood Mac's Tusk Is Everything That's Missing from Music Today". KQED. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  41. ↑ Rooksby, Rikky (1998). The Complete Guide to the Music of Fleetwood Mac. Omnibus Press. p. 115. ISBN 0-7119-6310-X.
  42. ↑ Fleetwood, Mick; Davis, Stephen (1991). My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac. Avon Books. p. 219. ISBN 9780380716166.
  43. ↑ Reed, Ryan (11 October 2019). "Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  44. ↑ Patrick Foster and Jim Lenahan (23 October 2020). "Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk' - An Interview with the Producer and Engineer". Rockin' the Suburbs (Podcast). Event occurs at 27:41. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  45. ↑ "Sara – Fleetwood Mac". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  46. 1 2 Forte, Dan. "Lindsey Buckingham – Musician Interview, June 1981". Fleetwoodmac-uk.com. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  47. ↑ Irvin, Jim (2016). Tusk (2015 Remastered) (Liner Notes). Fleetwood Mac. Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Records Inc. p. 14. Publisher Warner Bros #2HS-3350.
  48. ↑ Giles, Jeff. "35 Years Ago: Fleetwood Mac Tries Something New With 'Tusk'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  49. ↑ Kent 1993.
  50. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  51. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 6876a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  52. 1 2 "Dutchcharts.nl – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  53. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  54. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  55. ↑ "Charts.nz – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  56. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  57. ↑ Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  58. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  59. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  60. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  61. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Top Catalog Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  62. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  63. ↑ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Fleetwood Mac". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  64. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  65. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  66. ↑ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2021. 29. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  67. ↑ Kent 1993, p. 431.
  68. ↑ "1979 Top 100 Albums". RPM. Vol. 32, no. 13. 22 December 1979. ISSN 0315-5994 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  69. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1979". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  70. ↑ "Top Albums 1979". Music Week. 22 December 1979. p. 30. ISSN 0265-1548.
  71. ↑ Kent 1993, p. 432.
  72. ↑ "Top 100 Albums". RPM. Vol. 34, no. 6. 20 December 1980. ISSN 0315-5994 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  73. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1980" (in Dutch). Dutch Charts. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  74. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts – 1980" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  75. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1980". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  76. ↑ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1980". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  77. ↑ "International Certifications" (PDF). Cash Box. 21 June 1980. p. 40. Retrieved 3 December 2021 – via World Radio History.
  78. ↑ "French album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in French). InfoDisc. Select FLEETWOOD MAC and click OK. 
  79. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Fleetwood Mac; 'Tusk')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  80. ↑ "Mac To Germany" (PDF). Billboard. 8 March 1980. p. 51. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  81. ↑ "Dutch album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Enter Tusk in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1980 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
  82. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  83. ↑ Jones, Dylan (9 August 2020). "Was Fleetwood Mac's Tusk the greatest self-sabotage in rock'n'roll history?". GQ. Retrieved 28 April 2023.

Bibliography

  • Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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