View Full Version : Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk'
Yesterday, whilst mooching about in a couple of antique/junk shops, I came across a vinyl copy of Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk' in very good condition.
Yep, I know it's more AOR 'pap' from The Mac, but I was curious to hear it; this was the record that supposedly and single handedly was going to save the record industry in the late '70s and early '80s. Well having given it a spin today, I can't imagine it having done anything of the sort! There are only two tracks that are any good or even memorable. Basically it's bland, bland bland - up there with Steely Dan! I can only asssume it was the advent of the Compact Disc that gave the record industy the shot in the arm it needed.
Anyway the point of this post is: does anyone know why my copy has two extra inner sleeves, that have alternative art work to those containing the records? Was this just a gimmick - in the same vein as the extras that came with, say: 'Sargent Pepper' or 'Dark Side of The Moon'?
Regards
It's too late and I'm afraid you've missed the point sir!
I bought this on release and although there's some padding, most of the songs are superb and an important part of my life at the time.
The one standout track has to be "Sara..." I love that song dearly and understand it more than ever 30+ years on. Stevie Nicks was at her (boys wet dream) best back then and her voice just suits this track of hers so well...
Give it a few more plays without the baggage. There's some genuine goodness there - honest guv'nor :)
I was playing Tusk tonight and yes 80% is pap but the production is top notch i think. The drums sound fantastic.
Mine comes with the 4 sleeves and im sure i read somewhere they lost a lot of money on the lavish packaging despite, if i remmember rightly, getting to number one. I always think it funny so many people bought it thinking it was going to be Rumors 2.
Agree with you on Sara. And that she was very fanciable. Not on the same level as the lovely Kate Bush though
I'd have liked to get to know Kate's Bush too............... :eyebrows:
Yeah, she was another one, along with Debbie Harry and Siouxsie
Oh, I almost forgot my one-time imaginary girlfriend - TOYAH!!!! Met her once and her exuberance and sheer zest for life were highly addictive :)
Yeah , lucky old Robert Fripp.
It's too late and I'm afraid you've missed the point sir!
I bought this on release and although there's some padding, most of the songs are superb and an important part of my life at the time.
The one standout track has to be "Sara..." I love that song dearly and understand it more than ever 30+ years on. Stevie Nicks was at her (boys wet dream) best back then and her voice just suits this track of hers so well...
Give it a few more plays without the baggage. There's some genuine goodness there - honest guv'nor :)
Hi Dave,
'Sara' was one of the standout tracks I mentioned. The other was the track: 'Tusk'.
So are you saying that I should have bought this record on release, as I would have appreciated it more? At the time I, along with half the population of Britain, had copies of their eponymous album as well as 'Rumors' - but I think I would still have been disappointed with 'Tusk'.
Anyway, will do as you suggest and give it a few more spins.
Regards
I wonder if are younger selves would feel the same way about Lady Ga Ga
I wonder if are younger selves would feel the same way about Lady Ga Ga
Nah! Shakira is more like it.
The Grand Wazoo
04-06-2010, 23:25
Got to go against the tide here, I think it's a bag of overindulgent old s**t, made by a band way beyond the their best, suffocating in a sea of white powder. Sara is inoffensive pop music but the rest of it is awful.
Yes there should be 4 inner sleeves!
......................go listen to Peter Green!
Got to go against the tide here, I think it's a bag of overindulgent old s**t, made by a band way beyond the their best, suffocating in a sea of white powder. Sara is inoffensive pop music but the rest of it is awful.
Yes there should be 4 inner sleeves!
......................go listen to Peter Green!
Well so far, I'd have to agree with you Chris!
Regards
Techno Commander
27-06-2010, 00:59
I wonder if are younger selves would feel the same way about Lady Ga Ga
I would.:eyebrows:
I actually think Poker Face is quite an interesting song. And that has absolutely nothing to do with the black lycra or the way she dances. :eek: Damn catchy chrorus'!!
Although i'm not too keen on any of her other releases.
And yes, Tusk is one of those albums that everyone had to have "back in the day". Although I think Stevie Nicks rendition of "Rooms On Fire" is a better track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwnS_cGfaj4
I still think there are some heartfelt classic tracks in there, but some of Lindsay B's fillers are just that..
I loved Rumours (still do 30 years later) but somehow Tusk never grabbed me, not because of the tunes but because it just seemed flat and boring. I always put it down to the fact that it was one of the first mass-market recordings to be digitally mastered. Whilst Rumours still gets played at least once a month, I don't suppose I've listened to Tusk for twenty years. Perhaps I'd better give it another airing.
Spectral Morn
27-06-2010, 09:51
I loved Rumours (still do 30 years later) but somehow Tusk never grabbed me, not because of the tunes but because it just seemed flat and boring. I always put it down to the fact that it was one of the first mass-market recordings to be digitally mastered. Whilst Rumours still gets played at least once a month, I don't suppose I've listened to Tusk for twenty years. Perhaps I'd better give it another airing.
I feel mostly the same way about this as you do, though I was not aware this was a digital recording. I too will give Tusk another listen today.
Regards D S D L
I'm still struggling with this:
. Basically it's bland, bland bland - up there with Steely Dan!
Barry - you insult my Gods!
The only thing I can recall about Tusk is it has a lot of bass on it. That's it. An old pal of mine (now sadly no longer with us) once described Rumours as 'a total waste of the world's resources'. A little unkind...maybe....
The Tusk LP's only have bass if the turntable system is wrongly set up or inappropriately set up I found. I've played it on too many different systems to say otherwise I'm afraid. The CD sounds ok as well, although the original release had the 7" single version of Sara on it :( I believe that's been corrected now.
".....Drownin', in a sea of love, where everone would love to drown. But now it's gone, it doesn't matter any more. If you build your house, then call me - home........"
Not that funny is it??? :lol:
Holy crap my worlds just fallen about me. What are you telling me.
The first bit of vinyl i bought when i got my Techy was Tusk from my next door market.
I couldnt believe my ears , the Bass. I felt i had made the right decision and that my little Neutrons could play bass.
Then i read an article by a famous sound producer from the 70s saying he couldnt get good low frequency from vinyl and welcomed the cd age.
Now your telling me this. Actually now ive modded things and have a better sized listening room the bass i huge 3 dimensional bass has gone so im very curious as to your remark Dave. Please go on.
I don't know tht I can without twisting myself in knots, but the original vinyl cut I have/had (bought on release) is a bit dirty and dull sounding, needing a squeaky-clean cartridge to even begin to bring out what's there - I found at the time.
I can't remember if I still have the LP's, but the CD sounded much better to me with loads of little things going on in the background I couldn't hear on the LP's. The bass is good on some of the studio tracks, the snare "sound" is relentless though and the home-recordings at LB's gaff (I think it was) arde very "unfinished" IMO.
I played the CD yesterday and still feel that 80% of the content is really good, standing up well to close scrutiny thirty years on. Takes me back to innocent times it does....
Haselsh1
28-06-2010, 08:50
If I'm not mistaken and I could be, 'Tusk' was the first ever album recorded using Sony's PCM1610 digital recording console built around a Betamax video recorder. It enabled albums like 'Tusk' to be DDA or if on CD, DDD.
Even if you dont like the musical content it appears to have an interesting recording history. The drums sound superb to me and mr Fleetwood was never renown for being a master sticksman.
I want to get the cd now to compare. The last time i did that i was shocked to find the cd to be better than the vinyl. Hawkwind live 79, last years master by Atomhenge/cherry records, shows what can be done with cd when you have a real music fan at the control desk. And no they didnt use Pro tools
Any way, sorry about the digression , i just find this an interesting area.
I'm sure I've got this album somewhere.
... but I really can't be bothered to even look! :whistle:
dantheman91
28-06-2010, 17:08
Love this album drumming is superb but different from the normal fleewood stuff though
certainly not their best work
I still think it was a good commercial album, but I agree that the bluesy stuff they did in the 60's was *musically* a class above and very well recorded judging by the CD box-set I have..
hifi_dave
29-06-2010, 12:51
I bought two copies of Tusk when it was issued, one for the shop and one for home.
I quite enjoy the music but the recording was proper 'early digital'. By this I mean - bright and hard. The transients come across well but it is hard and flat with little body. We rarely used the album for demonstrations because of this as it didn't show off the equipment to it's best....:eek:
As for musical content - I far prefer the early Mac when it was Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.
When the CD player is behaving (it does sometimes), it sounds great and I'm noticing far more in the performances and details than I remember. Trouble is, the memory of Stevie Nicks from this period gets in the way... :eyebrows:
Haselsh1
29-06-2010, 14:49
When the CD player is behaving (it does sometimes), it sounds great and I'm noticing far more in the performances and details than I remember. Trouble is, the memory of Stevie Nicks from this period gets in the way... :eyebrows:
Dirty old bugger...!!!:wanker:
Dirty old bugger...!!!:wanker:
Oh go-on, at least Dave is being honest. It shows he displays a healthy heterosexual lust. I admitted much the same in stating that I watched Shakira at Glastonbury, not solely for her vocal abilities. ;)
Regards
hifi_dave
29-06-2010, 18:44
He is being honest but what he is lusting for is not Stevie Nicks but her headgear. Good ol' Dave has a thing for ladies hats...:lol:
Yes Dave, *head* gear.......... You know I can't wear hats :ner:
Kate(s) Bush had the same effect :eyebrows:
So you didnt notice her small mountains ( thats how she describes them in one of her songs i believe )
Start there and work upwards :lol:
Snoopdog
29-06-2010, 20:26
If I'm not mistaken and I could be, 'Tusk' was the first ever album recorded using Sony's PCM1610 digital recording console built around a Betamax video recorder. It enabled albums like 'Tusk' to be DDA or if on CD, DDD.
I believe the first ever 'digitally' mastered album release was 'Bop til you drop' by Ry Cooder. Tusk was certainly hot on it's heals in the early days of digital vinyl in the late 70's.
Funnily enough, I never bought Bop til you drop, but I did buy Tusk really for the stand out track, Sara, which still find hauntingly lovely thirty years later.
My favourite Fleetwood Mac album is Tango in the Night. Choc full of good tunes and a regular on my turntable:)
My favourite Fleetwood Mac album is Tango in the Night. Choc full of good tunes and a regular on my turntable:)
+1! (My 2 80s vinyl "guilty pleasures" - Tango in the Night and Brothers in Arms... on my 3rd copy of TITN (as well as having it on CD) and 2nd of BIA, as well as CD & SACD of that...) I don't have Tusk, though. Maybe I do, I forget what I have these days!
'Then Play On' is my favourite.
+1! (My 2 80s vinyl "guilty pleasures" - Tango in the Night and Brothers in Arms... on my 3rd copy of TITN (as well as having it on CD) and 2nd of BIA, as well as CD & SACD of that...) I don't have Tusk, though. Maybe I do, I forget what I have these days!
Haha! Gets like that doesn't it? I think there have been a least half a dozen occasions where I have bought a title, only to find I already have it!
I too, like 'Tango in the Night'. I'm going to have to go and check if I've got 'Brothers in Arms'. No guilty pleasures here!
Regards
'Then Play On' is my favourite.
I find that's a bit of an 'odd one', almost if it was done in order to satisfy contractual obligations.
Regards
Just to make sure I'm not confusing anyone, Brothers In Arms was Dire Straits, not Fleetwood Mac, but was another of those albums from the mid 80's ('87 vs '85 of TITN) where it was directed at the CD market and was a full DDD recording (as well as the first CD to sell more that 1m copies.)
The Grand Wazoo
29-06-2010, 23:13
I bet you got that Terence Trent D'Arby album too didn't you?
I bet you got that Terence Trent D'Arby album too didn't you?
:scratch: I remember some of the songs, no, I didn't have it, but not sure of the significance? :scratch:
The Grand Wazoo
30-06-2010, 06:54
I remember some of the songs, no, I didn't have it...
It's just that it came out at roughly the same period as 'Tango in the Night' & everyone I know that bought one, also got the other.
Cheers Alex, in those 11 words, you've just shot down a 20 year old cast-in-stone theory, part of the bedrock of my very being. I shall now have to reassess the need for my continued existance!
I'm just going out for a short walk................I may be some time.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.