Fleetwood Mac Music:

Tusk Track Listing:
1. Over & Over
2. Ledge
3. Think About Me
4. Save Me a Place
5. Sara [Edit]
6. What Makes You Think You're the One
7. Storms
8. That's All for Everyone
9. Not That Funny
10. Sisters of the Moon
11. Angel
12. That's Enough for Me
13. Brown Eyes
14. Never Make Me Cry
15. I Know I'm Not Wrong
16. Honey Hi
17. Beautiful Child
18. Walk a Thin Line
19. Tusk
20. Never Forget

Editorial Review:
A liner portrait of the big Mac, then coming off the commercial bonanza of Rumours, shows them looking anxiously at guitarist, singer, songwriter, and de facto auteur Lindsey Buckingham, a moment given weight by the sprawling ambitions behind this 1979 double album. Buckingham's superb sense of pop craft had catapulted the once blues-based rockers into multiplatinum ubiquity, and he responded not with a safe return to form but with an invitation for his songwriting partners to chase their respective muses. Comparisons to the Beatles' White Album abounded and remain apt: Stevie Nicks twirls dreamily through extended variations on her crystal visions, Christine McVie turns in a reliably fine set of sunny pop-rock cruisers and tender ballads, and Mick Fleetwood and John McVie sustain their reputation as one of rock's most powerful yet deft rhythm sections. Buckingham provides the wild cards, in largely self-recorded plunges into his own skittish psyche, culminating in the massive title song, beefed up by the University of Southern California's marching band, but more cannily in dreamy music-box exercises ("That's All for Everyone") and sudden bursts of gonzo, fuzz-toned rock ("That's Enough for Me"). Better than its detractors thought upon release, Tusk was a brave platinum "failure" that actually charts where subsequent Mac and Buckingham projects would go. --Sam Sutherland

Tusk Reviews:
Still good after all these years!
2009-07-07 - Christine and Stevie set a softness to the album and Lyndsey belts out the beats - great for guys and girls!

Underrated Masterpiece
2009-06-07 - After the hugely-successful Rumours, almost anything Fleetwood Mac came up with was bound to be viewed as a disappointment, and so it was with Tusk, an underrated but ambitious and vastly satisfying record. Tusk was a little more experimental than Rumours, but don't let that scare you. There were several very strong pop songs on Tusk, including Sara, Think About Me and the title track, a wonderfully wacky song replete with the USC marching band. But there are several other gems on here, including the beautifully hypnotic Brown Eyes (pay particular attention to the guitar flourishes Lindsey adds to the song). But it's Stevie Nicks who really sparkles on this record, especially on tracks like Storms (a soulful song that is easily as good as anything she's done), Beautiful Child and Sisters Of The Moon. In many ways, Tusk was a landmark album, and not just because of the way it was produced. Like a lot of people I was disappointed the first time I heard Tusk; now it's one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac records and one I still listen to on a frequent basis.

Give it more listens
2009-02-21 - The problem with Tusk is that your immediate impulse is to compare it to its predecessor, Rumours. In a way, it's like comparing Revolver or Sgt. Pepper's to The White Album. While the single albums may represent the greatest coming together of the group as a band, the double albums represent the individuals in that band at their peak.

While Tusk belongs to the whole band, it is Lindsay Buckingham's baby. His songs on this album are often referred to as experimental, but they're only really so in that they're not "Go Your Own Way." In a sense, his portion of Tusk could be considered the first "indie" album. They're not particularly radio-friendly, even if the title cut was the first single off the album. However, they're the type of thing many of today's indie bands only WISH they could write. "Not That Funny" sounds like it would fit in nicely on Modest Mouse's next album.

While Lindsay's compositions take up nearly half the album, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie also make large contributions. Nicks's "Sara" may be the best song of her career, and Buckingham's production on that song in particular is some of the best ever put on record, forget "Mutt" Lange's still-to-come efforts with Def Leppard. McVie kicks off the album with its least representational, and perhaps prettiest song, "Over & Over," a slice of music that wraps you up and tells you that everything is going to be all right, no matter how bleak things may seem.

I give this album five stars, the same as Rumours. Do I like them in the same way? No. Rumours is what you listen to when you're hanging out with your friends, drinking beers and playing pool. Tusk is what you listen to while you're alone in your room, or when you just need something to soothe you. It's like a slice of German chocolate cake or a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream - delicious and slightly self-indulgent.

Misunderstood
2009-01-09 - Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk' is a bot of an enigma of 1979. How do you follow up on a record that brought you untold success, riches and nearly destroyed you as a band to do it? I guess you make 'Tusk' an album that sent the band in a spiral that resulted in solo careers and infrequent releases to follow.

For anyone familiar with 'Rumours' or 'Fleetwood Mac' this is certainly a departure. Double the length the material is less tight and accessible than a "Rhiannon" or "Don't Stop". Much of the material was done in Lindsey Buckingham's home studio and it shows. It feels like three solo projects by the band's singers instead of a strong, coherent disc like their prior two cds. There's certainly a lot of good material here but truly you notice the difference here with each of the singers (Christine's music is less catchy or memorable, Stevie's poetry is perhaps a bit less focused and Lindsey's somewhat erratic). A few years later the band made the far less risky 'Mirage', a better effort in many ways. What endures about this is the risk taking the band took NOT to remake 'Rumours'. 'Tusk' is bold, rough, brave, unfinished and in the end, admirable. Tracks to listen to: "Tusk", "I Know I'm Not Wrong", "Beautiful Child," "Sisters of the Moon", "Brown Eyes", "Think About Me".

Wow what an album!!!
2008-07-29 - Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3R9WMEVZGHHX1