Tusk-Fleetwood Mac

Tusk

Tusk" stands as the peak, shining moment in Fleetwood Mac's entire career, a truly special album that transcended commercial expectation and still demands close attention. With all three songwriters in full bloom, Lindsey Buckingham was able to fashion stunning arrangements for their creations which made them work as both catchy pop tunes and avant-garde experiments. Stevie Nicks would never sound better, as she expanded her witch-poet persona into full blown explorations of the heart and mind; "Sara", with its airy harmonies and lacey, intricate overdubs, manages to evoke the flavor of its lyric with disarming grace. An instant classic, it appears in edited form here, which is of course the one frustrating gripe with the CD. "Storms" and "Beautiful Child" quietly build their moods with a mystical subtlety and craftsmanlike precision, while "Sisters Of The Moon" is kind of a Rhiannon Part Two. Buckingham responds with songs that take on a nervous, almost manic tone ("The Ledge", "Not That Funny", "What Makes You Think You're The One"), and then he cuts back with intimate torch moments that will tear you to pieces ("Save Me A Place"--which has the finest harmonies on any Fleetwood Mac record--and "Walk A Thin Line"). McVie ocassionally treads water, offering up middle-of-the-road pop like "Think About Me" and "Never Forget", although she too contributes the exquisite ballad "Never Make Me Cry", the glorious harmony exercise "Honey Hi" and the atmospheric "Brown Eyes".

Mention must also be made to the unique percussion sounds achieved for the album: Mick Fleetwood attains new heights of drum god status on "Brown Eyes", "What Makes You Think You're The One" and the title track; there is a tribal feel to his playing that is tempered by modern recording ideas. The famous "bathroom tile" echo shimmers on "That's All For Everyone" and "Walk A Thin Line", which saw Buckingham on his knees in front of a toilet, Brian Wilson-style, to achieve his aims. It is a credit to his production techniques that the arrangements are incredibly elaborate and yet at no point do they overwhelm the songs--indeed, their strength often lies in what is hidden. Many of the songs are not as immediately appealing as those on "Fleetwood Mac" or "Rumours", but they end up far more satisfying in the long run (indeed, after hearing "Go Your Own Way" a zillion times on classic rock radio, a gem like "Save Me A Place" can sound especially fresh). The group's creativity was so intense at this period, actually, that several A-quality Nicks songs, including "Watchdevil", "Lady From The Mountain" and "Beauty And The Beast" were left as outtakes and survive only on bootlegs. In sum, "Tusk" found Fleetwood Mac in a unique position, still reeling from the runaway commercial success of "Rumours" but intent on creating sound paintings that expressed the aftermath of the relationship turmoil that created that moment. What is needed now is a deluxe double CD-issue of Tusk, remastered with bonus tracks of outtakes from the sessions, since it is clear that many of these songs underwent interesting drafts before they made the final product.