50 great things about Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk"

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (676 of them)

"Special thanks from the band to Lindsey Buckingham"

― David Merryweather (DavidM), Monday, 23 February 2004 21:28 (twenty years ago) link

34. The subsequent modifications to the lyrics of Tusk by the USC student body at football games, turning the song into a scathing indictment of the UCLA student body

― Todd Everlasting (Todde), Monday, 23 February 2004 22:45 (twenty years ago) link

This song is fairly traumatic for me, as I am an alum of the University of Southern California.
USC's marching band, plays on the track, of course... to this day, you hear this song an average of 500 times a day walking across campus. For the final horn bursts, though, you are supposed to shout along "U-C-L-A sucks!"

So...

34) It reminds me of the delicious hot dog I ate at the one college football game I ever went to, which I think was USC vs. Notre Dame ("we" lost).

Fuck! Major x-post with Todd!

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Monday, 23 February 2004 22:48 (twenty years ago) link

damn, i was beaten to #33 and 34 by the above wiseguys.

TS: A-Claps vs. Tusk

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 February 2004 22:50 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

35. Okay, so I got the reissue and finally heard the actual song "Tusk" all the way through for the first time -- do people not mention that weird breakdown moment where the drums cut out and everything goes backward because, even for this album and that song, it's THAT (wonderfully) fucked up?

So, 15 more to go?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 May 2004 01:28 (nineteen years ago) link

36 'Beautiful Child' - "There is so much pain" "I am not a child anymore". The way Stevie sings these, infact every line in this song, and then sings them again...this is recognition, this is chill down the spine music.

― de, Saturday, 15 May 2004 01:34 (nineteen years ago) link

that even noise weirdos like the Dead C's Bruce Russell recognize it's total fucking greatness

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 15 May 2004 02:03 (nineteen years ago) link

37. the way christine mcvie's vocals yield/meld to lindsey buckingham's vocals in the chorus to 'think about me'

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 15 May 2004 05:45 (nineteen years ago) link

38. the way the lyrics in 'sara' only occasionally bother to rhyme

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 15 May 2004 05:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Christine's bittersweet longing on "Over & Over" -- her best-ever track?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 15 May 2004 06:33 (nineteen years ago) link

40. All the moments of dub knowledge in the mix.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 15 May 2004 06:36 (nineteen years ago) link

41. Lindsey on "I Know I'm Not Wrong": "You're here 'cause I SAY SO"

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 15 May 2004 06:36 (nineteen years ago) link

42. Photo of dog grabbing at late-'70s sneaker.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 15 May 2004 06:39 (nineteen years ago) link

*leg wearing* sneaker

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 15 May 2004 07:21 (nineteen years ago) link

43. "That's Enough For Me"! (Their fastest song ever?)

― Burr (Burr), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:14 (nineteen years ago) link

44. "What can they say, it's not against the law"--How I have no choice but to turn the stereo up even more when they get to that line.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:25 (nineteen years ago) link

45. "It's not that FUNNY, is it?"

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:40 (nineteen years ago) link

46. How the remastered version sounds so clean that I can listen to it on my shitty little CD player at work (over and over and over again, some days), and I can still hear almost all the great bits in Nos. 1-45 above.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:56 (nineteen years ago) link

47. The way the backing vocals are there, then aren't, then are again in "Sara" -- and how often they just don't seem like backing vocals per se, more like some weird lost ghostly thing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 May 2004 16:24 (nineteen years ago) link

48. The cover of Farmer's Daughter on disc 2 of the re-issue.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:05 (nineteen years ago) link

49. The fact that I am listening to it right now and it is easing the pain of being at work on a Saturday morning.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:06 (nineteen years ago) link

50. The second disc of the re-issue is actually worth listening to, and is not just chock full of "Here is a version of the song that I played in the bathroom once, in case you were interested."

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:07 (nineteen years ago) link

haha, I just realized that I accidentally referenced the album in no. 46. Please pretend like that was intentional.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:08 (nineteen years ago) link

And we have reached fifty. I'm listening to it now as well and it's not a painful morning, but it is a quiet and beautiful one, so yay.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link

In the interest of thread unity, I will not number this post, but just observe, in passing, that Stevie Nicks declaring "I don't wanna be a cleaning lady" at the beginning of the nine minute version of Sara is kuh-lassic.

I sort of like to think it's the 70s rock-queen version of "Turn the music up in the headphones!"

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link

51. "Real savage like"

― frankE (frankE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:25 (nineteen years ago) link

Does anybody besides me think that the alternate version of "Storms" on Disc 2 of the re-issue is actually better than the album version? I think it is more haunting because it sounds more disjointed, and I think the prominence of the repeating rhythm guitar line enhances the effect.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:34 (nineteen years ago) link

And also, can we all stop to thank God (or, you know, if you're not religious vis a vis re-issues, just whoever was responsible for this one) that the re-issues aren't in that goddamned "Hybrid SACD" format (which, as far as I can tell, just = you can't rip the damn CD onto your computer, or even play it on your computer)?

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Saturday, 15 May 2004 17:38 (nineteen years ago) link

28. Mick Fleetwood's hair-raising fill 30 seconds before the end of "Over & Over"--a little crescendo just when we've been in what feels like the fadeout for a solid minute already.

Let's be clear that it's not Mick's hair that's being raised. More like "razed"...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 15 May 2004 18:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Fuggit. Dude said "one hundred great things," right? Anyway, "excess" is what these kids are all about.

52. When Stevie gives it up for Joe Simon on "Sara." Too bad she didn't learn as much from him as she did from Jimmy Webb.

53. That I now so love a record that lets Stevie Nicks thank "the poet in my heart," when that kind of shit made me gag in the fall of '79 (when I lived and died by 'Rust Never Sleeps' and 'Repeat When Necessary').

54. Imagining the rest of the group listening to something like "What Makes You Think You're the One" and going, "We have to stop Lindsey from bringing in demos!"

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 16 May 2004 04:59 (nineteen years ago) link

55. The piano run at the end of "What Makes You Think You're the One."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 16 May 2004 05:00 (nineteen years ago) link

56. Everything about "What Makes you Think You're the One"

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Sunday, 16 May 2004 05:05 (nineteen years ago) link

57. Lindsey (?) kickin' it on kalimba on the long fade of "That's All for Everyone," thereby turning the track into an EWF tribute cut.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 16 May 2004 05:11 (nineteen years ago) link

58. The mindless rave-up that is "Sisters of the Moon." It's no "Need Your Love," but y'know, it's a cool mindless rave-up.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 16 May 2004 05:15 (nineteen years ago) link

59. Lindsey's reinvention of the Beatles' "Yeah! yeah! yeah!" on "That's Enough for Me."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 16 May 2004 05:37 (nineteen years ago) link

"The cover of Farmer's Daughter on disc 2 of the re-issue."

Is this the soundcheck version from the live album? or a different recording?

― Burr (Burr), Sunday, 16 May 2004 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link

It's lumped in with all the other demos and studio outtakes and there are no further technical notes provided on any of those -- but having not heard the live album version I can't say. Anyone?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 16 May 2004 15:53 (nineteen years ago) link

(And FWIW I picked up the Rumours reissue as well yesterday, now I just need to get the self-titled one w/"Rhiannon" and all that -- which was also part of the reissue thing, but everyone wants to only talk about Rumours and Tusk!)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 16 May 2004 15:58 (nineteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

60. the 'Baby once in a whiiiile' coda in "Think About Me"

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:37 (nineteen years ago) link

i went to the cd store today and they had all the reissues but this one. i bought nothing.

― the surface noise for the sake of noise (electricsound), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I just got the reissue of Tusk from my local library. It cost nothing. (Well, ok, it cost £1 but thats next to nothing)

― mms (mms), Friday, 4 June 2004 12:09 (nineteen years ago) link

61) the way Lindsey mews his "yeeeaahhs" at the end of Not That Funny

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Friday, 4 June 2004 14:32 (nineteen years ago) link

62) It mercifully isn't Astral Weeks.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 4 June 2004 15:05 (nineteen years ago) link

four months pass...

63) Actually what Alex said for 62 but let me repeat it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 29 October 2004 03:46 (nineteen years ago) link

i went to the cd store today and they had all the reissues but this one. i bought nothing.

-- the surface noise for the sake of noise (electricsoun...), June 4th, 2004 10:44 PM.

this happened *again*!! cunce

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Friday, 29 October 2004 03:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Astral Weeks is an incredible album, but I'm not sure what the heck heck it has to do with Tusk? anyway, cute to see upthread that Ragget discovered Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, an album readily available in dollar bins across the nation for 20 odd years, in calendar year 2004. What kept you away Ned? Those scintillating Gene Loves Jezebel and Alien Sex Fiend deluxe CD editions?

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 29 October 2004 04:14 (nineteen years ago) link

Which are fine releases all, actually. What kept me away? Nothing kept me away, more flat out disinterest. I knew it exists but I knew nothing more about it, and now that I live in a world where I can enjoy it *and* ASF etc., that means mine is a richer listening experience than yours. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 29 October 2004 04:16 (nineteen years ago) link

"disinterest"

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 29 October 2004 04:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Hey, there's plenty of things others love dearly, musical or not, which you've heard about vaguely but haven't been interested in pursuing further for years upon years, and you know it. You can't pretend otherwise.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 29 October 2004 04:19 (nineteen years ago) link

it's either gene loves jezebel or tusk, ned. admit it.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 29 October 2004 04:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Skipping 576 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

One thing that really blows my mind is how expensive the album was to start with. It listed for $16.98 for the vinyl set upon release, which adjusted for inflation today is $63.55. Of course, very few people who actually bought it then probably paid list, but still. I believe even then that was a pretty high price point for a double, although understandable given this was the beginning of 'superstar pricing' not to mention the cost of packaging and the recording itself.

― “Heroin” (ft. Bobby Gillespie) (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 11 August 2021 12:43 (two years ago) link

I found a pretty seriously water-damaged copy at my local record store for £7 or so a few years back that plays absolutely fine (the inner sleeves however are all gummed together), and that will do me. My first copy was the CD with the edited Sara, which seems criminal now.

― "the fancy things" being his nads, etc (stevie), Wednesday, 11 August 2021 13:06 (two years ago) link

Wasn't there some hoohah about "Tusk" getting premiered in its entirety on the radio, allowing people to record it, and the band/management/label blaming that for soft sales?

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 August 2021 13:06 (two years ago) link

edited "sara" and the remixed "i know i'm not wrong," the latter of which was retained for the 2004 double-disc reissue and for literal years made me think my vinyl copy was flawed but just for that particular song

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 11 August 2021 13:09 (two years ago) link

i prefer the og "i know i'm not wrong" now, it breathes more, but sometimes i miss the tricked-out quality of the remix

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 11 August 2021 13:10 (two years ago) link

Wasn't there some hoohah about "Tusk" getting premiered in its entirety on the radio, allowing people to record it, and the band/management/label blaming that for soft sales?

Yeah, a chain of radio stations were allowed a full-length album premiere by Warner's, which backfired.

― “Heroin” (ft. Bobby Gillespie) (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 11 August 2021 16:19 (two years ago) link

We don't know to what extent it affected sales; WB will want a villain. The price had a lot to do with depressed sales.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 11 August 2021 17:33 (two years ago) link

I think I remember paying $14 for it when it came out.

― Profiles in Liquid Courage (WmC), Wednesday, 11 August 2021 17:39 (two years ago) link

I paid $1, but I had to walk to the record store in a snowstorm.

― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 11 August 2021 18:02 (two years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.