Fleetwood Mac Tusk CD

This deluxe edition of Tusk includes a bonus disc featuring roughs, outtakes and demos.

No home should be without at least one copy of TUSK. Fleetwood Mac's magnum opus of 1979 is considered by some to be their greatest work. And while you are probably familiar with the hits, you may not realize that this recording is full of gems like Christine McVie's gorgeous "Brown Eyes" and Lindsey Buckingham's rousing and infectious "I Know I'm Not Wrong." Of course, even the Nikei industrial average would sound beautiful if it were sung with Christine's wonderful voice. And Lindsey Buckingham's home recordings that show up here are a virtual blueprint for the indie-rock home-recording scene that would flourish nearly 20 years later. While some records from this period seem campy and quaint in retrospect, TUSK still sounds terrific, thanks to those Dashut/Buckingham production values. But what's up with that marching band on the title track?

In the spring of 2004, Warner Strategic Marketing reissued as remastered expanded editions Fleetwood Mac's first three albums with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Tusk restores "Sara" to its original running length (on the previous CD edition, it was offered in a truncated single edit in order to fit the whole album on one disc), and is given a bonus disc with 21 tracks, which is longer than the original double album. Of these, two are previously released single versions of "Think About Me" and "Sisters of the Moon," and of the remaining 19 tracks, only two are previously unheard songs -- and both of those are covers, of Jorge Calderon's "Kiss and Run" and the Beach Boys' "Farmer's Daughter" (the former is a rough studio jam, the latter is polished and very good). The rest of the bonus disc contains demos, alternate take

Recorded at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, California.

Recorded at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, California. Originally released on Warners Bros. (3350). Includes liner notes by Parke Puterbaugh.

Producers: Fleetwood Mac, Richard Dashut, Ken Caillat.

Engineers: Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut, Lindsey Buckingham.

Personnel: Lindsey Buckingham (vocals, guitar); Christine McVie (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Stevie Nicks (vocals); Mick Fleetwood (drums, percussion).

Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot.

Liner Note Author: Parke Puterbaugh.

Recording information: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA; Home; Village Recorder, West Los Angeles, CA.

Photographers: Jayne Odgers; Norman Seeff; Richard Aaron; Sam Emerson; Peter Beard; Laura Levine.

2cds: 1=LP Remastered; 2=Bonus Material,Outtakes,Demos ++

Fleetwood Mac: Lindsay Buckingham (vocals, guitar); Christine McVie (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Stevie Nicks (vocals); John McVie (bass); Mick Fleetwood (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel: The U.S.C. Trojan Marching Band.

Uncut (4/04, p.112) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[T]his was the exact AOR equivalent of PiL's METAL BOX, where a mainstream icon suddenly subverts their art from within the system..."
Uncut (4/04, p.112) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[T]his was the exact AOR equivalent of PiL's METAL BOX, where a mainstream icon suddenly subverts their art from within the system..."
Mojo (Publisher) (4/04, p.122) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]he collection had some moments of shimmering beauty....TUSK's greatest worth is as an accurate and telling musical indication of where the band members' solo albums would go."
Mojo (Publisher) (4/04, p.122) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]he collection had some moments of shimmering beauty....TUSK's greatest worth is as an accurate and telling musical indication of where the band members' solo albums would go."