By the summer of 1977, you just couldn't find a bigger band than Fleetwood Mac. It was a year before Saturday Night Fever fever would sweep the country, of course, so Mac pretty much had the run of the place for awhile, landing Top 10 hit after Top 10 hit with "Go Your Own Way", "Dreams", "You Make Loving Fun" and "Don't Stop". Rumours, of course, spent a staggering 31 weeks at #1 and would go on to win a Grammy for Album Of The Year.
How do you top that kind of success?
Whether you're Hootie & The Blowfish or Fleetwood Mac, the answer to that question is "You don't."
Thus, when the band went from the top of the world back into the recording studio, the idea of a double-album was already in the works.
Mick Fleetwood had indicated as much in a 1978 Rolling Stone interview, saying "We feel that we've got enough material. If there's any filler, then we wouldn't dream of doing it. But that's an exciting thing to at least attempt. It stimulates everyone and it's a challenge. You don't just knock out another album. It's like a real commitment."
Several months and a million dollars later, indeed, the band emerged with a double-album entitled Tusk.
Upon its release, however, it was viewed as quite a disappointment and, while it did go to #1 in the UK, it stalled at #4 in the US, selling only two million copies.
The band, of course, soldiered on for a successful US tour and, in hindsight, Tusk has come to be regarded as a masterpiece - a last snapshot of the laid back excess of the 70's just before disco erupted into the mainstream.
I personally think it is Lyndsey Buckingham's finest collection of work. His production creates a textural ebb and flow that ties these disparate songs and personalities together into a loosely conceptual experience.
Live, of course, he was without equal, displaying some serious guitar prowess and urging the band on each night to reach new heights. Here are some tracks from the band's rehearsals for the tour, and from the tour itself.
Angel
Don't Stop
Go Your Own Way
I'm So Afraid
Landslide
Oh Well
Over And Over
Sara
Save Me A Place
Sisters Of The Moon
The Chain
The Ledge
Tusk
World Turning
1 comments:
Thanks so much for these tracks! I'm a fairly new convert to Fleetwood Mac and Lindsey Buckingham...I made the mistake of thinking it was all just fluffy radio music (stupid me!). You don't happen to have a full show from this era, do you? Thanks again!
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