Flush with the platinum success of Rumours (1977), Fleetwood Mac took a path slightly less obvious on their follow-up, Tusk (1979). A double LP with 20 songs, Tusk opened with “Over & Over,” the sort of mellow pop rock that had become their brand. But then Tusk lurched into “The Ledge,” a wiry little tune that suggested mutant rockabilly. And on it went: the mid-tempo love song “Think About Me” could have been left over from Rumours, while Tusk’s oddball title track incorporated all 112 members of the University of Southern California marching band.
In other words, Fleetwood Mac decided to be quirky while hedging their bets.
The formula worked, sort of. Tusk sold in the millions, but as Jim Irvin’s percept essay in the booklet for the album’s new Deluxe Edition reminds us, the critics were mostly baffled, the record label was non-plussed, Fleetwood Mac fans didn’t really dig it and the brave new world of punk and post-punk—to which Tusk was a response—didn’t buy it. But as the years ticked past, some listened a second time and heard something interesting.
Tusk (Deluxe Edition) is the gift for the Fleetwood Mac fan who wants everything. The handsomely slip-cased set features a remastered version of the album on CD; a pair of live CDs from the band’s 1979-1980 tour; a disc called “The Alternative Tusk” assembled mostly from unreleased takes; an additional disc with demos and more outtakes and alternate versions; plus the album as it was originally released on a pair of vinyl LPs.
It would be wonderful if all of those previously unheard versions of Tusk’s tunes were revelatory. What emerges is that some of the earliest takes do expose the bare bones unclothed by carefully fashioned production. The naked emotion of “Storms,” for example, comes across better on the outtake than the finished rendition.
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