Out Now... Fleetwood Mac's 2015 Remastered 'TUSK'

Available Today
Fleetwood Mac's Remastered 'TUSK'  
Available at Amazon or iTunes

Download Alternate Version of Fleetwood Mac's TUSK Today with iTunes pre-order

Lindsey Buckingham on Fleetwood Mac's Risk-Taking Classic Album 'Tusk': Exclusive Premiere
Billboard.com

Lindsey Buckingham has long told the story of reaction inside and around Fleetwood Mac when 1979's Tusk fell far short of sales for its predecessor, Rumours. "The conventional wisdom was, 'You blew it,'" Buckingham recalls with a laugh. "A lot of people were pissed off at me for that."

Not so now.

Listen to an alternate version of TUSK at Billboard.com and The Guardian

USA: Billboard.com

UK: The Guardian

Download this version of ‘Tusk’ starting Friday, November 20th when you pre-order on iTunes:

The often experimental Tusk -- which will be celebrated with a deluxe edition box set on Dec. 4 -- may not have lived up to Rumours​' diamond-certified status, but it was still a double-platinum release that hit No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and spawned a pair of top 10 hits in "Tusk" and "Sara." More importantly it became a sonic inspiration (and has been cited as such) for many that followed and, in Buckingham's mind, gave Fleetwood Mac a broader artistic license that his bandmates would later appreciate.

"For me, being sort of the culprit behind that particular album, it was done in a way to undermine just sort of following the formula of doing Rumours 2 and Rumours 3, which is kind of the business model Warner Bros. would have liked us to follow," Buckingham tells Billboard. "We really were poised to make Rumours 2, and that could've been the beginning of kind of painting yourself into a corner in terms of living up to the labels that were being placed on you as a band. You know, there have been several occasions during the course of Fleetwood Mac over the years where we've had to undermine whatever the business axioms might be to sort of keep aspiring as an artist in the long term, and the Tusk album was one of those times."

Coming in three- and five-CD versions -- the latter of which comes packaged with two vinyl LPs and a DVD -- the Tusk (Deluxe Edition) is brimming with outtakes, demos and remixes, particularly of the title track and "I Know I'm Not Wrong." There's also The Alternative Tusk comprised of unreleased outtakes and two discs of live tracks recorded during shows in St. Louis, Omaha, Neb., and London during 1979-90. The studio material in particular demonstrates just how ambitious Buckingham was in making the album, recording vocals in bathrooms and deploying a variety of effects on its 20 songs.

"My big rap on stage was how I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall when Warner Brothers first put that album on in the boardroom, 'cause they really didn't hear it until it was done and we gave it to them," Buckingham says. "From a marketing point of view it was not what they wanted or what they expected. It was a ballsy thing to do."

Tusk has, of course, stood up to the test of time and now enjoys a kind of classic status for its creative adventurousness. Ironically, last spring Fleetwood Mac found itself back in the same studio -- Studio D at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles -- working on new material which has yet to see the light of day, while Buckingham is gratified that high regard has replaced any reservations about Tusk back in the day. 

"I'd like to think the younger generation has certainly been able to understand that, not only in terms of appreciating the music but more importantly understanding why we did it -- just a philosophy of taking risks, which is not something that you necessarily even get the chance to do," Buckingham says. "So it kind of worked out OK, I guess, but it did take some time because it was immediately embraced by a certain faction but it was a much more marginal faction that seems to embrace it now, from what I can tell."

Pre-order - AMAZON

Pre-order - iTunes

Fleetwood Mac relive Tusk in January's @MOJOMagazine - On Sale 24th Nov.

FLEETWOOD MAC Take a trip to “complete crazy land” as we relive the making of Tusk.

Fleetwood Mac are featured in the upcoming January issue of Mojo Magazine talking about the creation of Tusk and the height of Rumours.

This issue featuring David Bowie on the cover is on sale in the UK beginning Tuesday, November 24th.

MOJO Magazine

Fleetwood Mac Announce "TUSK" 5CD / 1 DVD 5.1 Surround Mix / 2 Vinyl Reissue - Avail. December 4th

Tusk (Deluxe Edition 5CD/1DVD-A/2 Vinyl)

Fleetwood Mac builds on its formidable legacy as one of rock’s most legendary acts as they re-visit

their most ambitious album with deluxe and expanded editions of TUSK.

Originally released in 1979, the Grammy® Award-nominated, double-album sold more than four million copies worldwide, and reached number 1 in the UK album charts, and included hits like “Sara,” “Think About Me,” and the title track.

The announcement comes as the band – Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham  Stevie Nicks and now of course Christine McVie,  – continues it’s acclaimed, “On With The Show” world tour which recently including 6 sold out shows at London’s 02 Arena.

To follow the historic, global success of 1977’s Grammy-Award winning Rumours, Fleetwood Mac chose to take a more experimental approach on Tusk. The most famous example has to be the unexpected and beloved inclusion of the University of Southern California’s marching band on the title track.

TUSK will be available on December 4 

This DELUXE EDITION delves deep into the vaults with five CDs including the remastered original album, an alternate version of the complete album made up of session outtakes, most of which have never been released, as well as an additional selection of singles, demos and remixes, including an outtake of “Think About Me,” an early version of “That’s Enough For Me” called “Out On The Road,” plus several incarnations of “I Know I’m Not Wrong.”

Also included are two discs loaded with 22 unreleased performances from the band’s 1979 Tusk tour with selections from concerts in London, Tucson, and St. Louis. It includes live versions of album tracks like “Sara, “Over And Over” and “Save Me A Place,” as well as favorites like “Landslide,” “You Make Loving Fun,” “Rhiannon,” “Don’t Stop” and “Go Your Own Way.”

Completing  the Deluxe Edition is a 5.1 surround mix of Tusk on DVD-Audio and vinyl of the original album on 2-LPs. 

The collection comes housed in an elegant box reminiscent of the acclaimed Rumours Deluxe Edition with a booklet that has extended liner notes that feature new interviews with all the band members. 

TUSK will also be available as a single disc of the original album remastered this year by Lindsey Buckingham.

The 3 cd digi-pack expanded edition includes the remastered original album, an alternate version of the complete album made up of session outtakes, most of which have never been released, as well as an additional selection of singles, demos and remixes, including an outtake of “Think About Me,” an early version of “That’s Enough For Me” called “Out On The Road,” plus several incarnations of “I Know I’m Not Wrong.

"Sara" Live in Tucson, AZ 8/28/80

US - Amazon Pre-Order

TUSK: DELUXE EDITION

TUSK: (Expanded 3CD Digi-pack)

TUSK: (1CD Jewel Case - 2015 Remaster)


THE DELUXE EDITION:
Disc One: Original Album Remastered

01. “Over & Over”
02. “The Ledge”
03. “Think About Me”
04. “Save Me A Place”
05. “Sara”
06. “What Makes You Think You’re The One”
07. “Storms”
08. “That’s All For Everyone”
09. “Not That Funny”
10. “Sisters Of The Moon”
11. “Angel”
12. “That’s Enough For Me”
13. “Brown Eyes”
14. “Never Make Me Cry”
15. “I Know I’m Not Wrong”
16. “Honey Hi”
17. “Beautiful Child”
18. “Walk A Thin Line”
19. “Tusk”
20. “Never Forget”

Disc Two: Singles, Outtakes, Sessions

01. “Think About Me” (Single Remix)
02. “That’s All for Everyone” (Remix)
03. “Sisters of the Moon” (Remix)
04. “Not That Funny” (Single Remix)
05. “Sara” (Single Edit)
06. “Walk a Thin Line” (Song #3 – 03/13/79)
07. “Honey Hi” (Alternate Version – 10/18/78)
08. “Storms” (Alternate Version – 11/30/78)
09. “Save Me a Place” (2nd Version -10/10/78) *
10. “Never Make Me Cry” (Version – 04/17/79)
11. “Out On The Road” (aka “That’s Enough For Me” – Demo – 12/19/78) *
12. “I Know I’m Not Wrong” – Lindsey’s Song #1 (Demo)
13. “I Know I’m Not Wrong” (10/10/78 Version) *
14. “I Know I’m Not Wrong” (11/3/78 Version) *
15. “I Know I’m Not Wrong” (4/25/79 Version) *
16. “I Know I’m Not Wrong” (8/13/79 Version) *
17. “I Know I’m Not Wrong” (1/23/79 Version) *
18. “Tusk” (Demo – 01/15/79) *
19. “Tusk” “Stage Riff” (Demo – 01/30/79) *
20. “Tusk” (Outtake Track – 02/01/79) *
21. “Tusk” (Outtake Mix – 01/23/79) *
22. “Tusk” (USC Version – 06/04/79) *

Disc Three: The Alternate Tusk

01. “Over & Over” (04/02/79) *
02. “The Ledge” (03/13/79)
03. “Think About Me” (02/18/79) *
04. “Save Me a Place” (10/18/78) *
05. “Sara” (03/10/79)
06. “What Makes You Think You’re the One” (02/24/79) *
07. “Storms” (06/02/79) *
08. “That’s All for Everyone” (10/20/78) *
09. “Not That Funny” (05/19/79) *
10. “Sisters of the Moon” (11/12/78)
11. “Angel” (04/02/79) *
12. “That’s Enough for Me” (09/29/78) *
13. “Brown Eyes” (with Lindsey & Peter Green, 09/20/78) *
14. “Never Make Me Cry” (02/08/79) *
15. “I Know I’m Not Wrong” (11/02/78) *
16. “Honey Hi” (10/11/78) *
17. “Beautiful Child” (10/09/78) *
18. “Walk a Thin Line” (04/06/79) *
19. “Tusk” (07/19/79) *
20. “Never Forget” (06/29/78) *

Disc Four: Tusk Tour Live 1

01. Intro (Wembley, 06/26/80) *
02. “Say You Love Me” (Wembley, 06/26/80) *
03. “The Chain” (Wembley, 06/20/80) *
04. “Don’t Stop” (Wembley, 06/27/80) *
05. “Dreams” (Wembley, 06/20/80) *
06. “Oh Well” (Wembley, 06/20/80) *
07. “Rhiannon” (Tuscon, 08/28/80) *
08. “Over and Over” (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
09. “That’s Enough for Me” (Wembley, 06/21/80) *
10. “Sara” (Tuscon, 08/28/80) *
11. “Not That Funny” (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
12. “Tusk” (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *

Disc Five: Tusk Tour Live 2

01. “Save Me a Place” (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
02. “Landslide” (Omaha, 08/21/80) *
03. “What Makes You Think You’re the One” (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
04. “Angel” (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
05. “You Make Loving Fun” (Wembley, 06/20/80) *
06. “I’m So Afraid” (St. Louis, 11/05/79) *
07. “World Turning” (Wembley, 06/22/80) *
08. “Go Your Own Way” (Wembley, 06/22/80) *
09. “Sisters of the Moon” (Wembley, 06/22/80) *
10. “Songbird” (Wembley, 06/27/80) *

* Previously Unreleased

1980: Stevie Nicks with Molly Meldrum

In February 1980, while Fleetwood Mac were touring Australia promoting their double album 'Tusk', Stevie Nicks came into the Countdown studios in Melbourne to record a brief interview with host Ian 'Molly' Meldrum.

Fleetwood Mac's “Tusk” — a deliberate act of crazy defiance (New York Times Magazine Article)

Letter of Recommendation: Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’
By Sam Anderson
The New York Times Magazine

Photo Norman Seeff

There is a species of spider that hunts by releasing chemicals that imitate the sex pheromones of moths. When its prey arrives, high on fantasies of romance, the spider hits it with a sticky blob of web, then devours it. Scientists call this “aggressive mimicry.”

This is something like the operating principle behind Fleetwood Mac’s 1979 album “Tusk.” The trap is set with the first track: a lite-rock masterpiece, in roughly the tempo of a summer nap, called “Over & Over.” The singer’s voice is smooth and sad, a melon-flavored wine cooler on a vacant beach at sunset with the one you know will eventually leave you. The keening cheese-ball lyrics (“all you have to do is speak out my name, and I will come running”) are so generic as to be almost meaningless, and these words float on top of a clean acoustic strum, which is punctuated neatly by a clean snare, which is colored in turn by the very clean jangles of an undistorted electric guitar.

It is, in other words, quintessential Fleetwood Mac: classic FM-radio easy listening — an absolute top-shelf lighter-swaying anthem. Not a note is out of place. (This may be the spot to mention that the birth name of the song’s lead vocalist, Christine McVie, is actually Christine Perfect.) The band’s three-voiced choir is in full-on angel-harmony mode — “Oooooooooooo a-ooo-ooo-OOO-ooo-oooooooooooo” — and as the refrain drones on (“over and over, over and over, over and over”) you can feel your pulse beginning to slow, and you step through the bead curtains into the dim back room of your consciousness, where the lava lamp still blorbles and the ylang-ylang incense burns and you can bathe forever in the radiant black light of the perpetual 1970s.

"The Harmonica Killer" Filmed During Fleetwood Mac Tusk Sessions at Village Recorder Studios

I've never seen this before... What a little treasure! Thanks Richard for posting it!

From Richard Dashut:

"Many moons ago I had posted on YouTube by an old and great friend of mine Kevin Moran, a video we shot while recording the album Tusk at the Village Recorder in 1980. During some down time while Ken was dealing with some broken equipment, Mick, Lindsey, Myself and with some help from Raymond Lindsey, (Lindsey's guitar tech at the time) decided to make a horror movie to stay creatively engaged. Up stairs from the studio was the Transcendental Meditation Center for the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, (hope I got that right), which used to be an old theatre complete with seats and when empty was a bit creepy. Perfect setting for a horror movie, right? Well with Lindsey (Buckingham) as director, Mick as the monster and myself as a truly bad actor, (I really suck) we went at it without even a hint of a script. What you will bear witness to is called The Harmonica Killer. My sincere apologies if this attempt at humor offends any one in anyway. PC wasn't a top priority back in 80 but I think will get by. Anyway, why do you think they call it dope, right? So as long as it is still up there, if you have a few minutes to spare, just punch up The Harmonica Killer, Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac on YouTube and feel free to comment on just how bad a short movie (edited in camera, on the fly) this really is. Enjoy, with luv and laughter......r"

The Harmonica Killer
Starring Richard Dashut (self) & Mick Fleetwood (harmonica killer). Written, Directed, and Filmed by Lindsey Buckingham.

While cleaning out Dashut's storage unit one hot day in vegas, i found this dvd labeled "fleetwood mac -tusk 1980 - "The Harmonica Killer" in an old box with a bunch of cassettes in it. Turns out to be a "horror movie" they filmed while a tape machine was being fixed and they had the day to mess about.

Mick Fleetwood Goes His Own Way: Quotes from Thoreau

By: Mick Fleetwood
Published: March 30, 2014
Source: Sunday Express

"If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away." - Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau's quote so brings to mind the experience of making the album Tusk. Much like when the Beatles made their White Album, Tusk, for us, was our walking away from predictability.

Kudos to Lindsey Buckingham, who was determined to break the mould of what we had done with Rumours and get away from the possibility of what can so often happen when success impedes artistic expression.

How does Fleetwood Mac follow-up "Rumours"? The answer is "Tusk"

Follow-up Albums: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk 
(Originally broadcast May 24, 2012 on BBC Radio 4)

Radio 4 Archives have made this 28 minute Fleetwood Mac feature on Tusk available for download through their archive. Listen on-line or download from BBC Radio 4 (Scroll down the list for the link)

How do you follow a record that sells 21 million copies worldwide and spends over 30 weeks at number

one in the US album chart?

The answer is Tusk - the album Fleetwood Mac recorded in the wake of 1976's Rumours.

Despite joining the band just three years previously, this was the record that saw Lindsey Buckingham impose his will on Fleetwood Mac using the studio as a crucible in which he shovelled intra-band infidelities and his new-found love of punk.

In 1979 it was deemed a failure, nicknamed "Lindsey's folly" from industry insiders. After 35 years, it has been reappraised as their boldest, most forward-looking release, "a peerless piece of pop art", influencing Radiohead and REM.

Produced by Laura Parfitt

A White Pebble Media Production for BBC Radio 4.

High Praise For Fleetwood Mac's song "Tusk" from @TheAVClub

Fleetwood Mac’s strangely savage “Tusk” was the band’s weirdest hit

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing.

For most of Fleetwood Mac’s life, the band has been a hits machine, and it used that reputation to propel a singularly weird song—one vastly different from its usual output—into the Billboard top 10 in 1979. “Tusk,” which is featured prominently and often in the première of FX’s The Americans tonight, is a work of strange savagery, overlaid with jungle sounds and a thudding, endlessly repetitive drum riff that drives everything that happens in the song. The lyrics are simple enough to be a Dr. Seuss exploration of a relationship that’s crumbling, Lindsey Buckingham softly crooning “Why don’t you ask him if he going to stay? / Why don’t you ask him if he’s going away?” over the horrors building up beneath him.

Continue to the full article

Warner Bros. releases Fleetwood Mac masterpiece 'TUSK' on 180-gram audiophile 2xLP vinyl

Fleetwood Mac – Tusk – Warner Brothers (1979)/ Reprise Records (2012) 531909- 180-gram audiophile.

In 1979, Fleetwood Mac recorded Tusk. At a cost exceeding 1 million dollars, and taking up two years in studio time, this double album was a significant departure. Under the artistic direction of Buckingham, the twenty-song project mixes a variety of musical styles in a fragmented technical whirlwind. Surrounding the concise songwriting of McVie and Nicks is the spontaneity of Buckingham. However, the anchor to this music is the inimitable rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. It is hard to think of another bass/drum partnership that is so fluent and cohesive. Side 1 opens with a subtle atmospheric number (“Over And Over”) that showcases McVie’s soulful alto, and the blended backup vocals. The next song is more experimental with Buckingham adding some New Wave guitar jaggedness. The juxtaposition continues with a buoyant love song (with impeccable harmonies) arranged in a joyful, British folk romp (“Save Me A Place”). The side concludes with Nicks’ ruminative “Sara”. Her deep-throated singing is compelling and the ethereal backup singing on the bridge is exquisite.

Full Review by Robbie Gerson at audaud.com

The 2 LP set is available on Amazon - $39.99

The Day: Fleetwood Mac | Lindsey Buckingham | Stevie Nicks - Parties, Albums, Tours, Screenings

MICK'S HAVING A PARTY! 

FLEETWOOD'S HALLOWEEN PARTY

Tomorrow night in Lahaina, Maui at Fleetwood's on Front Street.  

Call 808.669.MICK for tix

Visit Fleetwood's on Front Street on Facebook

DAVE AND STEVIE IN LAS VEGAS

It was announced today that Dave Stewart will be attending (along with Stevie) the Las Vegas Screening of 

"IN YOUR DREAMS - STEVIE NICKS"

Both will take part in a Q&A during the Sunset Sessions event on Thursday, November 9th
from 8:30 - 10:30pm Ticket info

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM BLASTS OFF ON SATURDAY

Beginning this Saturday in Oklahoma City, Lindsey kicks off presumably the last round of dates in support of his last solo album "Seeds We Sow" and this completely solo experiment he's been testing.  He's also putting out a new solo acoustic live album titled "One Man Show" documenting this experience/experiment.  The recording is of the Des Moines, IA show from this past September 1st.  Lindsey says it's "Live and Raw... and without post production!" Given Lindsey's penchant for noodling in the studio, this is completely out of character for him. Knowing that, this likely sounds amazing and I can't wait to hear it!  The digital only album is set to be released November 13th via itunes.

TUSK ON VINYL

Fleetwood Mac's 1979 album "Tusk" will be re-released on vinyl November 19th. 

Specs:

Fleetwood Mac, Tusk. 2-LP, 140 gram black vinyl pressed at The Record Industry in single-pocket jacket with capacity spine and inner & outer sleeves at Ross Ellis.

Available to pre-order on Amazon $42.92

BBC Radio 4 Thursday 11:30am FLEETWOOD MAC Follow-up Albums "TUSK" with Pete Paphides

Re-play this great piece on Fleetwood Mac at the link below
It will be available for 7 days only
iPlayer
Part 2 of a 3 part documentary on Follow-up albums.  

Music Critic Pete Paphides presents the second in this 3 part documentary series on Follow-up albums.  Part 2 features Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" album and includes a fresh NEW interview with Lindsey Buckingham

BBC Radio 4 - Episode 2 of 3

BBC Radio 4 Doc on Follow-up Albums - Fleetwood Mac (May 24th)

Follow-Up Albums - Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

Next On: Thursday, 24, May - 11:30am BBC Radio 4

Music critic Pete Paphides tells the story behind three 'follow-up' albums - from Dexys Midnight Runners, Fleetwood Mac and Suede - with tales of musical pressure, creative differences, personal politics and mixed results.

How many bands have found themselves with a massive and often unexpected hit album, only to struggle with the creation of their next opus? Sometimes the follow-up exceeds the first album, but often nerves kick in and bands are removed from the very stimulus that created their magic in the first place, finding themselves in a world of creative confusion, sycophants and accountants.

Pete Paphides talks to musicians, producers, and critics to explore the stories of follow-up albums with the same expert knowledge he brought to Lost Albums.

Programme 2: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

How do you follow a record that sells 21 million copies worldwide and spends over 30 weeks at number one in the US album chart?

The answer is Tusk - the album Fleetwood Mac recorded in the wake of 1976's Rumours.

Despite joining the band just three years previously, this was the record that saw Lindsey Buckingham impose his will on Fleetwood Mac using the studio as a crucible in which he shovelled intra-band infidelities and his new-found love of punk.

In 1979 it was deemed a failure, nicknamed "Lindsey's folly" from industry insiders. After 35 years, it has been reappraised as their boldest, most forward-looking release, "a peerless piece of pop art", influencing Radiohead and REM.

Produced by Laura Parfitt A White Pebble Media Production for BBC Radio 4.

The joy of difficult second (or third, or twelfth) albums

A new Radio 4 series explains how Dexys Midnight Runners, Fleetwood Mac and Suede fractured under the pressure of fame

Radiotimes

It's called Difficult Second Album Syndrome: the intense pressure to follow up a huge commercial success. Expectations, internal and external, can make superstars crack.

Yet that tricky follow-up album – the one after the one everyone's got in their collection; the one that sold poorly, destroyed the band or was ridiculed by critics – often turns out to be more rewarding. And the stories of how such records were made tend to be packed with extraordinary drama. 

This is the phenomenon Radio 4's three-part documentary Follow Up Albums explores. The series starts with Dexys Midnight Runners and their career suicide Don't Stand Me Down, moving on to Tusk – Fleetwood Mac's loony-tunes follow-up to Rumours – and Dog Man Star, the recording of which shattered Suede's original line-up.

Music nuts are always looking for secret clubs to join: the band who will be huge in six months' time, or the genius singer/songwriter who died without selling any records. Supposedly lesser, disappointing follow-up albums have that snob cachet, but their appeal runs deeper: they're albums by bands who had proven themselves to be rare talents, but then pushed their art to extremes. There, magic happens.

"You have to dig a bit harder with these albums," says Pete Paphides, music journalist and presenter of the Radio 4 series. "It's almost as if these records are a test of whether you're just passing through or are prepared to put in the time and effort. A record you spend more time with will repay you more handsomely in the long run."

Knowing the crazy story behind the records certainly helps. "With the bands you obsess about, when you decide you're emotionally invested you stop wanting their next album to be the best you've ever heard," Paphides argues. "It has to be good – but what you want is a sense of how things have progressed for them, what's been happening in their life. The bands we love push the story along. The period between having your breakthrough album that sells millions and recording the follow-up makes you a more interesting band than you were."

In 1979, Fleetwood Mac were perhaps the biggest band in the world, having shifted more than 10 million copies of Rumours. The next album, their 12th, was Tusk, a wildly oscillating double LP that sounded like the work of separate solo artists, was packaged in what was surely a deliberately awful sleeve, and contained no obvious singles. To this day, non-aficionados only know Sara – it and the title track were modest hits at the time.

While the sound of Rumours was pristine and built for radio, Tusk was all over the show. Rumours had famously, fearlessly catalogued the bitter end of Lindsey Buckingham's relationship with Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie's with John McVie, as well as several awkward dalliances that followed. On Tusk, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks sounded all talked out, happy to submit tender, regretful fragments like Honey Hi and Beautiful Child. But they're punctuated by the songs of Lindsey Buckingham, which are best described as furious polkas, and dominate the record.

"Lindsey was a volatile, domineering personality and the rest just went with it," says Paphides. "People were worried about him. He turned up at the studio on day three and had cut all his hair off, standing in front of the mirror with a pair of scissors."

But while Buckingham stuffed his songs with multi-directional rage, and with the influence of punk and new wave, he had also become a skilled producer who could bring out the best in his bandmates' radically different compositions – even those of his ex, Stevie Nicks.

"There's still a lot of love between Stevie and Lindsey and she's happy for him that Tusk has become feted as a classic," says Paphides. "He never tried to inflict his scratchy, lo-fi, I'm-going-crazy production on her. The Stevie songs have lovely, luxuriant waves of elegant melancholy enveloping you. He knows exactly what she wants to achieve. It's the same with Christine McVie: Over and Over sounds just beautiful. As long as Lindsey could have his own way with his songs he'd do a good job for you."

Paphides spent four months tracking down Buckingham and scoring an interview – even longer than it took to convince the always-wary Kevin Rowland to talk on tape. "Now Lindsey's very LA, very Zen, very 'I've been to therapy'. He's also very aware and proud of Tusk's reputation."

But in '79? "He was angry. If you have a Lindsey Buckingham character, there's a part of you that wants to destroy all you're best known for.

Full article at Radiotimes