Like John said a few reviews ago, find this album on vinyl and burn your own cd. That's what I've attempted to do, but my burner is broken. Anyway there are at least two major problems with the CD. Most people know that Sara is edited, and that you can actually hear the edit when it takes place (ouch!). But then there is also a practically new version of I Know I'm Not Wrong, and its horrible. I'm sure there are other differences, but I only played the CD twice, and then immediatly sold it. However, on vinyl, Tusk is a masterpiece. Lindsey Buckingham proves to be an excellent producer/songwriter. Of the 20 songs, 5 are stellar Buckingham songs: Save Me A Place, What Makes You Think You're The One, That's All For Everyone, I Know I'm Not Wrong, and Walk A Thin Line. Despite a few extremely slow parts (Brown Eyes, Beautiful Child), the other 15 songs are great. Anyway, YOU WANT THIS. Look for the vinyl. Tusk is BY FAR the greatest FM album, and my #3 favorite album of all time.

"Tusk" stands as the peak, shining moment in Fleetwood Mac's entire career, a truly special album that transcended commercial expectation and still demands close attention. With all three songwriters in full bloom, Lindsey Buckingham was able to fashion stunning arrangements for their creations which made them work as both catchy pop tunes and avant-garde experiments. Stevie Nicks would never sound better, as she expanded her witch-poet persona into full blown explorations of the heart and mind; "Sara", with its airy harmonies and lacey, intricate overdubs, manages to evoke the flavor of its lyric with disarming grace. An instant classic, it appears in edited form here, which is of course the one frustrating gripe with the CD. "Storms" and "Beautiful Child" quietly build their moods with a mystical subtlety and craftsmanlike precision, while "Sisters Of The Moon" is kind of a Rhiannon Part Two. Buckingham responds with songs that take on a nervous, almost manic tone ("The Ledge", "Not That Funny", "What Makes You Think You're The One"), and then he cuts back with intimate torch moments that will tear you to pieces ("Save Me A Place"--which has the finest harmonies on any Fleetwood Mac record--and "Walk A Thin Line"). McVie ocassionally treads water, offering up middle-of-the-road pop like "Think About Me" and "Never Forget", although she too contributes the exquisite ballad "Never Make Me Cry", the glorious harmony exercise "Honey Hi" and the atmospheric "Brown Eyes".

Mention must also be made to the unique percussion sounds achieved for the album: Mick Fleetwood attains new heights of drum god status on "Brown Eyes", "What Makes You Think You're The One" and the title track; there is a tribal feel to his playing that is tempered by modern recording ideas. The famous "bathroom tile" echo shimmers on "That's All For Everyone" and "Walk A Thin Line", which saw Buckingham on his knees in front of a toilet, Brian Wilson-style, to achieve his aims. It is a credit to his production techniques that the arrangements are incredibly elaborate and yet at no point do they overwhelm the songs--indeed, their strength often lies in what is hidden. Many of the songs are not as immediately appealing as those on "Fleetwood Mac" or "Rumours", but they end up far more satisfying in the long run (indeed, after hearing "Go Your Own Way" a zillion times on classic rock radio, a gem like "Save Me A Place" can sound especially fresh). The group's creativity was so intense at this period, actually, that several A-quality Nicks songs, including "Watchdevil", "Lady From The Mountain" and "Beauty And The Beast" were left as outtakes and survive only on bootlegs. In sum, "Tusk" found Fleetwood Mac in a unique position, still reeling from the runaway commercial success of "Rumours" but intent on creating sound paintings that expressed the aftermath of the relationship turmoil that created that moment. What is needed now is a deluxe double CD-issue of Tusk, remastered with bonus tracks of outtakes from the sessions, since it is clear that many of these songs underwent interesting drafts before they made the final product.

Not to offend anyone, but I have to say that it is easy to identify those who reviewed Tusk after just hearing it and those who reviewed it after really listening to it (more than once or twice, that is). I have to admit that after only one "hearing" of this album, I was surprised at how different it sounded from all other post-blues-era Fleetwood Mac. Being a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, I was initially disapointed...however, once I had listened to it a few more times, my opinion of it changed dramatically. Having been brought up listening to Rumours and Tango in the Night on long road trips with my parents, I fell in love with the catchy, timeless, listener friendly hits found on those albums. What I initially heard on Tusk was not what I had grown accustomed to (with the exception of "Sara"). The more I listened however, the more I realized that it was not meant to be like anything else they recorded. Like some of the other reviewers have said, that is the beauty of it. Tusk, is truly a masterpiece, painstakingly crafted to reach the deepest of emotional regions. I will forever regard this as the best Fleetwood Mac album ever recorded. I brought this album along with me when I studied and travelled abroad in Europe last Spring and that is when I fell in love with it. Now when I listen to it, I am reminded of the long train rides through European countrysides, the self-discoveries I made during that time, and the early times I spent with my girlfriend. This album is not intended to make you dance or make you want to go out and party....it is to be listened to and reflected upon. Not all music has the capability to hypnotize and mesmerize...this album does. It's depth can only be compared to the emotional density found in classical music. I normally don't care too much about what other peoples opinions of music are (hence this being my first review) but I felt I had to say something about this very special and very much underappreciated album. I am so happy to see that there are many others out there who have felt the power of this album and have come to appreciate this album for what it truly is, and that is a unique musical masterpiece. For those who failed to notice, and who claimed it was boring, unexperimental?, unlistenable, or trite, all I can say is that you have to give it another chance. This was Lindsey Buckinghams creative offspring, and he wasn't going for the commercial sound that Fleetwood Mac had mastered with Rumours, he seemed to be driven by a creative force within him that needed to be explored...not for the sake of selling records but for the sake of it being fresh and ingenius. According to the interview I saw on Fleetwood Mac on VH1, not even all of the other band members were sure of what the album was going to sound like when they were recording it. They simply confided in him and his vision and went to painstaking measures to mold and fashion their talents to his ideas. Sometimes, begrudgingly at that. When it was completed, they even chose to move forward with out reflecting much on what they accomplished, feeling that it was so burdensome on the band. However, now that they have all moved on, they hear it almost as objective listeners and critics, and have claimed it to be a remarkable fusion of sound, lyricism, and creativity. I think, that in due time, anyone who listens to this album will feel that it is more than just a rock album, but that it is music for the heart, mind, and soul, which is what the human advent of artwork is intended to reach. If it could be put on canvas it might be worth millions, and if it was a book it would be an American classic, and required reading for all adults (but probably banned in China). However, all of this is only my opinion and I'm sure the songs mean different things to everyone who listens to them, but I do have to say that it is worth investing not only your money in, but sufficient time as well, because when the music does hit you, you will have opened yourself up to a rare beauty that does not come along too often.

Fleetwood Mac's TUSK took a beating from the same public and critics that had so adored their earlier RUMORS, which remains one of the most popular releases in recording history. But time has been particularly kind to TUSK, and where RUMORS remains Fleetwood Mac's penultimate pop statement, TUSK now plays as the band's penultimate "art rock" statement. The entire tone of the album is quite unlike anything Fleetwood Mac--either in earlier or later incarnations--ever created, and as in the earlier RUMORS the music here reflects the various emotional states of the band's members, states that range from nerve-wracked edginess to a resigned and tranquil sadness.

The edginess here comes largely from Lindsey Buckingham, who launches a series of jittery and frequently vitriolic recordings with the jumpy "The Ledge"--recordings that read very obviously as manifestations of his on-going frustration with former lover Stevie Nicks; Nicks in turn responds with a series of songs that possess a tone of exhausted romantic splendor, most notably in "Storms" and "Beautiful Child." And the blue-voiced Christine McVie, in the midst of her own private traumas, balances out both with a series of tranquil sounding recordings that nonetheless possess an often meloncholic tone, as in the opening cut "Over and Over."

As usual, the thing that holds these diverse recordings together is the way Buckingham, Nicks, and McVie's voices blend and the whole band's talent for generating a cohesive musical sound. Although "The Ledge" would seem to be a Buckingham diatribe against Nicks, she offers one helluva back-up vocal on the piece; it is impossible to imagine Nick's "Sara" (which Nicks subsequently described as about her brief affair with Mick Fleetwood) without the gloriously dripping and soaring back-up vocals of both Buckingham and Nicks; and Buckingham and Nicks's background blends give McVie the perfect setting for such soft-rock cuts as "Over and Over," "Brown Eyes," and "Never Forget Tonight."

Throughout the entire recording the band as a whole is first rate, sharp-toned when required and dreamy when appropriate. And to my mind, this is really the last cohesive Fleetwood Mac recording, the last time the entire band would work as a team to create music: later recordings such as MIRAGE and TANGO IN THE NIGHT would certainly have their points, but they were largely made with each vocalist recording independently from the other members of the band. TUSK is glitchy, edgy, meloncholic, dreamy, explosive, and quietly haunting, and while its unusual nature prevents it from being a popular favorite it is nonetheless Fleetwood Mac at its best. Recommended.

I once heard Stevie Nicks claim in an interview that "Tusk" was ahead of its time. How true. While not as emotional or fiery as "Rumours," this remains my favorite FM album because it is so non commercial. As much as I love FM, I've grown tired of "Don't Stop" and "Dreams." Nothing on "Tusk" sounds so contrived. Lindsey Buckingham does go a little wild, but his "Walk a Thin Line" is a great ballad. Christine McVie is superb on "Over and Over," "Never Make Me Cry," and "Never Forget." That leaves Stevie Nicks. I've always claimed that she hit her creative peak between 1979 - 1981, and her songs on "Tusk" are among her best. "Storms" shows her vunerability while "Angel" is upbeat and should have been released as a single. But the best is "Sara," on which Stevie spends over six minutes anguishing about a love she can never have atop soaring vocals. It is, simply, as classic.