I'm a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac and own the original Buckingham Nicks LP that got them invited to join the legendary rock band. After Rumours, I wondered where they were going to go and I got my answer in the fall of 1979. "Tusk" was the first single issued and was the strangest anthem I ever heard. The marching band added a surreal but exciting layer to the dense African rhythms played out by Mick Fleetwood and the native sounding exhortations and chants of Lindsey Buckingham.


"Tusk" has been compared to those total change of pace experimental LP's like The Beatles "White Album", but was not as groundbreaking as it was head scratching. The rest of the album had a fuzzy, dreamlike feel to it. The songs "That's All For Everyone", "Over And Over" and "Sara" immediately come to mind. The production style was not as sharp as previous or subsequent releases until 2003's "Say You Will" which kinda felt like Tusk 2 to me.


I was at a record show and found the Fleetwood Mac The Chain box set which had alternate versions of "Tusk" and the first appearance of "Silver Springs" on CD, which is really the reason I bought it. "Silver Springs" was on the B side of "Go Your Own Way" back in 1976 and not made available until The Chain Box set that presented it in a crystal clear production that defies time. That song was perfect FM fodder and has graced my home on more than one occasion played at top volume with its impeccable production and a star making turn by writer/singer Stevie Nicks.


When Lindsey Buckingham took a larger part in the new sound the band gave him special credit on the album. He took the sound of the band back a step with less ornate orchestrations and deftly folded in elements of new wave and punk rock for an album that cost an unheard of sum of at least one million dollars, making it a first in the recording industry. It went double platinum despite the fact that the RKO radio chain played the album in its entirety before it was commercially released, the publicity allowed scores of Fleetwood Mac fans to be ready with their recorders and possibly diminished the sales, according to John McVie.


"Tusk" peaked at #8 and stayed in the top 10 for three weeks and is notable for being one of the first songs mixed down digitally from the original analog tapes. The song came about when Mick asked Lindsey to flesh out the rehearsal riff he was using for sound checks. It was recorded at an empty Dodger Stadium along with the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band. The effort earned The Trojan marching band a record for the highest number of musicians performing on a single which was videotaped for future play.


The beat here is steady and driving, the bass sonorous and hypnotic, and I love it and knew I could have some fun with it...not disco by any measure, but it sure feels like something that would sound tribal and gut shaking in a club with the bass boosted. So here is my take on this classic Fleetwood Mac tune, which was a hit this time of year back in 1979. It got this great pounding tribal beat which would sound pretty awesome bassed up over the club speakers....

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