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The Divisive Albums Podcast Episode 3: Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk

The third episode of The Divisive Albums Podcast, where I discuss the follow-up to one of the most successful albums in history: Fleetwood Mac’s 1979 double album, Tusk!

The episode (Direct Download Link; right-click/download to save to your hard drive) comes with the following SHOW NOTES!

0:00: Intro and Theme Song
0:25: About me, and announcing I’ll be begging for money in about 20 minutes.
0:50: Introducing our band: Fleetwood Mac!
1:35: Fleetwood Mac’s lineup circa 1975 and their first wave of U.S. success in 1975-1976.
3:06: Then Fleetwood Mac blow everything up personally…
3:45: …while riding to unprecedented success with the album Rumours.
4:18: Some of the albums that sold comparatively to Rumours
4:47: Even more on how big Rumours was in 1977-1978
5:02: But how do you follow up a megahit?
5:32: With enough songs for TWO ALBUMS!!
5:38: You may be getting deja vu right about now.
6:00: Finally introducing the album: 1979’s Tusk!
6:17: Discussing how the album opens with Christine McVie’s “Over and Over”, which breaks with the formula from previous albums.
6:52: An excerpt from “Over and Over” and discussion on it.
7:40: An excerpt from and discussion of “The Ledge”, Lindsey Buckingham’s first contribution.
8:17: On what post-punk is, and more “The Ledge” discussion.
8:59: Another excerpt from “The Ledge”, highlighting some of the experimentation Fleetwood Mac did in the studio.
9:24: An excerpt from and discussion of “Save Me A Place”.
10:08: Discussion of “Sara”, the first Stevie Nicks song on the album.
10:33: On the album’s (Relatively short, for a double album anyway) length.
11:18: An excerpt from “Sara”.
11:45: On Stevie Nicks’s songs on this album, and how “typical” they are.
12:05: An excerpt from and discussion of “Sisters of the Moon”.
12:57: Discussing Christine McVie’s songs, including “Brown Eyes”.
13:15: An excerpt from “Brown Eyes”.
13:37: On whose album Tusk actually is, and the irony of its reputation versus what’s actually on it.
14:26: Introducing “That’s Enough For Me”, where Lindsey Buckingham goes to a country bar.
15:17: More on the ethos behind the album as a whole.
16:01: An excerpt from and brief discussion of “What Makes You Think You’re The One”.
16:38: Discussion of and an excerpt from “That’s All For Everyone”, where the band employ harmony in a new (For them) way.
17:25: Discussion of and an excerpt from “I Know I’m Not Wrong”, with its uncanny valley synth sound.
18:27: The album’s main event! Its title track, “Tusk”.
18:55: How about a drum solo with your title track?
19:33: AN UNPRECEDENTED DIVISIVE ALBUMS PODCAST EVENT! A THIRD excerpt from “Tusk”, this time featuring the USC Marching Band!
20:06: I love this song!
20:18: The song was a hit single!
20:45: The album’s closer, “Never Forget”, and discussion of it.
21:30: How well did Tusk sell? Featuring a digression into Atari 2600 sales figures.
22:29: Finally discussing the actual sales of Tusk.
23:09: Lindsey Buckingham’s defense of his musical baby.
24:43: A brief summary of what happened to Fleetwood Mac post-Tusk (They kept right on making hits, and are still around through some ups and downs!).
25:40: What do I think of Tusk as an album?
26:34: Outro, Social Media, and a brief explanation of Patreon. Twitter, Website, Discord, Patreon

Other Links:
An interview with Lindsey Buckingham from USC in 2015. Long, but fascinating, featuring several performances and covering Buckingham’s entire career. If you’re only interested in the Tusk-centric portion, they begin discussing it at about 41:30.

Embedded Podcast Listen: