Fleetwood Mac's Tusk (33 1/3)

Content is next to none, all the info comes from the author, and the author constantly degrades on talks down upon his made-up "Rob" character. Overall this book should never have been produced. I expected great commentary on a great album and single but got something other than what I paid for. Overall: what a terrible book that wasted so much time of my life that I'll never get back. For all these reasons, I give this book a solid 4/5 and it breaks my heart that I don't feel it deserves a 5 star rating as some of my satirical commentary holds true.

While I appreciate the fact a book covering TUSK exists, it's too bad this writer wrote it.The book's exclusive interviews with Lindsey Buckingham are the meat of the affair and are often quite insightful. The author's insistence on inserting himself into the tale is distracting ... his facts are often way off base and his writing style is bloated without adding any significant information to the proceedings. For instance, he sums up Fleetwood Mac's prior seven-year existence before Buckingham and Nicks joined the band in one paragraph, a paragraph rife with incorrect dates and incorrect data presented as "facts." The author also apparently believes if something can be stated in one sentence, why not make it a paragraph? There's a helluva lot of unnecessary throat-clearing going on in this book.The good points in this book are the Buckingham interludes. It's too bad the author didn't also interview anyone else in the band.Having said all that, the Buckingham material is good enough by itself to make the book worthwhile for Fleetwood Mac and TUSK afficionados.

This was a great book and a quick read. Very interesting insights into the making of the album and the landslide it made after the Rumours rocket. The teller's story--not a biography--is interesting, entertaining, and a welcome break from all that is Mac. I'd recommend it. In fact, I gave my second copy to a disk jockey friend who had worked at the Birmingham radio station responsible for Alabama's love affair with Buckingham Nicks (though he came after the fact). He was pretty excited about it, too.  Fleetwood Mac's Tusk (33 1/3)

Well, I never. Man, it's bad enough you felt like readers needed to hear about your personal life, how you lie in your apartment and hear your neighbors having sex, whatever. I started skimming that stuff early on. And it all would've been palatable if you somehow connected it to the matter at hand, i.e. the Tusk album, but these episodes were just space-filling and indulgent. Like you were somehow equating in importance the mundanity of your life to one of the most epic albums of the 70s. That randomosity isn't charming, it isn't cute, it isn't eyebrow-raising. Not unless you bring it full-circle and truly connect it back to the album. Which you didn't do.Then when you do talk about the album, you treat it as Lindsey's solo work and completely ignore all the others' brilliance. Not a single mention of the heretofore unprecedented crispness of Mick Fleetwood's snare. Yeah, we get it, Tusk was made in Rumours' shadow, but where Lindsey just wants to bang a drum and yell, a regression of sorts, Stevie and Christine both show serious growth that is either written off or ignored. I don't care that Stevie Nicks is flaky while on tour with the current incarnation of the band; I care about her five pieces on Tusk. All different, all showing unique sides of herself that deserve treatment on par with those of Lindsey.Was Christine McVie even IN the band when Tusk was recorded? I know that she was, but anyone reading this book who wasn't sure would be hard-pressed to figure it out. Seriously man, the only mention of her brilliant, brilliant piece "Brown Eyes" is as a footnote on some indie flash-in-the-pan's "least favorite song on Tusk" list? Really?Disappointing. Not for fans of the BAND and ALL of their contributions to this amazing album.

What better way to set up the story of Tusk than to take us back in time and to show what was actually going in a wider scope, beyond the bubble that surrounded the band. I love how Rob Trucks used the character, Rob, to reflect the ambiance of the "Fleetwood Mac" experience. I think it added a depth to the story of Tusk that would not have been possible otherwise. Yes, it was risky to set the story up like this but in my opinion, it hit the mark.

Even tho this Bloomsbury 33 1/3 series is great, this one is a stinker. We learn way more than we want to know about author Rob and far less than we want to know about Lindsey Buckingham and the making of 'Tusk'.Usually the New Journalism thing works great – Joan Didion's neurotic tics against America's sleek confidence, Tom Wolfe's foppish distance from tangerine-flake Pop and Hunter S Thompson's… everything.But the contrast between author Rob's self-loathing indolence and Lindsey Buckingham's coke-fuelled LA über-confidence does neither any favours and basically just drags the whole thing down.And dedicating a whole chapter to what the guy from Animal Collective thinks about Fleetwood Mac didn't earn the work any gold stars with me either.Avoid. (And go straight to the one about Devo's 'Freedom of Choice'; THAT'S rock and roll).

Despite the author's suggestion that there is a good chance you won't like this book, a great addition to the wonderful 33 1/3 series. Rather than take a "history of the band, how we made the album and track-by-track analysis" approach, Rob Trucks defines the album as a symbol, casting its appearance and various plays within a wider, more personal context - exactly how many of us hear and remember and return to 'our' music over time. Also interspered with his broader observations and the comments of other artists, are extracts from interviews made with Lindsey Buckingham. And like all good writing on music, it drives you back to listen again - properly, not random tracks or your personal favourites but the whole album as intended from beginning to end. And so to the music: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk. No, not Rumours but the wonderful eclectic double vinyl follow up - beautiful, random, skit-skat shoe box percussion, Stevie Nick's Sara yes but also underrated classics Sisters of the Moon & Storms and much else besides which all equals delirious abandon: the end of the 70's got its own 'White Album'. And even I can dance to the title track. Sort of. Thank you Rob for getting me my return ticket.

I really had high hopes of this book, it was a rare treat to find a book written on the largely ignored Tusk album instead of Rumours, however how disappointed was I in this read, it seems as through the author thought that they had secured interviews with the band and when these supposed interviews never happened the author filled the space within the book with random notes of nothingness, so very disappointing and such a shame, I count myself as a huge fan of the band and would consume anything written or played that involved the band, but I draw the line at reading a book written by an author that has an axe to grind and rather then do some more research they decided to fill the gaps in the book with turgid drivel, no doubt needing to complete so they could get paid, such a shame! All I want to know is where I can get the few hours back that I spent reading this rubbish, however the book did finally become useful as the pages burnt well on the fire!

Like many others, i didn't like the constant flipping between themes (Rob's story) and found the book a bit of a mess to read. There are some interesting interviews but taken as a whole I think a bit of editing would have been of benefit.