Day 0447 - Tusk

Fleetwood Mac "Tusk" (1979)

Following on from the gargantuan success of "Rumours", Fleetwood Mac were able to spend a whopping $1 million making this one. Not surprisingly, given the sales of Rumours and the fact that this was a double album, "Tusk" did not fare as well as its predecessor.

It's a pity, because Tusk is far more diverse than Rumours.  Mixing the smooth accessible pop of that album with some even more mellow, laidback tracks, raucous almost honky-tonk rock music, and of course the urgent angular percussive drive of the title track.

The book describes them as drawing on the two Brians (Eno and Wilson) and that doesn't feel too far from the truth, given the harmonic and production boundaries the band play with and push against here.

Day 0383 - Rumours

Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" (1977)

A powerhouse release! FM had been a London-based blues band started in the 1960s, but after recruiting musical (and romantic) partners Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, they re-crafted their sound to produce a much more Americanised adult contemporary rock sound with a rich summery West Coast pop flavour. The new line-up released an eponymous album which did fairly well, then came Rumours.

Possibly proving the idea that internal tension and tumult can often lead to good music, during the making of the album Nicks and Buckingham were breaking up and the other 3 band members were in the middle of divorces... yet out of this angsty musical hotbed came 'Rumours' an album that topped the charts for 31 weeks and included 3 US top 20 singles "don't stop" "go your own way" and "dreams" and on top of all of that... it's good. Great mix of male and female vocals and upbeat and laidback tracks with stellar musicianship.
 

Day 0073 - Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton

John Mayall and the Blues Breakers "Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton" (1966)

As I've said before, I can be 50/50 on blues as a genre, I mean I like some tracks but there often just isn't enough variety for my tastes... this album is good though, it mostly stays squarely in the blues camp but still manages to feature some crazed jazz drumming, some hints of 60s rock and of course the whole thing is lifted by Clapton's sublime playing.