Word: songs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...fade, so may Fleetwood Mac. For the most part, Tusk continues the tradition of the predictable Fleetwood Mac song--strong, throbbing percussion, acoustic guitar, and lyrics often unintelligable and always accompanied by lots of "oooh-waahs" or "sha-la-las". True, there is some experimentation with different musical styles--"That's Enough for Me" sounds like an Appalachian hoedown with its folk banjo and "Yeah, yeah, y'alls" while "Not That Funny" is somewhat new wave with its synthesizer solos--but nearly all the cuts seem forced to fit into Fleetwood Mac's formulaic style. Tusk is from the same...
Lyrics have always been less important to Fleetwood Mac than strong melodies and close harmonies. The subject matter of their songs is nearly always the disappointments of love. On Tusk these disappointments are explored in even greater detail than they were in Rumours; virtually every cut deals with lovers leaving or leaving one's lover. Only the final song on the album. "Never Forget," relieves the pervasive gloom; in this otherwise typical song, love finally triumphs: "Come on baby now don't you be cold/just remember that love is gold/could we ever forget tonight...
...SHAME that the title song of Tusk, buried as the second to last song on the album, has been the one getting the most radio play. A strong percussion solo (performed by the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band) punctuated by shrieks of "Don't say that you love me," it gives an entirely wrong impression of the rest of the album. Listening only to this song, one would think that Fleetwood Mac is finally experimenting with less formulaic, more outrageous and chaotic forms of rock. In fact, Tusk is probably the most tightly polished album the group...
...during Milton's scenes and when Col. Picering (Marc Dolan--the one actor not cast in the movie's all-pervasive mold) calls the police to report Eliza's disappearance, the audience expects more. A production of one of the most popular musicals of all time--in which every song is a hit and the audience can practically recite favorite lines along with the actors--should not be picayune and imitative. The Dunster crew shows how worn a top-notch musical can become when it loses its youthful flair...
COLE PORTER, the famed ivory-tickler, chain-smoker and song-writer, was born in Peru, Indiana, in 1891 and--ever the New York jet set's suave darling--died in 1964. His portfolio of hit Broadway musicals includes Gay Divorce, Anything Goes, and DuBarry Was a Lady. He materialized recently at the opening night of the Kirkland House production of Kiss Me, Kate. A reporter quizzed him on his views of the performance...