DVD/DTS Poll Fleetwood Mac - TUSK [DTS DVD]

[the tree 3]

I really struggled with this one. While the fidelity is good and at times great, the material and the demo quality of some of the songs leaves me cold. Most of these songs sound like rough cuts of sappy leftovers from Rumours. The signature band sound rarely appears. Stevie's songs are ok, but Lindsay's and especially Christine's are dull in composition and presentation....IMHO
Surround design works nicely for me. This is not Fleetwood Mac's finest moment and I am not sure that this will get played much...save for Sara of course which is sublime. I was thinking 7 but bumped to 8 for the surround presentation.

 

[Spock]

I don't wanna be a cleaning lady!

One of my highest ranking discs - lossy or not. Epic album, perfect surround mix - on my set up it sounds fantastic, very dynamic with a very big soundstage - a perfect 10!!

Must restrain myself for not playing it to much..

 

[MIDIQ]

Just want to add my 2 cents, I would love to have this, and Mirage, but all i want is the surround mix. I don't even have record player anymore. I just can't pay those prices for a bunch of stuff i can't use. I am writing in hope thar someone in charge of these releases will read this. I am hoping they will release these as a regular deluxe set at a reasonable price.

 

[rtbluray]

Just want to add my 2 cents, I would love to have this, and Mirage, but all i want is the surround mix. I don't even have record player anymore. I just can't pay those prices for a bunch of stuff i can't use. I am writing in hope thar someone in charge of these releases will read this. I am hoping they will release these as a regular deluxe set at a reasonable price.

First off, I would rather them concentrate on releasing the surround mix in a lossless format (like Blu-Ray or DVD-A/V) rather than the current lossy DVD-V format, but besides that, it's obvious based on the current release configurations for the reissues of both "Tusk" and "Mirage" that they would rather concentrate on releasing most of the CDs in the smaller deluxe configuration because that's still what sells.
But I do agree that bundling vinyl with CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs is a terrible strategy. Vinyl should always be separate from optical discs!

 

[EMB]

We can thank Lindsey Buckingham for some of the raw nature of this album--okay, a lot of it, probably--but to the band's credit, they made no attempt to replicate RUMOURS. That bothered a lot of fans--and the execs at Warner Bros.--but it endeared me to the band for good. In a way it remains a 'White Album" kind of work from a band at its commercial peak. But rather than cater to anyone, they went into a weird cycle of music, drugs, sex and generally craziness that resulted in, like that Beatles 1968 mighty mess, some genuine classics.

The title track alone was wild and weird enough, but was a hit anyway; Stevie's "Sara" would become one of her signature songs (for many years the CD edition used a shorter 45 edit); and, all else aside, is there a quieter, more gentle and perfect Christine song and performance than "Never Make Me Cry"? God, she cut to the bone.

But the album was fueled by the manic work of Buckingham, whose nine tracks were generally stark, minimal, and really fun, if not hi-fi.

The sonic range and mixes of this album were intentionally variable, and so is this 5.1 An '8' here, just too much good stuff to knock it down further.

ED

 

[woody]

I do not have a turntable. I do not play records. I just got the Fleetwood Mac Super Deluxe Tusk with the 2 remastered LP's.

I'm looking for a sale or trade. private message me if you are interested.

Just curious whether you got a sale on this- at a fair price. I'm considering the same path of purchase, and apologies up-front if I've overlooked in error an answer to this query recorded within this thread.

Thanx

 

[MIDIQ]

I found a copy new for a fairly decent price, 60.00. Still a bit more than i usually care to pay, my price limit is usually around 50.00 including shipping. But i covinced myself this is worth a little more because it is a double album. Really happy with this purchase. The music has always been 9 for me, and the surround mix is quite good, a 9. Overall i rated it a 9, should be 9.5, almost a 10. Really glad to have this.

 

[marpow]

Any of you price wizards no of a link for this cheaper than the $80.00 at Amazon US ?
Tusk (Deluxe)(5CD/1DVD/2LP)

 

[privateuniverse]

Deep Discount: $62.89
Import CDs: $63.83

Import CDs currently has a 10% off all items sale. (That brings this down to approx $57.)

Deep Discount also has a 10% off sale, but you have to buy at least three items to qualify. Deep Discount also offers free shipping. (With the 10% off, this is approx $56.)

 

[sjcorne]

I think this is actually the best of the Fleetwood Mac surround titles- it's an incredibly clear, super discrete mix that just blows away the stereo version. I think someone stated this upthread, but it's the backing vocals that benefit the most from the surround treatment. The way they slowly build in intensity from the rears in "Sara" or crescendo around you in "Over & Over" is astonishing. It's quite a complex and layered recording that really benefits from the surround treatment.

I also love how they mixed "Beautiful Child" with Stevie front center, Lindsey in rear left, and Christine in rear right. It's a natural extension of the original stereo, which has them placed left-center-right across the stereo spectrum.

The album has a couple of weird tracks, but also some of the best stuff they ever did. It's a cool, eclectic "white album"-type work that holds my attention all the way through. Plus it doesn't have the burn-out/overplayed problem that arguably both preceding albums suffer from.

It's a shame about the loud mastering, but in all fairness this was common at the time this title was mixed. Check a lot of those old Warner/Rhino DVD-As and you'll see it. Rumours and Fleetwood Mac are pushed to the max as well. Some discs have the front L/R so clipped or limited it throws the mix out of balance, luckily this isn't one of them.

I play the '75 album the most, but this is a close second.

 

[key_wiz]

Don’t know if this has been mentioned yet, but I just noticed how inconsistent this mix is with the use of the center channel. Sometimes the lead vocal is there front and center. Sometimes it’s just a reverb-y “phantom center” mix. Sometimes there’s no lead vocal there at all.

And with no real rhyme or reason to the choices. It’s not like he always mixed the Stevie songs one way and the Christine songs another. Or not that I hear how it services any particular track to mix it one way or another.

Pick a style and stick with it!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Don’t know if this has been mentioned yet, but I just noticed how inconsistent this mix is with the use of the center channel. Sometimes the lead vocal is there front and center. Sometimes it’s just a reverb-y “phantom center” mix. Sometimes there’s no lead vocal there at all.

And with no real rhyme or reason to the choices. It’s not like he always mixed the Stevie songs one way and the Christine songs another. Or not that I hear how it services any particular track to mix it one way or another.

Pick a style and stick with it!

Think of it this way, keywhiz...IF Tusk was released in 1979 in SURROUND [at the end of the QUAD era] it would've been released as a CD~4 disc. Again, that curse of the center channel for MUSIC seems to pervade a lot of discs and still confounds a plethora of remix engineers ... to this day.

I play TUSK in 4.2 on my main system [NO center channel] and don't experience the anomalies you describe.

 

[sjcorne]

Don’t know if this has been mentioned yet, but I just noticed how inconsistent this mix is with the use of the center channel. Sometimes the lead vocal is there front and center. Sometimes it’s just a reverb-y “phantom center” mix. Sometimes there’s no lead vocal there at all.

All the FM 5.1 titles are like that. There are a few tracks that have the lead vocal entirely in the center ("World Turning" on the '75 album is one that comes to mind and the previously unheard harmony vocals in "I'm So Afraid" are hard in the center as well), but most just use it as a reinforcement of what's already in the fronts.

I personally don't mind that it was mixed differently on a track-by-track basis. It's more interesting than doing a "set-it-and-forget-it" mix with the instruments in the exact same place in every song.

...IF Tusk was released in 1979 in SURROUND [at the end of the QUAD era] it would've been released as a CD~4 disc.

I wish WEA was still releasing CD-4s as late as '79...think of all those great albums we would've gotten in surround. Unfortunately, they were the first out of the game in '75. The last WEA CD-4 disc was Graham Central Station's Ain't No Bout-A-Doubt It (great mix btw).

 

[key_wiz]

All the FM 5.1 titles are like that. There are a few tracks that have the lead vocal entirely in the center ("World Turning" on the '75 album is one that comes to mind and the previously unheard harmony vocals in "I'm So Afraid" are hard in the center as well), but most just use it as a reinforcement of what's already in the fronts.

I don't mind that it was mixed differently on a track-by-track basis. It's more interesting than doing a "set-it-and-forget-it" mix with the instruments in the exact same place in every song.

Yeah, I’m not complaining at all. Just noting it.

The Buckingham era of FM is always interesting in that I always had a feeling that every album was a work-in-progress and what was released is just whereever-they-happened-to-be with the song at that time.

The single mixes are often quite different. Different takes will show up on different versions of the CDs. They can’t even decide where they want to put “Silver Springs” in the running order of Rumours!

These 5.1s are no different. Sometimes the mixes sound like completely different songs. The ‘75 album may be the most different from the stereo. Different vocals used. Different guitar parts. It’s all over the place. I like it because I’ve heard the stereo versions of the albums SO many times, I don’t really need just a “spread-out” mix.

Tusk has always been my favorite. For all the reasons it’s not a favorite for so many others, I suppose. It’s completely unafraid to take chances and be raw and exposed.

It’s very much their “White Album” for same reasons that album is similarly great and controversial. All other FM albums (like all the other Beatles albums) were produced to make all the songs sound as similar as possible and make the album as cohesive as possible regardless of the songwriter or singer. Tusk (like the “White Album”) approaches the three singer-songwriters individually and, as such, let’s you really get deep into the soul of each.

That both of these iconic albums (two of my all-time favorites) have become available to us in 5.1 recently and long after we thought such things might even be possible?

I’m still speechless.

 

[Beefalo]

I really like this DVD. Every time I listen I enjoy a song that didn't catch my attention before. The mix is creative & engaging.
Just today I noticed "pumping" on a few songs. It didn't really bother me. Yes it's a little loud but I can get it to 10 out of 15 on the master volume. There's Genesis that I can only get to 5 so this one is fine with me..... And I hate loud recordings !
I'm actually glad they didn't put this out as high res. because they probably would have "goosed it" even worse.
The vocal on Sara was either too hot or that's just her voice. The softer songs like "Brown Eyes" sound exceptional. Sisters of the Moon & Tusk will test your system. Outstanding !!!

 

[ar surround]

...Just today I noticed "pumping" on a few songs. It didn't really bother me...

IIRC this was one of the earliest pop albums recorded 100% digitally. Perhaps they were overemphasizing the dynamics a bit to show off. I remember being impressed by the impact of Mick’s drumming when I first heard the LP. Perhaps that is where the “pumping” comes from?

 

[GOS]

I don’t know what pumping means in the context of music.


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[JediJoker]

I don’t know what pumping means in the context of music.

It refers to an audible artifact of certain types of heavy dynamic range compression. When there's a spike in volume, the compressor clamps down, then releases. If there are frequent or rhythmic spikes, it can sound like the music is "pumping" up and down in volume.

 

[GOS]

It refers to an audible artifact of certain types of heavy dynamic range compression. When there's a spike in volume, the compressor clamps down, then releases. If there are frequent or rhythmic spikes, it can sound like the music is "pumping" up and down in volume.

OK, thanks. Noticeable at both lower and higher volumes?

 

[Beefalo]

OK, thanks. Noticeable at both lower and higher volumes?

I had it medium loud. I think it would be more noticeable at high volume.