Joe Egan - "Out of Nowhere"

When I started playing records again, "Out of Nowhere" is an album I had long hoped to find, and I got close a few years ago, but the shop that had it was asking a lot more than I was willing to spend to satisfy my curiosity. I'd been waiting since a long time, so what was the harm in waiting a little longer?

Not to spoil the surprise, but guess who found a copy in a dollar bin?

Me.

It was back in 1979, and I was sitting in my bedroom listening to CBC radio's Ninety Minutes with a Bullet. It was more than a countdown show, it was a little window that looked out into the rock and roll world. "Baker Street" was still a big deal, and there was a giveaway contest to get Gerry's new record, and all you had to do was send in a postcard with the answer to the following question: "Who was Gerry Rafferty's musical partner in Stealers Wheel?" Apparently, since Gerry was hitting it big, it only made sense that this other person was going to release a record too.

This seemed cool, Gerry was great - I hoped this other guy would do well ...

The other guy was Joe Egan.

I know that now.

He didn't.

Life sucks when you're a trivia answer to win someone else's album.

For decades I never really thought of Joe as anything other than the answer to a trivia question. To me, Gerry was Stealers Wheel, and even though I had the self-titled album with "Stuck in the Middle With You" and the band's second album Ferguslie Park that contained "Star," a song that I always thought should have been huge, I just assumed it was all Gerry and the other guys were just supporting. Turns out I needed to spend a little more time reading the credits I always go on about. Joe sang "Star" and it was his harmonies that made "Stuck in the Middle With You" so memorable.

I know that now.

The first time through "Out of Nowhere" was a really odd experience. Good Lord, there were times I thought I was listening to Gerry ... and the music felt a lot like Stealers Wheel. It may have been 1979, but it felt like the early '70s. It was very strange and also really familiar.

I suppose there may have been some pressure to lean in a bit to their vocal similarities, but they are different. Think Henley and Frey ... Don is gruff, Glenn is sweet, same here, Gerry is sweet and melodic, and Joe feels more earthy. I know, earthy ... but that's how it feels.

"Out of Nowhere" opens with the most accessible song on the record, "Back On The Road." It's probably the one song where the comparison to Gerry is hard to escape. It was good, but it wasn't "Baker Street" good, and I suspect the suits in charge were a little disappointed. It makes listening to this decades after the fact more than a little bittersweet. History has already assigned Joe his place and his short solo career is hardly more than a footnote if he's remembered at all.

The truth of the matter is a little more nuanced. I can only imagine how this would have been retrofitted into my musical DNA if I had heard this back in the day. I was a big Gerry fan and bought his records as they came out, so I can imagine what it would have been like to hear Joe's album in 1979, around the time Night Owl was released, and how it would have landed with sixteen-year-old me. Even back then, Gerry was a musical conundrum. He wasn't always rock and roll, but if I leaned into his commercial side, songs like "Baker Street" and "Days Gone Down" checked a lot of boxes for me. This gave me time to sit with his more Celtic influenced songs that slowly but surely grew on me. I like to think that Joe's songs would have fitted alongside ... but I suspect they'd have been heard and filed. Which makes sense to me as this is more or less the fate the first two albums by Stealers Wheel suffered, and those were good records. They just didn't resonate the same way at the time.

I mentioned earlier that the album leads off with "Back On The Road," and it really is the strongest track from a potential single perspective. If there was a single to be pulled from the record, this was it, but it was not the best song on the album. Which may not make sense, but it's true. It was no "Baker Street," so this wouldn't elevate the entire record, and if the suits wanted the money shot, this was as close as the record got. Which was a shame, as this is a really solid record, it's just not especially commercial.

The album was produced by David Courtney, who had produced Roger Daltrey's first solo record, and he really gives Joe the space to let the songs unfold. The supporting band here was as good as it got. Anchored by the rhythm section of Henry Spinetti on drums and Dave Markee on bass, they hold everything in place.

All of the songs here have aged incredibly well. One of my favourites is "Natural High," a brooding mid-tempo rocker, that is as dreamy as it is raw. The guitar solo I assume was performed by Phil Palmer, and it is just perfect.

The whole album is an exercise in restraint. The songs aren't laid back, but there's a restrained energy that seems to be held in check throughout. It's not like Joe was held back from revving his musical engine, it's more like there's a confidence to the songs that feels substantial.

It's a shame the album didn't do well. This has been a delight for me. Joe Egan would release a follow-up a couple of years later, and that would be the end of his solo career.

It's unfortunate that for an album titled "Out of Nowhere," that's where it ended up.