Old Enough to Forget

Walter Egan is probably best known for his 1978 hit "Magnet And Steel" that featured backing vocals by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. It was one of those hits that seemed to be on the radio all the time back in the summer of '78. One of the weird things about gold-selling singles is how muddy the waters are when you try and double check stuff. In this case I suspect Columbia moved a shitload of plastic 45s and declared it to be gold. I guess the suits figured they could save a buck and not pay to have RIAA certify the record. After all, it was a pretty big hit in the US and was also a decent hit here in Canada. Not sure what this has to do with anything, other than I found it interesting that nothing showed in the RIAA database. The music business is show business and apparently there's no business like show business. The art of sleight of hand ... Well, as often happens I've veered off into the weeds and am now trying to decide on calling for a Mulligan or ...

I have a soft spot for this album. Back in '84 I got this solely based on "Love Will Show Us How" - a mini master class in pop perfection. When I lost my records, I replaced this with a CD, and then recently, for whatever reason, a near-perfect record showed up in the dollar bin - so I had to drop the buck. I know this is probably not the popular opinion, but of the solo efforts from the Fleetwood Mac camp, this is the album I like best. Oh sure, Lindsey Buckingham released Go Insane in '84 as well, and I really liked the title track, and I appreciated how weird he got, but it wasn't something I pulled out very often - and of course I no longer have it. (You never know, that could change one day.) Then there was the witchy woman herself, Stevie Nicks, who I will admit had some great songs, but mostly I found her voice irritating. So here we have Christine, who must have figured it was time to do a solo effort as well - and no doubt this cost a boatload of money t...

I always had a soft spot for "Sentimental Lady" and "Ebony Eyes." The guy had a cocky, weird swagger and incorporated disco and strings while still adding a rock element through his guitar. I didn't really know a lot about him at the time. I knew he was in Fleetwood Mac, but I didn't know anything by them other than Rumours , so it wasn't really anything that carried much recognition. Oddly enough, it would be Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie who would produce his biggest hit, "Sentimental Lady," and they would, along with Mick Fleetwood, play on the track as well. So at the time, at least, it appeared he left his old band on decent terms. French Kiss dropped in November 1977 and did pretty well. Considering that a month later Saturday Night Fever came out and disco enjoyed its brief ascent to world dominance through Donna Summer, The Village People, and Barry Gibb's tight-pants nut-crushed falsetto, it was a terrible time if you ha...