The 1981 Listening Post - Joe Egan - Map (AKA Stay As You Are)

 Reviewed by Paul J Zickler

Released: 1981 Joe Egan Map (AKA Stay As You Are) Genre: Pop Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Highlights: Tell Me All About It Miss Match A Little Bit Of Magic Front Line You know what? Sometimes the music industry really sucks. Joe Egan and his school chum Gerry Rafferty co-founded a band called Stealers Wheel in 1972. They made one album, which included a catchy song that reminded everybody of Bob Dylan. Gerry left to go solo, but the following summer, Stuck in the Middle With You absolutely blew up, selling over a million copies. The label convinced Rafferty to come back, but literally everybody else in the band besides Joe couldn’t stand the guy and quit. Egan and Rafferty continued as Stealers Wheel until ‘75, but they couldn’t get along either and broke up, at which point A&M told them “you’re under contract to make more Stealers Wheel albums, so you can’t do anything solo for three years.” In ‘78, Rafferty released City to City, a platinum album with two top 10 singles, while Egan couldn’t get a record out until ‘79. It did OK, but the follow up was a flop, and Joe Egan left the music business forever. Map turned out to be Egan’s swan song. Thing is, it’s not a bad album at all. Granted, there’s no Baker Street here. There’s not even Right Down the Line. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to like. Egan mines the same easygoing, lite jazz inflected vein Rafferty does, featuring some kind of horn(s) on 6 of the 10 tracks. The great Nicky Hopkins (Stones’ touring keyboardist and backstage buddy for decades) tickles the ivories here and there. Egan’s voice is strikingly similar to Rafferty’s, although where Gerry sounds relaxed and effortless, Joe seems to be working pretty hard to get these songs across. Alas, despite collaborating with songwriters David Courtney and Ian Hunter, Joe just didn’t seem to have any great songs left in him. There are a few good ones: In Tell Me All About It, the hapless narrator finds a lot to dislike about his lover, but decides “I’m gonna take it from you” because she’s worth it. Miss Match utilizes Supertrampish keyboards and a brass section to reassure the titular lady that the breakup wasn’t her fault. A Little Bit of Magic retells the Egan family musical history with some sweet Steve Behrens harmonica. The piano ballad Front Line closes the album with what sounds like an explanation/apology for Egan’s imminent career change: “I don’t wanna be the hero / I don’t wanna save the show… I don’t want to feel the spaces / the empty spaces in their souls.” Although it’s an aching, emotional lyric, Egan sounds more relaxed and, maybe, resigned here than anywhere else on the record. “It’s the same old game / and you got played,” he sings at the end. Let us not mourn for Joe Egan. Perhaps he made the decision that was right for him. After all, the music biz kinda sucks sometimes.