508. Magnet and Steel by Walter Egan 1978

When it came time to record my first single back in 1978 Bruce Milne introduced me a friend of his who had been busy playing around with sounds in his living room. Stuart Beatty was probably doing more than that but that was the brief I was given. He could record a single on his 4 track Teac and it would cost us practically nothing.
A meeting was arranged and I went round to Stuart's place in St. Kilda. I couldn't believe the number of cats prowling the place. Big fluffy ones. That's why it was called the Cathouse on the single cover later. He had a great collection of records lining the living room wall and he proceeded to play me sounds. This was the first. I was a bit taken aback by this choice because The Fiction were still a punk band. Magnet and Steel features Stevie Nicks for heaven's sake. And Lindsay Buckingham produced it. Fleetwood Mac were the opposite of what I was hoping for. But Stuart was concentrating on the sound and the harmonies. And it did sound amazing.
And the song stuck with me. I managed to pick up a copy a few weeks later and it spent a fair amount of time on my turntable. I'd never thought much about backing vocals before but this song opened my ears right up. I think I had the melodies but now I needed the harmonies.