#148
June 15 1984
John Waite
No Brakes
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
Saturday Night
Missing You
Euroshima
I know…this is the record with that single “Missing You”, a track that should have been on the St. Elmo’s Fire soundtrack. It was ubiquitous in 1984. But the album opens with a lot more promise than that with the Gary Myrick co-penned “Saturday Night” which is a scorcher of a track. And the arena rock, AOR rock doesn’t stop there. Listening to “Missing” I’m 100% sure that Waite would’ve fit right in on a bill with David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman. (I say this with love. His songs could’ve been written then but also don’t sound totally out of time.)
Point of info: We just had an album by the guy who wrote Ace Frehley’s hit, “New York Groove”, Russ Ballard. Ace’s replacement was the co-writer on the second single here, “Tears”, as MOR a rock single one can write without a recognizably hooky chorus.
The record gets a lot more prog-rock with the Side Two opener “Euroshima” and the straightforward rocker “For Your Love”.
The big hit off this record belies the truth that Waite wanted to be a rocker along the John Parr vein.
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