Review: “No Brakes” by John Waite (Vinyl, 1984)

Today’s Pop Rescue from an uncertain fate is 1984’s No Brakes – the second album by British singer and musician John Waite. Will you find yourself Missing this album, or will it bore you to Tears? Read on…

John Waite - No Brakes (1984) album cover. — John Waite – No Brakes (1984) album.

Side One of this 9 track LP opens with Saturday Night, and this brings the album off to a thunderous start, with the guitars and drums going flat out. John’s vocals here are raw and quick-fire rock, flanked by growing guitars and roaring solos. It’s a pretty catchy foot-tapping rock song.

Next up by complete contrast is Missing You. This emotive yet defiantly anti-love song track gave him his first UK charting single, and his (so-far) highest position when it reached #9. The energy of the previous song is completely absent, giving us a really warm and gentle song in which John’s vocals are heartfelt and sound perfect against the track. That is a wonderful example of 1980’s pop ballads.

Guitars jump straight back in for the intro of next song Dark Side Of The Sun, but as it steps into the first verse, they back off to give John plenty of time and space to deliver his lyrics. Returning for the chorus, this harder guitar and rock drums fit well. This track was released as a promo in the USA and not in the UK, and therefore wasn’t able to chart. It’s moderately catchy, and again has a good foot-tapping quality to it.

Then it’s Restless Heart, which has an intro that makes me think instantly of 1997’s Brimful Of Asha by Cornershop. What follows is closer to Missing You than the harder songs here, aided in this by the nicely strummed acoustic guitars and softer vocals. Once again, it’s a really nice song that will ache those trying to keep their feet still. John’s vocals work well here with this different set of instruments, and he gets to show off some of his emotive vocals as well as his range whether he’s pitched against the slightly country-sounding guitar melody, or the piano.

This side closes with Tears – a cover of a 1982 track by former Kiss drummer Peter Criss, and it’s off to that harder rock sound that it’s provenance would perhaps hit towards. However, John’s vocals here sound great – with moments of snarling raw rock vocals mixed in with heartbroken emotive ’80’s pop-rock vocal. This was the album’s second and seemingly final single, but despite being released in the UK, it failed to repeat the success of the preceding single and failed to chart.

Side Two opens with Euroshima which has a real pulsating energy running through it thanks to the galloping beat, the bass and a synth thrown in the middle. John’s vocals here have urgency, but also a dream-like affect on them, which works really well. This track has a fine line of rock and pop as it flitters between the guitars and dream sequences.

Following that is Dreamtime/Shake It Up, which brings us a somewhat mysterious sounding introduction with plucked guitars and vocals of the ‘deep-sea diving’ and ‘creatures’. Then a chugging rock sound drops in for the chorus. This alternates throughout with hard and soft vocals and guitars. Meanwhile, the lyrics are a bit meandering, which over all matches the song.

Next is For Your Love, and this gives us a pretty catchy rock romp. Chugging guitars are led by a simple beat as John shows off some more of his harder rock vocals over the top. The track gallops along nicely, really shining well in the chorus.

The album closes with a Love Collision, which gives us a slightly softer intro, but some harder rock energy in the chorus. The track does lack catchiness though, even though John gets to show off some great range and emotion in his vocals. It’s just a dull track.

John Waite’s lead single ‘Missing You’ (1984).

Verdict

Over all, this album is probably not what you’d expect it to be if you’re buying it off the back of the big Missing You hit.

This album’s harder rock sound came as a surprise for us from the get-go, but then the tracks actually work pretty well. The highlight here is undoubtedly the track that we came here for – the hit Missing You, but it’s not alone – with Saturday Night packing a punchy energetic start for the album, Restless Night giving some nice warmth, and Euroshima giving us a nice pop-synth-rock sound.

The lowest points here are Love Collision and Dreamtime/Shake It Up, mostly because they offer less interest than the other songs and they lack the energy or catchiness that the other tracks have.

I’m not sure you’d be Missing this album if you didn’t hear it, but give it a try as it has plenty of nice moments.