JOHN WAITE – No Brakes + Mask Of Smiles [2-in-1 BGO Digitally Remastered]

Requested some time ago it’s finally here at 0dayrox: the BGO Records remastered reissue of JOHN WAITE‘s two US Top 40 albums from the mid-80s – his second ‘No Brakes‘ (1984) and ‘Mask Of Smiles’ (1985), housed in a slip-cased package and including new liner notes inside the booklet.
With its ultra-stylised, pure 1984 portrait gracing its front cover and platinum hit single and MTV-friendly video in the shape of ‘Missing You’, Waite’s second solo album ”No Brakes” epitomized the mid-80s American radio rock like few.
Making the follow-up to previous hit album ‘No Brakes’ was always going to be a thankless task, but Waite pulled it off with the pristine-sounding album 1985’s “Mask Of Smiles”. The industry provided a full-blown production team, and “Mask Of Smiles” is one of these ‘huge sound’ Eighties albums we all love.

By 1984 Waite was, for the first time in his career, in exactly the right place at the right time. It wasn’t just happy coincidence, though.
Stellar hit single aside – ‘Missing You’ deservedly became not just a number one hit, but one of those songs that everybody knows, capturing a time yet transcending it to become a timeless melody – all the songs on ‘No Brakes’, including the tough-sounding ‘Tears’ (co-written by former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent), the gentle twang of ‘Restless Heart’, or his excellent take on Jean Beauviour’s ‘Dark Side Of The Sun’, constituted a robust track-list that helped define Rock music in the mid-80s.
“No Brakes” is a mandatory album in your collection, pure 80s stuff with that ‘essence’ impossible to recreate again.
This BGO release is the only remastered version available of this superb album, and of course, A Must Have.

For “Mask Of Smiles” incredible production quality wasn’t alone: the songs on this album are even stronger than the previous effort.
First single ‘Every Step Of The Way’ is just a perfect AOR song, call it radio rock&pop gem if you wish, then there’s the chiming ‘Laydown’, which opened with an exultant Waite shouting, ‘bollocks!’ as the song roared into life, while the awesome ‘Welcome To Paradise’ captured the loneliness of living in a bustling New York City.

“Mask Of Smiles” is a great piece of 80s mainstream rock&pop craft, and that’s really what the whole album is — top professionally crafted mainstream rock that’s engaging because of its sense of craft.
Production is top notch and showcases the sound of an era: clean huge harmony vocals, a lot of processed guitars, synchronized rhythms, and synthesizer galore. There’s a real energy to Waite’s performances; plus, it’s very well written and well-sequenced, so it plays like a hit album that never was, at least not as its predecessor.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ’80s gems

No Brakes:
01 – Saturday Night
02 – Missing You
03 – Dark Side of the Sun
04 – Restless Heart
05 – Tears
06 – Euroshima
07 – Dreamtime/Shake It Up
08 – For Your Love
09 – Love Collision

John Waite – lead and backing vocals
Larry Myrick – guitars
Curly Smith – drums
Donnie Nossov – bass
Bruce Brody – keyboards
Steve Scales – percussion

Mask Of Smiles:
10 – Every Step of the Way
11 – Laydown
12 – Welcome to Paradise
13 – Lust for Life
14 – Ain’t That Peculiar
15 – Just Like Lovers
16 – The Choice
17 – Your’re The One
18 – No Brakes

John Waite – lead and backing vocals
John McCurry – guitars
Tommy Mandel – keyboards, synths
Frank LaRocka – drums
Joey Vasta – bass
additional players:
Carmine Rojas, Donnie Nossov – bass
Johnny Thunders, Bingo – guitars
Alan Childs – drums
Chuck Kentis – piano
The Borneo Horns

BUY IT
www.amazon.co.uk/Brakes-Mask-Smiles-John-Waite/dp/B000ZIYLCK