John Waite: Essential John Waite 1976-1986 (1992)

(One of my many reviews that went unpublished in Rock & Roll Disc when the magazine ceased publication in 1992 ... )

John Waite
Essential John Waite 1976-1986
Chrysalis F2 21864
Total disc time: 75:23 (AAD)

Merit: ***
Sound: ***½

If this compilation really represented the "essential" John Waite--i.e., his hits with the Babys and Bad English as well as "Missing You"--it would rival Bryan Adams' Waking Up the Neighbours as much in sheer pop quality as it does in length. Alas, none of Waite's Babys or Bad English hits, of which there've only been half-a-dozen or so, are among these twenty tracks, raising truth-in-album-titling issues that "Missing You" and about half the others are, nevertheless, good enough to make you forget.