Jon Cain, John Waite, Ricky Phillips, Deen Castronovo and Neal Schon = Bad English. My favorite review of their album said "Grammar is the least of this bands problems". Burn!My wonderful wife went out to Wal Mart today and picked up the new Journey disc Revelations, I'm looking forward to listening to it very soon. But before that, I wanted to continue Journey Week with a CD that I played to death at the end of the 80's-Bad English.
Bad English started with the end of Journey, in 1987 Steve Perry called it quits effectively ending the band (which at that point was only a trio with Jon Cain and Neal Schon). Jonathan Cain began working with his former bandmate from the Baby's, singer John Waite. John Waite is another one of my favorite vocalists, his thin reedy voice and slightly off time singing has a lot of personality. Waite had taken a break from music in the mid 80's and failed to make a comeback in '87 with his Rovers Return album (a very good album by the way). The duo decided to form a band, so ex Baby's bassist Ricky Phillips was brought into the fold. Waite asked about finding a guitar player, and Jon Cain happened to know one who was just as out of work as he was- Neal Schon. Schon brought in drummer Deen Castronovo. Naming themselves after a bad pool shot, Bad English had formed.
1. Best Of What I Got - The tone is set early as this pumping, Bon Jovi-ish track packs in shiny synths, Schon's blazing guitarwork and John Waite squeezing in the thesauraus of sexual metaphors. One of my favorite songs on the album, it was also featured in the closing credits of the Sly Stallone/Kurt Russell flick Tango & Cash. Yo Adrian!
2. Heaven Is A 4 Letter Word - The sex fixation continues, I took these first two songs to be a sort of kick in the teeth on Journey's more sensitive lyrics. A slower, meaner groove takes shape as Bad English gets nasty about...doing the nasty. The fourth single from the album failed to do much on the charts.
3. Possession - The first ballad on the album is a keeper, Schon's acoustic and electric guitarwork is both subtle and powerful which is made all the more impressive by the fact he didn't write this song. A nice, haunted ballad with true yearning by the masterful John Waite.
4. Forget Me Not - Released as the lead single, "Forget Me Not" was a heaven sent blast of AOR energy. The band brings down the house with this tense anthem that has Waite's caustic attitude, Cain's indelible melody and Schon's barnstorming closing solo. This track immediately advertised this group would be a tougher lot than either Journey or The Babys. The video is linked below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfUMswVj5hg
5. When I See You Smile - Diane Warren's pop chart dominance was still in its infancy when Bad English tackled one of the penultimate power ballads of the 80's. The Warren trademarks are there, simple yet effective keyboard opening, wordy lyrics and a glowing chorus. Waite's talk-singing gives a more intimate feel and of course handing a guitar solo to the guy who wrote the book on power ballad solos is just asking for greatness. Oddly, my strongest memory of this song is working at a theme park in 100+ degree weather without air conditioning. I was mildly delirious from the heat and absently warbled this song at customers while they shopped. A #1 smash hit and 2nd single from the disc.
6. Tough Times Don't Last - The most Journeyesque track on the album, a sleek and shiny slice of melodic rock. Midtempo, upbeat and anthemic like classic AOR, it's a great song and find end to what would have been the close of the first album side.
7. Ghost In Your Heart - One of many favorites from this album, a dramatic ballad with a downbeat mood and cavernous percussion. Deen Castronovo turns in a fine performance on Bad English, particularly on this track. A well written song.
8. Price Of Love - Another power ballad and the 3rd single, "Love" followed "When I See You Smile" into the Top 10 on the Pop charts. A more classic Journey styled power ballad written by Cain and Waite. After hearing this it's hard to believe that when Cain tried to play "Open Arms" for Waite in The Babys, Waite dismissed it as "syrupy". If that was Waite's true opinion, by the end of the decade the Englishman had become Mrs. Butterworth. That's just as well, 'cause when it comes to slow songs John Waite is wicked awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kqgobBVnio
9. Ready When You Are - Once Schon was brought into the band it was clear he had a different vision than Cain and Waite. Schon was inspired by Bad Company and encouraged a more ruff n' ready approach. Much of the second side of the album is like this, Castronovo pounds his drums into submission while Schon cuts loose with an edgy guitar riff. When this song comes on, it's a little jarring compared to the slickness of the first eight songs.
10. Lay Down - Yet another killer track, "Lay Down" follows the Bad Company template of big guitar, big beat and drawled out singing. And in case you've forgotten the sex angle, the chorus "Lay Down / Stay Down / For My Love" drives the point home. Sort of like "Holy Water" era Bad Company.
11. The Restless Ones - After the two rampaging rockers, a return to the slick Schon-less songwriting on one of the few forgettable tunes on this great album. Cain's tinkling piano gives the cut a pleasant mall rock flair, but I can't remember much else about this one. I guess I was the restless one because I used to fast forward past this song.
12. Rockin' Horse - Back to the Blooze rock, back to the sex sex sex. Who knew the guys that wrote "Missing You" and "Faithfully" had such one track minds? I think there's even panting on this cut. But when it's done this well, it's hard to argue with the results. A strutting, meaty slab of Hard Rock.
13. Don't Walk Away - The other song from outside songwriters, this song also showed up on David Foster's River of Love album. A nice, subdued ending to a hard rockin' album.
After a successful tour, Bad English fell apart. By the time they got to the follow up Backlash (1991), Waite was recording his vocal and music video parts separate from the rest of the band. In fact, by the time the album came out, Bad English was no more. Most of the members fell back into solo careers until the mid-90's...but that's another story. For one album, Bad English surpassed their hype and was the second coming of Arena Rock. Like my favorite phrase of the moment says, Bad English was Wicked Awesome.
4 comments:
Did not even know that Bad English was such a Journeyesque band. I just love John Waite and that's all I knew about them. Of course, it probably didn't help that most of the radio stations that I heard play these songs only mentioned him and not the rest of the band.
Don't know why I should like John Waite so much. His voice is somewhat weaker than most "rockers" but it also has such a "human" quality about it. You can actually believe him when he sings.
I'm a John Waite fan and you put it pretty well why he's a great singer despite a weaker voice. I was real bummed when Bad English ended. So much potential there.
I had a cassette of him. The album that had "Missing You" on it. That whole album was super duper. Don't remember now what the album name was. It was a long time ago. Me and my sister both were still living at home then. The songs are still fantastic, tho. That album doesn't sound "dated" at all.
I think you're talking about No Brakes, the cover had his spiked haircut on it. That was a great tape (back when EMI had those bold Green letters on the spine)and had the "Layla" of the 80's, "Tears".
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