John Waite: the best albums – a buyers’ guide

On the years 1995 temple barafter interest in his solo career began to wane, John Waite was wise and wise enough to reflect on his moment in the sun, referencing I miss youhis massive tube of 84, in the elegiac Downtown: ‘Do you remember me? / I sang that song you like / I sang that song for free / Now someone else looks like me‘.

Waite was often criticized, mostly by people who only knew him for his hits, as a columnist weary of the pitfalls of love, a songwriter with one thing: a broken heart. Granted, he probably bought three houses singing about the ones that got away, but who else could so vividly imagine a post-apocalyptic Europe (Euroscheme) or refer to Gene Vincent, Vermeer and Verlaine all in one (Saturday night)? Waite has hidden depths, just dig to find them. It has long been a staple of American radio and still occasionally makes the Radio 2 playlist, although it hasn’t entered the charts as often as one might think.