John Waite Mask of Smiles

John Waite's second solo album, No Brakes, reached the Top Ten, almost entirely on the strength of "Missing You," a truly perfect single. It was a hell of an act to follow, and Waite couldn't quite deliver, at least until he re-teamed with former Baby Jonathan Cain in the late '80s with Bad English. During those years in the wilderness – roughly 1985 through 1990 – he released two albums, 1985's Mask of Smiles and 1987's Rover's Return, which are combined on this CD reissue.

Rover's Return is the fourth solo studio album from English musician John Waite, released in 1987. The album was Waite's last charting album on the American Billboard 200, where it peaked at #77. It lasted 12 weeks in the chart. A total of two singles were released from the album; "These Times Are Hard for Lovers" and "Don't Lose Any Sleep", the latter written by American songwriter Diane Warren. "These Times Are Hard for Lovers" peaked at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100, #6 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #77 in the UK, whilst "Don't Lose Any Sleep" peaked at #81 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As a solo artist and as the lead singer of the Babys and Bad English, John Waite was a fixture of album-oriented rock radio stations during the '70s and '80s. Waite had a talent for power ballads and driving arena rock, occasionally touching on new wave-styled power pop as well. Though he didn't consistently have hits, several of his songs including "Missing You," the Babys' "Isn't It Time," and Bad English's "When I See You Smile" became radio staples.