John Waite – Figure in a Landscape
Keys to Your Heart
Always Be Your Man
Thinking About You
NYC Girl
Fly
New Thing
Special One
Whenever You Come Around
Touch
Godhead
Masterpiece of Loneliness
When When You Were Mine got released my management was in LA. I decided to leave my apartment on Madison Avenue and spend a year there so I could take a break and promote the record. If all went well. I would be on the road anyway. I was itching to play live again so it seemed like a first step. Danny Goldberg, who had signed me to Mercury, left the company. The record got serious airplay but I was caught in the transition. I’ll always be grateful to Danny for financing the record. He got it. He liked it. He liked Steve Earle too and understood the subtle twist back to country in rock. Years later, Alison Krauss called Doug Morris and got the record back for me as a gift. There are some extremely nice people out there and Doug and Danny are two of them. Anyway, about a year later (stranded in LA) I was offered a deal by Norm Waitt at Gold Circle. (No relation) They were a very successful film company and had a music division. Norm was really a great guy and a lifetime fan. Another deal was made and I was back in the studio. Shane Fontayne had moved to LA. He had played on Temple Bar and When You Were Mine. We were like brothers really. Working with him was like flying. He got where I was going without thinking about it. We wrote and played together all the time. Again, he was unorthodox and knew country. English too. Great sense of humor. We call each other “budgie” from the old Adam Faith series on TV. I was set. Making that record was slower than I was used to. It was LA! People would show up late or one time the keyboard player didn’t show at all (his kid had a hockey match). The songs were strong and I had Shane so I focused on the vibe, not the clock. Me and Shane wrote “Godhead”, “Touch”, “New Thing” and I threw in Vince Gill’s “Whenever You Come Around.” Lovely song. I still play it live. It was like cosmic country with heavy rock overtones. “Godhead” was totally serious. Chemical enlightenment and the erotic! Nice combination. Debbie Holiday came into the picture and brought the soul. Good album. Journey rang up and asked me if I’d like to go on tour. I would. I did.
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