The Babys - I'll Have Some Of That (Japan 2014)

The Babys are a British group that did enjoy some great success in the 70s producing some pretty cool up-tempo anthemic rock. They’d be most recognizable as the band where John Waite, cut his teeth and enjoyed, considerable chart success with several of their songs climbing high on the Billboard charts in America. The band did part ways with the actual originator of the whole project keyboard player/guitarist Michael Corby who to this day is very resentful about the whole affair. Back in the day the band did soldier on for a couple of more albums, with Jonathan Cain as keyboard player (later in Journey) & Ricky Phillips (bass) to make up their numbers. They eventually broke up in 1981, with most of their then members enjoying varying degrees of success post-“Babys”.

John Waite went on to produce a major solo hit, “Missing You”, in 1984. Stocker and Brock worked with Rod Stewart and other mainstream artists including Elton John and Air Supply. Cain left to join Journey. Waite, Cain and Phillips joined Bad English in the late 1980s. Phillips currently plays for Styx.

Which brings us to these days… in 2013 it was announced that Brock and Stocker had reformed the band, alongside vocalist/bassist John Bisaha and guitarist Joey Sykes. Previously Corby stated that he was seeking an all original reunion, but with the state of the recording industry and a career only sustained, largely by the fact that he had a few mega-hits during his solo years, Waite, seemingly didn’t seem too willing to follow into something that seemed a bit of the wall, when his performances, are low to mid-key, themselves. Indeed some of the posts made on the internet seemed to be wide off the mark, by a wide margin, stating, imaginary tours with Iron Maiden etc… ie things that were highly unlikely to happen. Which brings us to the “New” babies of 2014. An Anglo-American band, that does seem to try their best to mimic the old band. Putting all the politics aside, and calling this a Babys or even not a Babys but A – “Babies” album (lol) it’s actually a nice album.

In John Bisaha, the band has found a singer that can evoke enough of John Waite, to make it uncunningly similar at times… giving you the impression it’s actually still the latter behind the mic and the kid’s also a bassist apparently! Also the new guitarist, might not be John Sykes, (lol) but he does a fine job, complementing long timer Wally Stocker and producing together sounds that have enough vintage color as to sound original and true to the bands 70s roots, but also enough vibrancy and spirit as to sound classic and contemporary enough! Truly a fine balance but these guys have managed to hit it just right!

There are lots of gems on the album, The quirky and fun uplifting opener “Every Side of You”… the mellower and sweeter “All I wanna Do”, the drift away “Sunrise and Goodbyes”, the sensational “After Midnight”, the more typically pompous “I See You There” that seems to totally go for a really vintage sound and feel, “Grass is Greener” again has a feelgood sort of vibe…. while “These Days” seems to be a bit more contemplative and slightly syncopated, and even have some soulful female backing vocals… nice! “Uncivil War” probably is a bit of a tongue in cheek song about the band’s feuds, but it could as well have been inspired by a divorce/separation… After all the bitterness “You Saved My Life” sounds like the sound elixir that would just cure everything and it just does… It also gets better and better with another uplifting number: “It’s a Gas!”. “Stay the Night” ain’t no Chicago cover, but another melodic, ditto, with nice guitars, and warm vocals... and the album comes to a close with the title song, another foot stomping, anthemic, mid-tempo number with a sing along, shout-it-out and join the party, type of chorus…

Not even in my wildest dreams did I expect a band that was out of it, for some 30 years and didn’t have either of its original “big” guns to manage to both sound, original enough and enjoyable enough. Will these “Babys” amount to anything, other than pleasing some “few” fans that will seek out, new music? Probably not, with the way things are, they had to Pledge, to get the album made, but it got made. Would it have been better, with Corby and Waite on board? (Who knows?)…

The point is that whatever band made this album, it’s a good album... now whether they have the right to call themselves Babys with 2/X members of the line-ups they had, is another thing… a thing that legal departments could bother with. I mean Corby, could for all I know, go ahead and create Corby’s Babys and prove that he’s the better or bitterer musician and for all I know, he might have an even better album... but music should be made for enjoyment, not to destroy your soul. Obviously Waite, has been there, done that, got the T-shirt and doesn’t give a damn. Now apparently he’s got a bit of a “Baby” doppelganger in Bisaha, which is a bit funny!

I’d say, Baby’s fans, might have already pledged and own this so everyone who likes Waite/70s British rock etc., might find a lot that’s enjoyable here... for the rest, I’m not sure, but, I’ll definitely have some of that!