Honestly, I have no early memories of these 2 amazing songs by the Babys; in fact, I never even knew of John Waite until his own solo smash Missing You from 1984, a song that was literally all over the air and played to death. It wasn’t until I started working at Cablevision and was testing out a music service for Optimum Online that I first discovered, and immediately fell in love with, Isn’t It Time. The sound was so ultimately seventies, with fierce female backing vocals that rivaled the lead singer’s, and an overall ELO-sounding combination of horns and piano and strings. I still can’t believe it took me so long to discover this band and their gigantic songs. Perhaps it’s because they didn’t have that huge a career, but either way I’m glad I have these 2 songs in my life. Every Time I Think Of You is more of the same delicious format, but unique in its own sound. When Missing You was all over the place, I hated it and wasn’t a fan of Waite’s voice, but now I realize how amazing a vocalist he is. I can play both these songs on repeat. I know, shocking. Side note: in the video for Isn’t It Time, John Waite kind of looks like Lady Mary from Downton Abbey. Just sayin’.
From the historical writing archive. Original date: November 9, 2017. Recovered from local source material; editorial review is still in progress.