Pablo Cruise as a band name always confused me. Like Pink Floyd, and to a lesser extent (way, way more lesser) Daniel Amos, they suffered from having fans ask, "Which one is Pink?"
Somewhere in my early teenage brain I figured Pablo Cruise was a guy who looked like a cross between Sergio Aragones and "Gold Hat" from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, exclaiming he didn't need no stinkin' badges. He would be wearing a black charro outfit, singing "Guantanamera," and between sets would be passing out drinks with little umbrellas.
So you can imagine where I was trying to fit them musically.
Of course, with the passage of time I've heard a couple of their bigger hits like "Whatcha Gonna Do?" and "Love Will Find a Way," and given my penchant for '70s cheese, I was always kind of curious about the band. As fate would have it, I managed to find A Place in the Sun and Worlds Away in the unloved section of one of my favourite record stores.
While the jackets weren't in great condition and both were missing credits and inserts, the vinyl on both cleaned up real good, which made me pretty happy. While the band released several albums, these two albums, released in 1977 and 1978 respectively, represented the band at their commercial peak — both albums going platinum in the States.
I figured out on my own they weren't a mariachi band, but the palm tree in the logo was a head scratcher. I suspect it was meant to convey a laid-back California attitude with sun and fun. To that end, the band actually delivered on their promise.
I expected this to fall more into disco territory than it did. Sure, there were some funky songs with some good old blue-eyed soul, but they were actually more of a rock band than an easy-listening hotel lounge act.
There are some really good songs on A Place in the Sun, including the title track and the earlier-mentioned hit "Whatcha Gonna Do?" But for me, the biggest surprise - and my favourite song on the album - is the instrumental "El Verano," which was a great way to close out the album.
David Jenkins absolutely rips it up. His guitar work is mind-blowing. If there was any doubt that Pablo Cruise could turn up the juice when they wanted to, it is put to rest with this one track.
The fact that the guys mostly stayed in their soft rock lane was apparently a choice. They just revved the engine every so often to let people know there was more under the hood. In racing terms, we call this sandbagging.
A year later they dropped Worlds Away, building upon the success of A Place in the Sun. The band was at their commercial peak.
It seemed like with Worlds Away the band had found the key to blending their soft rock harmonies and layering over them a harder rock groove - they had the pedal to the floor on more than a few songs. Although I still can't quite come to terms with "I Go to Rio," it's played straight, but I get the sense the band had their tongues firmly in their cheeks while recording the song.
Although they'd release a few more albums, they wouldn't make the transition out of the '70s, and by 1983 they were gone.
It's strange. Pablo Cruise had great chops, and sure, they could be up there on the cheesy-pop scale, but when they were good, they were really good.
You have to give props where props are due: the guys knew how to craft a pop song and were fantastic musicians. I suppose they were part of that crop of bands like Player who were making solid but somewhat generic "rock" records that were well-crafted, impeccably produced, and guaranteed not to offend your parents.
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