This is a case of gap-filling, but you know what, this is probably the first Pablo Cruise album we should’ve reviewed!, it is after all where the band’s career took off.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Pablo Cruise
ALBUM: A Place In The Sun
LABEL: A&M
SERIAL: SP-4625
YEAR: 1977
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: David Jenkins – vocals, guitars, bass * Cory Lerios – piano, keyboards * Bud Cockrell – bass, vocals * Steve Price – drums, percussion
TRACK LISTING: 01 A Place In The Sun * 02 Whatcha Gonna Do? * 03 Raging Fire * 04 I Just Wanna Believe * 05 Tonight My Love * 06 Can’t You Hear The Music * 07 Never Had A Love * 08 Atlanta June * 09 El Verano
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
This is a case of gap-filling. But you know what, this is probably the first Pablo Cruise album we should’ve reviewed! It is after all where the band’s career took off, and consolidated with the following years ‘Worlds Away’. The band had kickstarted precedings back in 1975, you can read all about their start and their progress on the other reviews we have here.
Imagine yourself soaked up and timewarped back to California in 1977. Yep, You would’ve seen CHIPS and the Six Million Dollar Man on TV, plus the Bee Gees and John Travolta would’ve been all over the popular media. However, it was the cool grooves from this San Francisco quartet that you would’ve heard washing over the AM and FM airwaves.
The Songs
The first three songs are all classy affairs, and well remembered by those who followed the AC charts or the west coast scene back in the day. ‘Place In The Sun’ the title track would play second fiddle as the single from the album, though it reached #42 on the charts. The second track ‘What’cha Gonna Do’ did far better – reaching #6 on Billboard, and paving the way for more success on their follow-up album ‘Worlds Away’. However, the album wasn’t just about those two tracks.
‘Raging Fire’ is classic PC balladry, and is beautiful even all these years later, with its lovely acoustic guitar flow intermingled with some tender piano lines from Corey Lerios. ‘I Just Wanna Believe’ leads in with some Survivor like interplay, though it ends up as a jazzy/gospel number, albeit a number with a bit of street energy.
West Coast fans will enjoy the (excuse the pun) cruisy ‘Tonight My Love’, it’s on a track like this you can hear the similarity between David Jenkins and a guy like Mickey Thomas (Starship), though admittedly you have to listen real hard! lol!
‘Can’t You Hear The Music’ I can take it or leave it, ‘Never Had A Love Like This’ is a middle of the road rocker, ‘Atlanta June’ doesn’t hold up that well either, it’s not until the end that ‘El Verana’ tears it up in the same fashion as Santana circa ‘Inner Secrets’ and ‘Marathon’.
In Summary
‘A Place In The Sun’ was a reasonable album. But in my opinion, the best was yet to come with their following albums. ‘Worlds Away’ is without doubt a veritable west coast classic, while the following albums are just super examples of that genre. Though breaking up in the early 80’s, the band are still a ‘going concern’ in the 21st century, and so they should too, as they have a worthy back catalog in which to play to the classic rock audience. Get out and see them live when you get a chance.
Pablo Cruise on Video
A Place In The Sun
Click to go to YTM album page.
