Pablo Cruise - The Best Of (2001)

For a band that had five Top 40 hits and 2 platinum albums, you never hear much of Pablo Cruise these days. Their style of breezy California soft rock doesn't seem to fit on either classic rock stations or oldies channels. I don't even hear them on Sirius/XM's "70s on 7" channel (which I find myself listening to more and more lately). I enjoy the group's sound, particularly the tone and style of guitarist David Jenkins. About 5 years ago, as I was putting together a poolside playlist for my iPod, I found this compilation CD on the cheap and added some the group's summer grooves to the list. I was never a huge fan of the group, so I don't know if this is a definitive "best of" collection, but it certainly is good enough for my needs.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart:  Did not chart

Tracks:

Song	Year	Hot 100	AC
Love Will Find A Way	1978	6	28
Whatcha Gonna Do?	1977	6
A Place In The Sun	1977	42
Don't Want To Live Without It	1978	21
Island Woman	1975
Zero To Sixty In Five	1976
I Go To Rio	1979	46	29
Atlanta June	1977
I Want You Tonight	1979	19
Cool Love	1981	13	14
Will You Won't You	1983
Ocean Breeze	1975

My picks, not surprisingly, are the AM radio hits from the late '70s, including Love Will Find A Way, Whatcha Gonna Do?, Don't Want To Live Without It, and I Want You Tonight. I could do without the over-the-top remake of I Go To Rio and some of the free-form attempts at some sort of jazz fusion, but I didn't buy the CD for those, so I shouldn't really complain.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Memorable is the band's unmistakeable sun-drenched logo, which adorned many t-shirts and tank tops around the same time:

In 1979, I liked the extended instrumental introduction of the single I Want You Tonight and picked up the 45 single at the local Radio Shack. It was soon added to one of my early mix tape attempts and taken, along with my meager wannabe Panasonic boom box, to my class's 8th grade picnic. For some reason, I remember almost nothing about that day other than listening to that song - they'll always be linked to each other in my mind.