The 1981 Listening Post - Sad Café - Olé

 Reviewed by Paul J Zickler

Released: October 1981 Sad Café Olé Genre: MOR Pop Rock Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Highlights: Love’s Enough Follow You Anywhere Misunderstanding Serious Shoes Sad Café played easy listening pop rock, what might have later been considered yacht rock, but only if anyone remembered any of their songs. Lead singer Paul Young later joined Mike + the Mechanics and provided lead vocals for some of their hits (notably not their biggest hit, Silent Running, which featured guaranteed-top-ten-guest-vocalist Paul Carrack). Olé was their second consecutive flop, yielding zero hits, despite the expert production, skillful playing, and technical precision of their sound. Or maybe because of it. Opener Love’s Enough features keyboards reminiscent of Michael McDonald’s Doobie Brothers, a smooth sax intro, and some fairly compelling vocals from Young, who rises to a sweet falsetto on the last chorus. There is no particular reason why this song shouldn’t have found its place between Every Woman In The World and The Best of Times on FM hits radio in late 1981. But it didn’t. And I’ve already forgotten the hook. I suppose that’s what separated Sad Café from bands like Toto or Foreigner. They certainly had the talent and musical chops to play in that league, but somehow their hooks don’t compare to Africa or Hold the Line. You could argue that’s because we’ve heard those songs ten thousand times, unlike Nine, which does have a nifty keyboard riff supporting a rich chorus harmony or Follow You Anywhere, with its bouncy circus organ chorus coupled with emotionally spare piano verses and elegant lead guitar. I could see some of these songs growing on me if I was interested in giving this kind of music more than cursory attention. Maybe it’s the genre itself. How many people are passionate about middle of the road pop rock? I know there are bands that invite that kind of love: Fleetwood Mac is an obvious example, but they’re also fascinating personalities whose personal lives overlap intriguingly with the music itself, putting them in a different category. Does anyone care about Lou Gramm’s love life or what Steve Porcaro says about Steve Lukather? They make music that blends in easily with everyday tasks. People like it, but who really goes out of their way to find anything new? No matter how long it took to layer the many tracks on the Hall and Oates-like 7th track, Misunderstanding, virtually nobody was interested in hearing it. Being a charitable listener, I’m going to say that’s unfortunate because all the basic ingredients are here. Like Love’s Enough, it’s very easy to imagine Misunderstanding, or even the Men At Work-meets-Steely Dan bop, Serious Shoes, sliding in comfortably after Kiss On My List and before While You See A Chance. Maybe in some alternative timeline, these are beloved songs that were later featured in silly teen movies and covered by annoying acapella groups. In this timeline, they’re just pleasant tunes to have on in the background, and God knows we’ve got more than enough of those in the world. Sorry Sad Café. I did manage to write this review while your album was on in the background though, so thanks for that.