by Richie Unterberger
It had been almost six years since &Little Green Bag& when George Baker and his gang landed their second and final American Top Forty hit, &Paloma Blanca,& in 1976. That single's on this LP naturally, and both it and the other tracks make the zippy pop-rock of &Little Green Bag& seem as tough as Jimi Hendrix in comparison. Paloma Blanca is frothy, anonymous European pop, marrying chipper romp-in-the-country melodies with beats that borrow from disco, polka, mariachi, and pseudo-Eastern European gypsy music. Echoes of faux country music are heard sometimes as well, in tunes like &As Long As the Sun Will Shine.& It ends up sounding like those hack bands you see grinning away in the &it's a small world after all& corners of amusement theme parks, the commercial success of this stuff being the most notable difference.