Bonito

Jarabe de Palo's debut on Warner Bros. is simply -- and optimistically -- titled Bonito (Lovely). Pau Dones, the band's leader and singer, is someone who tends to be among the "politically correct" people and he's fully loaded with good intentions. He knows that the world is going wrong (especially for the Latin American people who seem to be the target audience), but instead of doing protest songs he tries to sing positive tunes, the ones that show the sunny side of the street. "If everything is going wrong, don't worry, dance and everything will be alright" seems to be the message on this album and "Bailar" and "Bonito" are clear proof of that. And although there's nothing wrong at being hopeful, it all sounds a bit naive and soft. There are also other topics, like in "Las cruces de Tijuana," a kind of corrido that pays tribute to Tijuana's white crosses while regretting that Spanish border cities do not exhibited memories of their own. It's not a bad album, but you won't really hear anything that you haven't heard in any of the band's previous releases. ~ Ivan Adaime