Chicago has always seemed to be a musical hotbed to the Bluesbunny. Quality music just flows out of the windy city and one of those bands was Pala. Like so many of them, their time in the spotlight was brief but they did manage to tour the UK anyway.
Anyway, let us turn our attention to the music. "Neighbours" is a tasty hard funk with some quality sax work from Joel Barr. "Chili Dog Cook Off" mixes up rock with jazz funk to great effect. "Swimming in Thought" has that nice, polished urban groove feel to it. "From My Angle" is something like a signature tune for this band. It has their trademark sinuous rhythms and disco style vocal arrangements and is guaranteed to get your feet moving.
Pala was always more of a live act best suited to producing some sweat provoking, play until dawn funk. In a way, they sound way too clean on CD. The lyrics never really anything special but, if you saw them live, the drumming of Matt Baumann and especially Erin Mosher's raunchy vocals were totally compelling. So this is the kind of album that will be remembered fondly by those who bought it at the time and will no doubt be rediscovered by some trendy DJ in the future. It is the way of the world.