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THE MAVERICKS
BY CHRISTOPHER BLAGG
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On their first studio album in five years, the Mavericks leave out one of the ingredients that’s always made their traditionalist take on country rock so compelling: the country. Only the loping waltz "By the Time" is rooted in anything that has a remote connection to country music. Fortunately, they’ve never been a one-trick pony, so they have other musical directions to choose from. Frontman Raul Malo responds by delving even deeper into a ’50s lounge-act shtick that he’s hinted at on previous albums, conjuring the Chairman of the Board on the lovesick ballad "I’m Wondering" and playing the artful seducer on the string-laden "San Jose." The band aren’t afraid to cross cultural boundaries, either, mixing Cuban son and Southern gospel in "Shine Your Light," with its bright brassy horn section and island beats. The over-produced pop of "Would You Believe" and the schmaltzy ballad "Too Lonely" gives way to dirty and loose on the soulful "Time Goes By" (with Willie Nelson gamely trading verses with Malo) and the trad rock-and-roll number "Because of You." But for a band who helped put the twang back in country music, it’s a little disappointing to hear them drop that side of their sound.
