The Mavericks play gigs all over the place, mostly in the States but in many other countries too so I’ve read a lot of reviews, yes, really a lot of reviews about them at gigs I can’t attend and also, thanks to the internet, music reviews from across the world.
The following review from the Sydney Morning Herald is really excellent, not only because it gives an idea of the band, but offers a snapshot of their history and a flavour of their music – if that is possible in words rather than just listening to them.
Here is a snippet:
There are some fairly standard reasons for a band to re-form: nostalgia, unfinished business, revenge, money … actually, mainly money. But in the case of the Mavericks, the sharp-dressed, Nashville-based neo-country revivalists, it was a song that reunited the band and that will bring them to Australia for the first time. Raul Malo, the Mavericks’ elegantly goateed singer, was in a Nashville studio with songwriters Gary Nicholson and Seth Walker when they played him a song under development named Back in Your Arms Again. Malo had just finished touring his sixth solo album, 2010’s Saints and Sinners, and was considering his next move. To Malo, whose silky, yearning voice echoes Roy Orbison, Back in Your Arms Again felt hauntingly familiar; in fact, it felt very much like a Mavericks song. At the same time, Malo’s management had started to field calls about a group reunion. Now that’s odd, the singer thought to himself. The Mavericks had split in 2004, with Malo admitting he felt ”bored, exhausted, done” with the band that had claimed a Grammy, generated a million-selling album in 1994’s What a Crying Shame, and an unlikely hit, 1998’s Dance the Night Away. Now people were talking about a reunion?
The Mavericks have reunited and are stronger and better than ever, and their first ‘new’ album is probably their best ever. My favourite song is ‘Call Me When You get To Heaven. Here is what the review says:
”I wanted the song to take on a sort of Ravel’s Bolero-type tension,” he says, ”where it builds to this uncontrollable climax, sheer joy and desire and pain. That was the thought behind the arrangement and the song in general.” The only trouble with Call Me is that the band was so drained by its creation in the studio that they haven’t even tried playing it live. They’d have nothing left, Malo says. They would be spent. Someone would have to carry them off-stage. ”I just couldn’t sing any more. Which made me think, live, where do you play it? How do you play it?”
If you want to know more about why I think that song is so special have a look here: http://loiselden.com/2013/02/24/call-me-when-you-get-to-heaven/
…and finally, if you want to read the whole review from the Sydney Morning Herald, here is the link:
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/once-more-with-feeling-20130822-2sc7x.html#ixzz2dXRmGarI
PS I have spent many busy hours trawling the archives of the Sydney Morning Herald as part of my family history research … I think this is the first time I’ve read a current copy!
Lois Elsden 