The Mavericks
The Mavericks

Written by T.J. Simon

With each album, The Mavericks’ music strays further and further from the straightforward country style that made the band semi-famous. On its latest self-titled release, the band opts for a 1970s AM pop sound with a very slight country edge. The 11 jangly toe-tappers are elegant in their simplicity as band leader Raul Malo’s rich baritone recalls the golden pipes of Roy Orbison, Dwight Yoakum, and Vegas-era Elvis Presley. Malo waxes philosophical on the album’s shining original number Would You Believe, a tune that just as easily could have been recorded by The Turtles or Herman’s Hermits more than 30 years ago. A mammoth horn section adds punctuation on the up-tempo bossa nova number Shine Your Light as well as on Because of You. Finally, this no-miss album concludes with a better-than-the-original cover of Air that I Breathe ("All I need is the air that I breathe and to love you..."), the Albert Hammond-penned tune that became a hit for The Hollies in 1974. It all amounts to The Mavericks being one of the most fulfilling, yet undemanding, listens of 2003. ½

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