Dance The Night Away

Right now--this very minute--the Mavericks are making finer pop music than any other band. Haven't heard of them? That's your own loss, cowboy.

The Mavs have been recording since 1990, and are much more popular than the media gives them credit for being. Why this lack of recognition? They spent eight years making country music and lost any kind of well-deserved exposure in the abysmal industrial whirlpool that is Nashville. It was unfortunate, because even their country music (Mavericks, From Hell to Paradise, What a Crying Shame, and Music for All Occasions) was fabulous.

The group, led by Raul Malo, began to tread softly into pop on Occasions, but it wasn't until the release of 1998's Trampoline that the band's skill at merging country with '50s balladry and Cuban dance music shone through on a single album. Both joy and instrumental skill found their homes in the music of the Mavericks: no longer was this band limited to the constricting song structures of country music. Malo's penchant for using lounge tunes as inspiration was widely explored on Trampoline, and the album sparkled through and through.

After all that, the Mavericks fired their guitar player and broke up, breaking the hearts of literate music fans everywhere. Malo, a tenor with one of the finest voices outside of opera, recorded a solo album (Today). We, the fans, were pounding our hands on the table for more. More!

And the Mavericks have come through once again. With a new guitar player, Eddie Perez, the group has reunited and released The Mavericks. It's another self-titled release, but other than that slight repetition in history, the Mavs have shown immense growth in their five years apart.

Some critics thought that the pop on Trampoline was too exaggerated. That may have been the case: on that album, the Mavs certainly did not reconcile with their country past. On the new album, there's more twang working alongside the horn and string sections that serve as the bread and butter to Malo's grand tunes.

"Would You Believe," the first single, is a jaunty track supplemented with staccato horns and sweet, simple vocals. Malo conjures his inner Sinatra on "I'm Wonderin'" and "San Jose," his inner Aretha on "Shine on Me," and his inner Willie Nelson on "Time Goes By," which features--not surprisingly--Willie Nelson. Despite the multiple genres the Mavericks invoke on this album, the music flows seamlessly, and it's the country influence that eventually binds the album together.

The last track, "The Air I Breathe," recalls the lilting emotion of early Mavericks tracks, and it cuts through the sometimes-heavy instrumental arrangements of the lounge-y tunes. The Mavericks is perfectly balanced in all its genres, and it seems that the group has finally come to terms with its Nashville roots. Praise the Lord! The Mavs are exactly what smart pop fans need today.

The Mavericks will be playing the Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, Oct. 7.