MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE MAVERICKS - IN TIME

I know people get sick of each other in bands, and goals change and opportunities knock for some and not others.  But it just seems its almost never a good idea to break up.  Take a couple of years off, that's the answer, I think.  The Mavericks split in 2004, with lead singer Raul Malo working for a solo career that never took off.  This was a band ripe for a reunion.

And it's a super one.  Malo's solo discs were all too wimpy, as he concentrated on selling his admirable pipes.  But the key to The Mavericks, for me, was always the sharp guitar and good-time accordion sound.  They were, and are, best as a party band, with the Florida/Cuban influence up against the Tex-Mex flavours.  Malo, who's been writing all these ballads and doing Christmas songs, has caught fire again for this one, which jumps from cut to uptempo cut.

Mariachi horns meet pumping Sir Douglas Quintet organ, Los Lobos guitar raunch punctuates Malo's Roy Orbison vocals.  That's always been the beauty of The Mavericks, that they were made up of the best parts available.  And even when they were taken apart, the puzzle fit back together perfectly on this first-class new disc.