The Mavericks

The content of this intelligent, eclectic, new-country band's first album is less important than the fact of it: After confusing audiences around Miami by playing original country music in various rock clubs, the Mavericks were signed by a minor label and released an album. The Mavericks got them in the door. Once its name was established, the foursome fine-tuned their sound in preparation for a second, more polished release.

And so From Hell to Paradise was born. Mavericks frontman and songwriter Raul Malo, a Cuban emigre, taps into the isolation at the heart of great country music -- which for Malo means "this country" as much as country & western -- and the pains and simple pleasures of a hardscrabble existence come alive in his big earnest tenor and evocative lyrics. From Hell to Paradise is amiable and danceable; in addition to the title song (about Malo's family's journey to America) and a zippy cover of Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin' " with Trisha Yearwood, four songs are resurrected from The Mavericks: the ambling ballad "This Broken Heart," the sly breakup number "A Better Way," the poignant "Mr. Jones," and "The End of the Line," perhaps the only song mocking hypocritical religious zealots that deserves its own line dance.

On What a Crying Shame, the Mavericks fold some smooth pop into their honky-tonk mix for their most sophisticated recording yet. The title track, a radio-ready pop weeper with an irresistible chorus, garnered the group Top 40 play. Between the numbers that sound unearthed from the vintage bin ("There Goes My Heart" and "Ain't Found Nobody") are unusual country-based songs performed with little consideration for genre. "The Things You Said to Me" seems loosely wrapped around the bones of "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" but sparked with a sneaky bass riff; "I Should Have Been True" and the gorgeous "Oh, What a Thrill" are '50's-prom slow dances; the pretty dance tune "All That Heaven Will Allow" casts a salsa shadow.

On Music for All Occasions, the Mavericks stray from their honky-tonk beginnings into the realm of retro easy-listening country. Malo's songs are all about love here, and his rhymes take an attendant plunge in complexity: "say/day," "forever/together," "soul/hold" -- it's not pretty. The Cuban-inflected ballads that swayed between the high-steppers of their previous albums constitute the entire recording of Music for All Occasions, and even when the melodies are solid and effective, as on "Missing You" and "I'm Not Gonna Cry for You," the pace drags. Fortunately, smack at the center of this 11-song effort, two guests crash the party with a fresh bag of ice and some great new jokes: Flaco Jimenez's accordion playing enlivens the bright, busy "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down"; Rafe Vanhoy's "My Secret Flame," though in the same idiom as Malo's songwriting, is so different in style that the vocals sound entirely new.

Trampoline, like all of the better Mav work, is a good but not great album. A roadhouse band with sterling taste and an interestingly diverse repertoire of styles, the hardworking group is not in the business of transcending its chosen forms, even if it can occasionally transcend itself. When it unleashes the string section for the chorus of "I've Got This Feeling," the group sounds as if meaning every note is the enlightened path to cutting loose. On The Mavericks (2003), they get a bit cheesy at times ("I'm Wondering" could have lit up your parents' prom), but they're still as catchy as Toby Keith, and without any backwoods nonsense to boot. (ARION BERGER)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide