Mavericks at Christmas: Delivering a worthy stocking suffer, and then some…
By Billy Altman
HEY! MERRY CHRISTMAS
Mavericks
Mono Mundo Recordings
When it was first released in 2018, the Mavericks’ Hey! Merry Christmas! was a quietly received but nonetheless welcomed addition to the sizeable body of holiday-themed music albums, and one of the neatest things about it was the fact that group leader Raul Malo decided to go all in on the project by himself composing all but two of the collection’s ten songs. Considering how just how many cool Yule tunes have come down the chimney over the years, that’s not a particularly easy challenge to give yourself as a songwriter or performer. Still, as longtime Mavericks fans can well attest, and as per the title of his band’s best-known album, 1995’s Music for All Occasions, if there’s something to sing about, Raul Malo is one vocalist who can certainly do it.
‘It’s Christmas Without You,’ Mavericks, from Hey! Merry Christmas!
‘Hey! Merry Christmas!’, Mavericks, title track from the band’s holiday album
Blessed with one of the best set of pipes in all of pop music–he could probably, as the saying goes, sing the phone book and make it entertaining–Malo and his hard-working group nimbly glide from egg nog-fueled dance numbers such as the shuffling leadoff song “Christmas Time Is (Coming Round Again”) and the swingin’ Louis Jordan-styled title track to fireplace-ready ballads such as the touching “Christmas For Me (Is You)” and the wistful “It’s Christmas Without You.” And, just to add a little nod-and-a-wink to the proceedings, there’s the bluesy, double-entendre packed “Santa Wants to Take You For A Ride,” to be listened to, preferably, after the little ones are all tucked away safely for the night. Throw in a few more goodies, like the sweetly spiced, accordion-accented “I Have Wanted You (for Christmas”) and several (Phil) Spector-ian production numbers such as (cue the glockenspiels) “Santa Does” and a top-notch version of Darlene Love’s 1963 classic, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” and, overall, Hey! Merry Christmas! more than fits the bill as a worthy stocking stuffer–for this or any other holiday season.
And for those who just can’t get enough RAUL MALO, check out the Deep Roots review of the great singer’s 2007 Yule gem, modestly titled Marshmallow World & Other Holiday Favorites. As it notes, in part:
Working economically, Malo assembled seven other musicians to support him, all but two (John McTigue III on drums, Neil Rosengarden on trumpet) playing multiple instruments. Malo himself works out on four instruments–including the Danelectro baritone guitar with the deep, fat twang that has become a mainstay of Malo’s sound–and his catholic touch is all over the arrangements, which range from big band swing, to cheery R&B, to saloon-style blues, to south of the border flavors; but in the end, for all his mastery of every aspect of his art, Malo’s voice and scintillating attack, so unpredictable and so richly informed by history, puts this album in league with the finest holiday albums of all time.
