Customer Reviews

Live in Austin Texas

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, I was there. Third row, center, dancing in 90+ degree heat, with everyone else lucky enough to get a ticket. Austin and the Mavericks have a special love affair, with this the band's third appearance in this town in six months (they also played the 2003 Austin City Limits Music Festival a year ago September). The Mavericks made their comeback last year with their self-titled release featuring "I Want to Know" and a local favorite "San Jose", a tribute to a South Austin hotel the band likes to stay at when they are in town.

The Mavericks now include Eddie Perez on guitar, who fits comfortably in the band with his guitar virtuosity and accompanying vocals. The Mavericks-Eddie, Raul Malo, Paul Deakin, and Robert Reynolds-display consummate professionalism which is only surpassed by their down-to-earth humor and presence. The set list covers hits from the beginning of their career together to solo Raul offerings, including the swoonable "Siboney" originally recorded with Los Super Seven. "Every Little Thing About You" was a crowd favorite and the high temperature did not dissuade the hip swaying and singing along that permeated the night. Raul's voice has been compared to Roy Orbison's and it was a marvel to watch him hit the notes up close. The rest of the band was phenomenal too, with Robert and Paul switching instruments for a song or two. The spicy horn section, Jerry Dale McFadden on keys, and Alberto Salas on percussion made for a wonderful, too short night of incredible music. The Mavericks are better than ever and this album was well worth the wait.

"The Definitive Collection" remains the best place for newcomers to sample The Mavericks, but this 2004 live album would make a terrific introduction as well. And fans will certainly want to hear this almost flawless live album featuring a horn-augumented version of The Mavericks performing most of their best and best-known material.

It's not spliced together from various recordings; "Live In Austin, Texas" was recorded in one "take" on June 2, 2004 at Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin, and The Mavericks' eclectic blend of rock n' roll, country, latin folk and sophisticated pop works well in this live setting...a couple of songs, like "Siboney" and "San Jose", never really get off the ground, but most of what's here is very good indeed. It's hard to sit still to these swinging, energetic renditions of songs like "Dance The Night Away" and "There Goes My Heart", and while it would have been nice to hear "Things I Cannot Change" and "Here Comes My Baby", there is more than enough good stuff here to keep the listener interested.

Singer Raul Malo is in top form, and all music-lovers should be able find something to like on this 73-minute collection of The Mavericks' melodic country-rock.
I dare you to not start bopping your head like a pigeon to "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down"!

Back in the 1950's and 1960's it used to be called "Country and Western Music". Somewhere around the 1970's or early 1980's, the "western" part was dropped and it was all referred to as "Country Music". As convenient as this is, unfortunately many forget the "Western" part. By this I don't mean just the "cowboy" songs we associate with the movies, but also the "western swing" of Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys and the Mexican influences found in the American Southwest. You can't get much more "traditional Country" than George Strait; yet Strait himself is very much a product of the Texas music heritage with clear references to the above mentioned Bob Wills as well as Marty Robbins.

The Mavericks have enjoyed great popular success while at the same time standing just a little outside the normal confines of Country music. For many of us, the Mavericks begin and end with "What A Crying Shame"; but in reality the Mavericks have traveled a pretty wide range in musical styles. This CD records a particularly hot night in Austin backed by a horn section that brings to the fore the band's Tex/Mex flavor and excitement.

Unfortunately, this is not everyone's cup of tea. In a time when a Brooklyn boy can don a cowboy hat and be just as much a part of country music as one who grew up in Tennessee, some will not tolerate anything west of the Mississippi as "authentic". All's the shame because this CD demonstrates that country music can expand its boundaries and remain fresh without becoming lost in "pop music".

But all the above aside, this CD plays like a Mavericks Greatest Hits "live" during a particularly magical and vibrant night. Well worth the price of admission

The Mavericks were my favorite country band of the '90s and the early '00s. Led by Raul Malo, the Mavericks defied genre-fication by playing a wide range of music, from traditional country to pop to Latin/Cuban-flavored music (strongly influenced by Malo's Cuban heritage) to crank out hit after hit.

Unfortunately, these talented guys seem a bit restless, only performing together sporadically after their 1999 greatest hits album. Fortunately for everyone, they got together for a live show in Austin, Texas, and this album is the result. Largely playing their greatest hits ("Dance the Night Away," "I Want to Know," "What a Crying Shame," etc.), there are plenty of other seldom-heard songs on this album to make it worthwhile.

My personal favorite is the gospel tune, "Save a Prayer," which has everyone asking why Malo hasn't cranked out a solo gospel album instead of yet-another album of cover/cocktail tunes. He could be the best gospel singer in the world.

An ultimate party album, "Live" does this great band proud - a must for everyone who's forgotten that great country spans any genre and that The Eagles were once a mere "country" band.

Get the DVD... Watch it and hear it through a DTS system. It's one of those concerts you watch, a month later you want to see it again. Very well put together. The audio mix is superb!

The Mavericks Live In Austin DVD is an absolute winner. I tried to find it locally but ended up coming to Amazon. The music is fantastic as are the Mavericks.

The dowload dose not sound as good as the samples! It's a sound I guess you should expect when recorded in an auditorium. I don't know how to describe it, but it is not the full sound you normally get. It's like there should be an echo, and the volume goes up and down in some sounds. A very inconsistnet set of recordings.

Awesome album; awesome group. An absolute must.

I saw the Mavericks a few times before they broke up, and on the Trampoline tour, I was disappointed that they had brought horns for the new songs, but sent them away for the older songs that could have been enhanced. It almost seemed lazy of Malo to bring horns, but not bother to write charts for the older songs.

That has been rectified, finally, by this album. Not all of the songs are gems, but the performances are solid and the horns absolutely add depth to the songs. My only real complaint is that the sound mix isn't great. Of course you lose some of the studio precision in a club setting, but it's not like these tapes came right off the board into your car. They could have cleared up some of the muddiness and mixed the horns and vocals a little higher.

Other than that, this is worth owning if you like the Mavericks.

The DVD of this concert is excellent and sounds great. (Netflix has it)
However, the sound quality of the CD is flat----very dull. What a shame. I can't stand to listen to it.