The Mavericks at National Music Center, 7/30/98

by Seth Rogovoy

(LENOX, Mass., July 30, 1998) -- Sometimes it's a mystery why a band just doesn't click on stage, as was the case for most of the evening in a performance by The Mavericks at the National Music Center on Thursday night.

Touring behind the excellent new album, "Trampoline," which explores settings and textures beyond the group's standard honky-tonk approach, The Mavericks brought a four-piece horn section and an extra guitarist and keyboardist along to flesh out arrangements that harkened to an earlier era of big-band pop.

If the retro-bandstands and the baggy suits and the piped-in recording of "That's Amore" that cued the audience that the show was about to begin were all meant as ironic tipoffs, these were lost gestures. The blast of mariachi-style horns that kicked off the show's opener, "Dance the Night Away," resounded with a whopping thud, as the band plodded through the first of many repetitive, joyless numbers. The only irony was that no one was dancing.

The band chose to front-load songs from "Trampoline" before delving into its back catalog, and this might partly account for the lack of energy felt throughout the first half of the show. Perhaps the new songs were lost on the audience; perhaps they were ill-paced.

More likely, the songs -- which on record are glorious updates of classic '60s styles, including Beatle-esque pop, Stax soul and cheesy lounge tunes -- just haven't made a successful leap from the recording studio to the stage. These vintage styles are largely based on sophisticated production techniques, so it's not surprising that they would lack dynamism when performed live, in spite of the best efforts of a talented group like The Mavericks.

It wasn't for lack of trying that great, upbeat tunes such as "Someone Should Tell Her," propelled by the muscular drumming of Paul Deakin and given a heartbreaking twist by lead vocalist Raul Malo, just dropped into the audience's lap. It wasn't even for lack of showmanship on the part of the band. Pianist Jerry Dale McFadden did a great Jerry Lee Lewis impression on a jump-blues version of "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down," and guitarist Nick Kane wrestled all the weirdness he possibly could out of his whammy bar on the Roy Orbison- like tearjerker, "I've Got This Feeling."

When Malo launched into the Tom Jones hit, "It's Not Unusual," for a moment it seemed like finally the circle would be squared and reason would fall by the wayside in favor of campy excess. But the tune was delivered straightforward and without any apparent purpose other than to note Jones as an influence on the proceedings, serving only to highlight the sorely lacking charisma of a Tom Jones that this music required.

Malo brought the entire proceedings to a slow fizzle with a solo acoustic set including "Moon River" and "Blue Moon." Things picked up when the band returned, and in a genuine moment that demonstrated the band's sincerity, the signature song "From Hell to Paradise" collapsed midway when Malo's voice failed him.

He recovered, as did the band, and when the group launched into its stable of honky-tonk and Cuban-flavored hits in two encores, the place finally came alive, with much of the crowd on its feet in front of the stage. If the concert ended on a high note, however, it was too little, too late.

Teen-age prodigy Cody Kilby warmed up the crowd with a solo set of his original guitar and banjo compositions.

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