Gold

Product Description:

The Mavericks: Nick Kane, Paul Deakin, Raul Malo, Robert Reynolds.

Recording information: 1992 - 1995.

Had the Mavericks been around during the outlaw country days of the mid-1970s, when iconoclasts like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kinky Friedman were fusing the heart and soul of traditional country with the energy and drive of classic rock & roll, they would have been one of the biggest bands in country music--if not the country. Coming on the scene a couple of decades later, the Austin-based foursome led by singer-songwriter Raul Malo weren't hip enough for the burgeoning alt-country scene, but they rocked a bit too hard and too old-school for Nashville's sanitized halls, so they never got all the attention they were due. As the excellent two-disc career-spanning compilation GOLD shows, however, the Mavericks belong with any of the great country rock bands of all time. Spanning all of their albums and including hits like "Dance the Night Away" and "The End of the Line" alongside respectful covers of rock and country classics like Gram Parsons's "Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy)," this is a well-chosen and expertly sequenced set that supercedes all previous Mavericks compilations.