The Mavericks fully hit their stride with their third album, 1994's
What a Crying Shame, in which the band's blend of rootsy
country and vintage
pop sounds finally found the balance they'd been searching for. While producer
Don Cook gave the band a significantly glossier sound than that of their first two albums, with a hefty number of guest musicians (and guest songwriters) on board, remarkably enough
the Mavericks' personality wasn't subsumed in the process; if anything, the high-priced help seemed to have prodded the boys into playing at the top of their game.
Raul Malo's keening tenor gets a superb workout on
"I Should Have Been True" and the title cut (the latter of which boasts a guitar hook
Roger McGuinn would have been proud to come up with), while
"Pretend" and
"There Goes My Heart" are
honky tonk floor-fillers of the first order.
Robert Reynolds and
Paul Deakin are a rhythm section who can give these songs the nervy drive of a
rock band without betraying
the Mavericks'
country leanings, and they give the covers of
"All That Heaven Will Allow" and
"O What a Thrill" a taut foundation most
contemporary Nashville acts lack. Truth to tell,
What a Crying Shame doesn't have a single dud track, and offers encouraging proof that it's still possible to make an engaging and idiosyncratic
country album while signed to the Nashville division of a major label...and the best news is, the band managed to turn that accomplishment into a hat trick over the next few years. ~ Mark Deming
