After Hours

Description

Product Description As the lead singer of the successful country music group The Mavericks, RALO MALO brought his Latin roots, country rhythm and bits of rock 'n roll into the mix. He has since pursued a solo career which encompasses numerous genres of music, ranging from beautiful ballads to up-tempo tunes, slipping in and out of various rhythms, crossing cultures, and blurring musical boundaries. .com Raul Malo's second covers album in two years skews slightly closer to the classic country that influenced his early career with the Mavericks. It is also likely to further alienate followers of his rootsy former band as he shifts into crooning, jazzy supper-club mode on these countrypolitan versions of classic and a few more recent C&W tracks. All twang is removed here, replaced with a horn section, a featured clarinet, and slick pop arrangements of standards associated with Elvis ("(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I"), Hank Williams ("Take These Chains from My Heart," "Cold, Cold Heart"), and Ray Price (Kris Kristofferson's often-interpreted "For the Good Times"). Malo sure has the pipes for these reworkings, but the disc is most convincing when the syrupy support takes a back seat to the relatively swinging horns on Dwight Yoakam's "It Only Hurts Me When I Cry" and "Pocket of a Clown." Regardless of your age, this is very definitely your parents' country, as Malo transforms himself into a younger, slightly hipper Dean Martin. You can practically taste the olive in his martini and touch his crisp tuxedo as he eases into this material with satiny-smooth vocals and classy delivery. But the line between seductive and snoozy is a thin one, and established fans might wonder where the old fire has gone as they navigate through this glossy set of easy-listening, after-hours mood music. --Hal Horowitz