ALL NIGHT LIVE 1 (GATE)

Double vinyl LP pressing housed in a gatefold sleeve. Live albums, longtime staples of a golden age in rock and roll, are rare nowadays. But the Mavericks have validated the concept once again, launching their new record label with a long, loud landmark project entitled All Night Live Volume 1. The Mavericks are considered by many to be one of the greatest live bands of our time, and this masterfully sequenced and mixed collection of curated performances from 2015's Mono Mundo Tour captures a transcendent musical experience as if from the center of the fifth row at a venue of your dreams. All Night Live opens with an insistent four-four cowbell beat, like a call to action that morphs into the soaring horn lines and hard twist of "All Night Long." The hallmarks of the album as it unfolds are ambiance - a warm roomy feeling coaxed out carefully by engineer Nico Bolas working with co-producer Raul Malo - along with stylistic variety. The Mavericks don't get caught in a rut. "Stories We Could Tell" swings like Benny Goodman, while "Do You Want Me To" is a sultry, slow-burning blues.