Some terrible news! The band's trumpet player Lorenzo Molina Ruiz and his friend Orlando Morales were beat up by a couple of racist yabbos for speaking Spanish while waiting in line for a bathroom at Tony’s Eat and Drink in Franklin, TN. The venue did nothing to stop the assault, and threw Lorenzo and Orlando out. Members Of The Mavericks Assaulted At A Nashville-Area Bar for Speaking Spanish
Good grief! Makes me so angry! Glad to hear they both survived, despite the awful and unnecessary injuries they sustained. People need to mind their own business instead of thinking they're entitled to control and bully everyone. Going to a restaurant would be fun if you didn't have to deal with other people like this in public. Everyone has a right to be left alone.
Lorenzo had started a GoFundMe account for Orlando: Victims of a hate crime, organized by Lorenzo Molina Ruiz Edit: I'm happy to see that the GoFundMe has been so successful that it is exceeded the original goal, but it's still terrible that it was necessary in the first place.
Played with a Mono cartridge, MONO sounds just fine. The problem is most Mavericks fans won’t be playing it that way. There’s a difference between summing two channel to mono with a switch and playing it truly in mono. Sometimes the difference is small, other times it’s like listening to an entirely different record.
Raul's wife Betty brings up the point that the Mavericks have just released an album in Spanish, and wonders if somebody's going to beat her husband up for singing Spanish songs. The Mavericks have always fit kind of uncomfortably in the world of country music, with their boots in multiple camps, a Cuban American lead singer singing songs in both English and Spanish. This year has been terrible enough without people going out of their way to make it worse.
Funny, I just played Mono tonight after playing the previous one (I always forget the name of it but it is a double album) after watching Chris’ video last night. Haven’t played it in a couple years. It sounds anything but fine, as reviews on Amazon also specifically mention, which is rare as most don’t comment on sound quality over there. Really depressing...what an incredible album Mono is. I have a very expensive turntable and cartridge and it just sounds lifeless and terrible, unlike the previous one. Ridiculous if they expected people to put a mono cartridge on their arm. How many people even own one! I still would love to meet whoever thought that was a good idea. I get what they were trying to do, but it failed and they just should have mastered it in stereo. I bet it really sounded great! I used to own a recording studio, so I envision the band listening to the final mixes of Mono and I just can’t understand how they thought it was okay to release it that way after all that work. Could just be they kept reworking it and finally enough was enough and it was time to get it out. And you pay by the hour, so at some point you have to stop. That I can even play it speaks volumes about how great the songs are. The CD was totally unlistenable.
I read the article on Apple News and they showed photos of both of them. Just heartbreaking. I am very fearful about where we’re going...it’s been a terrible 3-4 years imo, for many reasons. All I know is I think most would agree we are going in many wrong directions. Worse, how do we fix it? The sheriff is taking it serious and they seem to be making a real effort in tracking the thugs down. Should be plenty of witnesses but whether people from that bar will help is another thing entirely. Sounded like a rough group. Those two guys have given a lot of people a lot of entertainment. Just not right, whether celebrities or not.
I just checked over at the dr.loudness-war site, the CD if Mono has a dynamic range value of just 7. That in itself suggests a bad sounding CD regardless of the mono issue. Unfortunately they don’t have the dynamic range value for the vinyl pressing, but it’s most likely quite a bit higher. The record does not sound like a brick walled CD.
The cd was how I heard the album first because the vinyl wasn’t out yet. I hated the album at that time, I couldn’t really even tell if it was any good. It is rare for the kind of music I listen to for it to sound so bad I can’t even tell if it’s any good. The last Carrie Underwood album is the only one in recent memory I felt that way about, as others here said as well. That one was a major brickwall issue where it literally hurt your ears. I can’t imagine what the cd sounded like! For some reason I took a flyer on the vinyl copy of Mono when it came out. It was enough of an improvement that I could tell there was a fantastic album buried down there. At least it’s listenable, it’s just that if you are familiar with them you know how much better it could have sounded, and I’m sure it did in the studio before they outputted it in mono. Mono can sound great as we know. Their engineer obviously had no idea how go do it right...which makes sense. Who in the world wants to record an album these days and then put it out in mono? Just seems like whatever they were thinking, it wasn’t executed well at all. Since they obviously could tell after playing it in the monitors, why not just output the album to stereo which would return the dynamics and sound staging? Sorry for ranting about this...again. I know we already went over this back when it was new. I love the album and wish they would have done it right. Their Christmas album from last year sounds really good!
The Go Fund Me is at thirty grand. Hopefully that will put a little joy back in their lives, and show them how much their music is appreciated. I am definitely seeing them next time they come to town.
They were supposed to have played at least two dates at Knuckleheads Saloon this summer, and it all got canceled. It's always an amazing show, but once we're finally able to resume normal life there's going to be so much pent up need for music - both performing and listening - that will be just a gigantic explosion of sheer joy.
All right....I have been really critical of these guys because I like them so much and have really been scratching my head at some of their decisions since the Mono album. So, now it’s time to eat crow and talk about the new album. Someone said the Spanish album is great and can be enjoyed even if you don’t know the language. Okay, I’m in. Showed up today. First, very well pressed!!!! Quiet pressing. The previous albums were, imo, pressed at a very cheap pressing plant. It has a 180 gram sticker on the front so they are trying to appeal to audiophiles (yes, the whole 180G thing is a farce imo but hey, at least they are aware some of us do care). Second, the cover is beautifully done, and so are the inner sleeves. These guys took this project serious. A big plus is that the credits are in english, and there are english versions of all the lyrics, along with the spanish. It’s a Hoffman forum, so I have to discuss the sound. Let’s just say I would give almost anything to get the Mono album in this quality. It’s their BEST sounding vinyl album to date! Very well done, no compression and great dynamics. Great soundstage. I would imagine they used a completely different team to record this album. And Raul brought in a producer, though he’s still listed too. A huge plus I’ve been begging for...he needed it. They used, finally, a great mic for his vocals. Very crisp and clear...beautifully recorded all around!! I agree with those that say it’s a Maverick’s album, just in spanish. You know what? It’s fine! I enjoy the music and recording so much I really don’t care. As usual, his vocals are great. No all the songs are written by him, and over all the album is more mellow, but I’ve also been griping that their albums were starting to sound all the same so I can’t complain that they have changed things up a bit. It’s a lovely album and highly recommended! And priced great for a two album set (albeit just 12 songs but that helps the sound quality). I hope you guys will pick up a copy and comment, as so much of it is an improvement! It also comes with a digital download code, which is something that has all but disappeared from other vinyl releases.
Well, as you can see by my review above I think they used the time really well in taking their time and giving us an outstanding new album...I hope you in particular will pick up a copy. I can’t speak to the digital version but geez, the vinyl is a home run!!!!
It’s funny...there are a couple spanish songs where I recognize the melody but of course not the words. I think this whole album is worth it for their beautiful version of a song called Cuando me Enamoro/When I Fall In Love. Lovely!! I know I’ve heard it by the original artist...whoever it is. Just finished the last side...need to reemphasize that this a a more mellow album than their typical. There are a couple typical Maverick’s songs that are really fun and upbeat, but this is more a traditional spanish, rather mellow, album where a lot of it would be heard while enjoying food at your favorite Mexican restaurant, if we can remember what that was like...lol! I like the description used, “gorgeous.” That it is.
I saw the Mavericks perform at the New York State Fair last night, and it was great. It was only when we arrived at the fair in the morning that I learned the Mavericks were lined up to play. I heard part of an announcement around 1 p.m. mention “en Espanol,” and assumed their show that night would be en Espanol; the part of the announcement I missed had said the Spanish show starts at 2 p.m; the second, 7 p.m. set was mostly in English. Bummed to miss the first set but really enjoyed the second one, my first Mavericks show. I’ve been picking up their records since the Trampoline album came out.
