Lover's Rock

Nearly seventeen years after its original release and nearly four years since amazing myself by figuring out how to convert my 1991 vintage oxide shedding cassette version to compact disc, Mavericks by Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey has been rereleased with six bonus tracks by Collector's Choice!

I shouldn’t have to educate you hipsters by name dropping the bands/musicians Peter and Chris have been associated with on various levels/projects. But I will. The dB’s, Alaska (with John Howie), Continental Drifters, Alex Chilton, Whiskeytown, REM, Matthew Sweet, Don Dixon, Marshall Crenshaw, Tres Chicas and others. Enough said.

Mavericks’s two part harmonies recall the Everly Brothers with subtle nods to the British Invasion and the Byrds. The majority of the lyrics revolve around love, some lost and some won. It might sound like an insult, but it certainly isn’t, to describe Mavericks as adult acoustic pop. Stamey and Holsapple are old enough (and so am I) to remember when “pop music” was something you heard on the radio in your car and liked. These tracks wouldn't sound out of place blasting out of your AM radio in 1969 between the Beach Boys and the Beatles.

The bonus tracks, as is often the case, are welcome but not essential additions. The disc stands strong on the original dozen tracks including “Angels”, “Here Without You”, “I Want To Break Your Heart”, “She Was The One” and “Lover’s Rock”. If life is fair, some indie film maker will place a track or two from this reissue on her next film and give this lost gem the attention it deserves.

“She was the one, how could I tell, I took a guess and she did the rest."

Rating: The perfect Valentine’s Day gift. Put away your discs of banjo solos, G N’ R and emo mope rock. Open a bottle of wine, put on this disc-the mood is set .If you’ve just been dumped, put on this disc, open a beer and cry in it.