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PERFORMING ARTS
Raul Malo
The Box Tops -- from left, Gary Talley, John Evans, Alex Chilton, Bill Cunningham and Danny Smythe -- performed Friday at George Mason.
(Boxtops.com)
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Raul Malo doesn't want to be taken seriously. There aren't a lot of singers whose gifts seem as obviously otherworldly as Malo's did throughout Thursday's show at the Birchmere. Yet he appeared almost unaware of his extraordinary genius.
Malo came to some level of fame in the mid-1990s as the lead singer of the Mavericks, a Miami-based combo that for a time was the funnest live act working the country-music circuit. Malo's voice, which melds Pavarotti and Presley, was the best thing about the party. Now touring with a backup trio under his own name, Malo played just one tune -- "O What a Thrill" -- from the Mavericks' stunning 1994 breakout disc, "What a Crying Shame."
He instead filled much of the 90-minute set with material he's yet to release, including several cover songs recorded with Peter Asher, the music industry legend who has managed James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and Carole King. "The record will come out in July, one way or another," Malo said several times of the Asher sessions.
If this performance was any indication, the CD can't come out soon enough. Tops of the uniformly stellar bunch were "Welcome to My World," a much-covered tune (Dean Martin, Elvis) that Malo crooned as smoothly as Johnny Mathis could have, and "You're Only Lonely," a J.D. Souther heartbreaker that found Malo wading into Roy Orbisonian waters for the first of many times in the night.
-- Dave McKenna
The Walkmen
On their three albums, the Walkmen have produced invigorating and enigmatic indie rock using a deft combination of trebly guitars, distinctive organ, rumbling drums and crooning vocals. But at the band's show at the 9:30 club on Thursday night, one member stood out from the rest.
Wearing a white shirt, white pants and a mischievous grin, drummer Matt Barrick could have been mistaken for one of the droogs from "A Clockwork Orange." But he was as agile as a lightweight boxer behind the kit. For him, drumming is a full body activity, and as he bounced around on his stool, limbs flailing, he provided the key dynamic elements to eerie, atmospheric songs like "Don't Get Me Down" and "Wake Up."
The mellower material featured on the New York quintet's new album, "A Hundred Miles Off," provided some of the night's best moments. Vocalist Hamilton Leithauser's relatively restrained delivery on songs such as "Louisiana" and "Danny's at the Wedding" proved a better fit than his screaming on the more anthemic numbers. "The Rat," a breakout hit on 2004's "Bows + Arrows," still soared but was hurt by Leithauser's overbearing intensity. As he belted out the lyrics -- only partially into the microphone -- his eyes clenched shut and his face turned bright red as veins bulged out of his neck. Despite the spectacle, he still couldn't divert attention from the man in white behind him.
-- David Malitz
