At the time of this interview, Raul Malo was still leading The Mavericks. Done for the Mojo issue of August 1998, it followed that magazine’s “Home Taping" format: subjects were asked to compile two sides of an imaginary mix-tape. Back in those days the whole exercise was highly theoretical. Nowadays you can actually follow through by using, say, Spotify.

Anyway, Malo was a delight. He took to the task with libidinous relish…

On the blower from his Nashville home, Raul Malo explains the strategy behind his tape. “I think the overall theme has to do with, if I were to make a tape of fun stuff, romantic stuff, stuff that would guarantee you to get laid. I think that’s what inspired it. Gettin’ laid. The prime directive of the male species.”
     If you could really guarantee that, then sell it, you’d stand to make an awful lot of money.
     “Yeah! Who needs Viagra? Just let me make you a couple of tapes…”
     And a burly cackle comes down the trans-Atlantic phone line. We’d actually asked The Mavericks’ frontman to compile a party tape – maybe something with the same rug-cutting properties as their recent Top 5 smash, Dance The Night Away. He readily agreed: in fact this tape is one he had prepared earlier. But to hear him explain his choices, you’d suspect he was planning a party with just one other name on the guest list. (And if you’re a bloke, it isn’t yours.)
     Malo is a Miami native, born to Cuban parents, which would explain the pungent Latin flavour on display here. But there is a more puzzling feature. The Mavericks are a rockin’ country band. Why are there no country acts on his tape?
     Malo considers. There is a note of regret in his voice. “That’s probably because country music is like birth control. It’s definitely not gonna get you laid. At least not women with teeth.”

SIDE ONE

Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (Reprise)
Probably one of the most romantic records ever made. I love the blending of the two: Sinatra, the swinging guy from Jersey, and then the suave Jobim, real suave music from Down South. A brilliant collaboration.

Eydie Gorme y Trio Los Panchos
Piel Canela
Eydie Gorme y Los Panchos (Sony)
Los Panchos was a Latin-American trio, acoustic guitars, they had real romantic sound too, mellow and beautiful. Eydie Gorme did a complete album with them, and when I was a kid in my house that album played constantly. She really endeared herself to the Latin community by singing these beautiful Spanish songs. This album was such a part of my childhood and I recently rediscovered it. It livens up a party real good. It’s one of those albums you can play anywhere and people will start to dance. “Piel Canela” is basically brown skin, and it’s about a beautiful brown-skinned woman.

Perez Prado
Mambo No. 5
Original Mambo King (Sony)
Perez Prado was the undisputed King of the Mambo, and if you want to get a party going, Mambo No. 5 is the song to play, one of the ultimate party songs. The mambo is Cuban. I’m proud to say that along with the finest cigars in the world, we invented the mambo. But the only thing we’re allowed to import to the States is misery!

The Beatles
Flying
Magical Mystery Tour (Parlophone)
For some reason it’s always been one of my favourites. I love their psychedelic screw-the-world era, when they’d made so much money and had so much notoriety that they did whatever they wanted. I love that song, it’s got a groovy little melody.

Etta James
At Last
The Essential Etta James (Chess)
This to me is definitely another one of those songs that’s guaranteed to get you laid. That’s Viagra all the way, baby! There’s so many compilations out now, I don’t know what the original album is, but I got this from her Greatest Hits.

Nat King Cole
When I Fall In Love
20 Golden Greats (Capitol)
You wanna hear perfection in vocal performance, in a romantic song, this is it. I grew up with this, it was constantly playing in my house, and it’s funny because when I grew up, it’s constantly playing in my house now.

Ray Charles
You Are My Sunshine
Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music (ABC Paramount)
You see, there’s a country one! Ray paid country music its ultimate tribute, by doing a pretty standard hokey country song and turning it into a soulful, energetic, tear your gut out kind of song. It’s an amazing rendition. Country music and black music were always interrelated. Nat King Cole recorded country songs. Country has always been part of popular music whether people want to admit it or not. Tony Bennett’s first record was a Hank Williams song. The Beatles covered a lot of country songs. Chet Atkins was one of George Harrison’s heroes.

Harry Nilsson
Me And My Arrow
Personal Best (RCA)
Oh man, that song, it just gets me in a great mood. It’s so groovy, you’re sitting around having a couple of drinks with friends, and inevitably somebody will get up and start doing the Grateful Dead dance when that song goes on. I’m not a Deadhead so I don’t know how to describe it, but you ask any Deadhead and they’ll know.

Elvis Presley
Sentimental Me
From Memphis To Nashville (RCA)
Sentimental Me was recorded in the period that was actually my favourite Elvis period, in 1961. I know that aficionados don’t like this era, because it was a little mellower, but I think Elvis really matured and came into his own as a singer. I know he had a lot of cheesy stuff, all the movie stuff, all that crap. But he still made some great recordings in that era and Sentimental Me is one of them. The song was originally on an album called Something For Everybody, but the easiest reference is the box set From Memphis To Nashville.

Vicente Fernandez
El Rey
Los 15 Grandes Exitos (Sony)
He is probably one of the biggest international singing stars ever. He’s Mexican, he’s made movies and tons of records. He’s like a singing Clint Eastwood, if you can imagine that. Totally bad-ass in his movies, he ropes cattle and he gun-fights, always dressed in the mariachi outfits. And this song, El Rey, is The King, just Latin testosterone all the way. I had to pick it for its machismo.

SIDE TWO

Tony Bennett
I Wanna Be Around
16 Most Requested Songs (Columbia)
He’s an absolute favourite and I Wanna Be Around is probably one of my all-time favourite songs, melodically and lyrically. The performance of Tony singing that song is incredible. And my God he can still sing.

Ella Fitzgerald
Where Or When
Sings The Rodgers & Hart Songbook Vol. 1 (Verve)
Another of my favourite songs ever, written by the great Rodgers & Hart team. So many of their songs were covered by so many artists, including Frank, and Mel Torme, Louis Armstrong, all the greats. But I think when Ella recorded Where Or When you really get the essence of that song. The vocal on it, I think, is just terrific. Her version is more on the understated side and it makes a deep impression.

Engelbert Humperdinck
The Way It Used To Be
Greatest Hits (London)
Oh man, he’s not taken seriously in England? I love Engelbert! Oh yeah! This song, The Way It Used To Be, it’s so good. Yeah, it’s kind of cheesy, but if you play it at the right time, and to the right woman – phew! – gets ’em goin’ every time. I think he’s a really good singer who’s done some cheesy stuff, but Release Me was a great rendition of that song, and A Man Without Love, The Mavericks do that live.

Ray Conniff
That’s What Happiness Is
Greatest Hits (Columbia)
I think he’s had over 200 albums. Somebody ought to do a count on him, and just stop him. Anyway this song, That’s What Happiness Is, is probably in that strange category of really bad yet really good. And it’s a great barometer. It’s a great first date song, when you’re getting to know your girl. You pop it in the tape: if she laughs, and gets it, then she’s a cool chick. If she tells you how awful it is, how she can’t believe you’re listening to it – open the door and let her out. She’s too uptight. You’ll notice that all these songs are tied into the prime directive. It’s the recurring theme here, isn’t it? I’m tellin’ ya, man. It’s why we do everything we do.

Tito Puente
Timbalero
Fania Legends Of Salsa Vol 3 (Fania)
This is just a great Latin song with a great rhythm to it. The horns are vibrant, guaranteed to kick-start any party, a great danceable song.

Smash Mouth
Walking On The Sun
Fush Yu Mang (Interscope)
Walking On The Sun is one of those songs that, for some reason, reminds me of something and I don’t know what. You hear any great song and it touches a nerve, but you can’t quite pinpoint what it reminds you of. That’s what it does to me. Plus, when you’re trying to impress a girl, she’s young and she’s hip, you can’t be playing all of that old fogey stuff. “I’m a little hip, honey! Look, I got Smash Mouth!”

Terry Snyder
Binga Banga Bongo
Mister Percussion (United Artists)
He was a percussionist-drummer extraordinaire. During the ’50s and the ’60s there were all these records made by instrumentalists and they were a big deal. Whereas now you might have jazz instrumentalists but you don’t have a lot of pop instrumentalists, with the exception of Kenny G. These guys like Terry Snyder were pop artists. I don’t know why my Mom bought this, but it was one of those audiophile records, where everything was recorded perfectly. And this particular track, Binga Banga Bongo, I challenge any engineer in the world today to make a record that sounds as good, sonically. And the energy is inspirational, it was the inspiration for the last Mavericks album.

Eydie Gorme
Blame It On The Bossa Nova
Greatest Hits (Columbia)
Again it’s one of those songs like the Ray Conniff thing, it’s one of those barometer songs. You play that and if the chick gets it, she laughs, you’re in. If not, then run. Eydie Gorme’s not a Latin artist but she sings beautifully in Spanish. She’s not trying to cop some feel, she really sings it perfectly. It’s definitely a novelty song, Blame It On The Bossa Nova, but it’s obnoxious enough to clear out a party that you want cleared out.

Chet Baker
You’re Driving Me Crazy
Chet Baker Sings It Could Happen To You (Original Jazz Classics)
If you’re closing the night out, now, Chet Baker was for me the ultimate in cool. If James Dean could sing, he’d be Chet Baker. I love his instrumental records, his horn playing was terrific, especially for a couple of brilliant years. But I love his singing, which nobody ever talks about. His phrasing is just so suave, nobody can sing like that. Even if you tried to sing that soft you’d sound like an idiot. There’s no way to do it and be that cool, but he did it.

Frank Sinatra & Duke Ellington
All I Need Is The Girl
Francis A & Edward K (Reprise)
Well, I think the title says it all. All I Need Is The Girl. There’s our prime directive again, summed up in that one song!