Everyone needs a break, especially from making music. Sometimes you need time to reenergize, relax, recoup, and wait for the reservoir of creative juices to refill. I would, however, argue that perhaps 37 years between albums is pushing it a bit, but this could be countered by the fact that good things come to those who wait, and Mavis Sings Mavis is good… actually, it’s flippin’ great.
A combination of new material and old favorites, it reminds the world what great purveyors of power-pop ‘n’ roll Flight of Mavis was, and indeed still are. Just listen to “Gotta Getta New Car”: the perfect coming together of Buddy Holly-esque formative rock and roll and The Cars post-punk power-pop, and indeed burdened so little by those sounds that it is also the perfect party starter for the youth of today. Or, in fact, for anyone of any age to cut a rug and flip their wig to.
“Garage Sale Junk” sits at that place where power-pop, punk, and garage rock all meet, a realm of big guitars and raw energy but also of hook and harmony, the perfect pas de deux of muscle and melody. “Tonight’s The Night” is pop with big guitars and the perfect celebration of the joy of seeing your favorite band play live, and, hopefully, having that satisfying “see what you have been missing” moment with your friends. And although there is a hint of Elvis Costello running through much of what they do, this is the song that, in his younger days, he would have wrestled you to the floor for.
And “Down in the Basement” tells us that had Flight of Mavis been active in the nineties, it might have been them riding high in the pop-rock zone instead of bands like Weezer or Nada Surf! Just another one of the music world’s what ifs.
Okay, there is nothing that we can do about the band’s extended hiatus, but they are back now; they have a cracking record, and the world is their oyster, so to paraphrase Forrest Gump…sing, Mavis, sing!
