The Mavericks have always been up for some dancing and some romancing, so it makes perfect sense that they'd want to throw a little party for the holiday season. Released in 2018, Hey! Merry Christmas! is the first seasonal album from the group, featuring nine original tunes that celebrate Yuletide in their trademark retro-pop-Latin-roots music style, along with two familiar numbers from days gone by. The Mavericks have long shown a fondness for pop music's past, and they put their skills to good use on Hey! Merry Christmas! "Santa Wants to Take You for a Ride" is a slinky R&B number with a hint of double entendre in the lyrics, "Christmas Time Is (Coming 'Round Again)" and the title cuts are rockin' numbers suitable for dancing, "Santa Does" and "One More Christmas" merge upbeat lyrics with good-natured sentimentality, and if their version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" doesn't match the brilliance of Darlene Love's classic recording, Raul Malo's big-as-all-outdoors voice was made to order for this music. It wouldn't be a Mavericks album if Malo didn't get to wrap his vocal cords around something romantic and something sad, and "I Have Wanted You (For Christmas)" and "Christmas for Me (Is You)" fill the bill in the former category, while "It's Christmas Without You" is just rueful enough to qualify for the latter. Malo's voice may headline this show, but guitarist Eddie Perez, keyboard man Jerry Dale McFadden, and percussionist Paul Deakin certainly give him all the support he needs and more, generating a wall of groovy sounds, and producers Malo and Niko Bolas give the audio a big vintage sound with modern-day clarity. Hey! Merry Christmas! delivers a solid shot of good cheer for the holidays, and if this doesn't get a party started when you put it on, you and your friends need to ask Santa to bring you some coolness.