Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American musician and occasional actor. He is widely known for his hit “Wicked Game”, as well as the songs “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” and “Somebody’s Crying”. He is known for his signature 1950s rock & roll style and crooner sound, as well as his falsetto and reverb-laden music. He is closely associated with film director David Lynch, who has used his music in numerous films and gave him a role in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. His songs generally focus on the themes of love, loss, and heartbreak. With a career spanning four decades, he has released a total of 12 studio albums, toured, and received numerous award nominations. He has been called the Roy Orbison of the 1990s and is also often compared to Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Duane Eddy.
Chris Isaak is the second album by Chris Isaak, released in 1987. After the poor commercial success of his debut, Isaak honed his style to a sophisticated R&B for his follow-up.[5] The song “Blue Hotel” was a hit in France, and in the U.K. after being re-released in 1991 making the Top 20. (wikipedia)
Having established a winning musical combination on Silvertone, Chris Isaak and his band essentially continue it with little variation on his second album, 11 songs of smoky, wounded romance and dark menace given great all-around performances. Isaak’s gift for capturing a perfect blend of early rock & roll twang and making it sound perfectly of the now is his greatest strength, and if later albums showed him finding new ways to twist and develop his approach, the relatively straight-up work here is more than fine. “Blue Hotel” is easily the killer track on the album, James Wilsey’s spaghetti Western lead guitar and Isaak’s yearning, lost singing perfectly matched.
There are plenty of other reasons to listen in, though. “You Owe Me Some Kind of Love” is in many ways the precursor to Forever Blue’s “Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing,” only before the breakup, though still charged with a threat of desire and need. Wilsey’s concluding guitar solo is especially sharp, and the way Isaak delivers the chorus balances between melancholy and urgency. For all the Roy Orbison comparisons Isaak won, “Cryin'” is in fact an original, but Isaak does tip his hat another direction with an attractive remake of the Yardbirds’ “Heart Full of Soul,” making it sound very much like an Isaak original instead of a worshipful carbon copy. Erik Jacobsen’s production again emphasizes Kenney Dale Johnson’s drumming without making it suffer from late-’80s corporate rock disease, while touches like the sax on “Lie to Me” and the buried strings and wordless backing vocals elsewhere adds depth and lushness to the album in just-right amounts. The whole experience is pure doom-haunted passion, elegantly on the run away from — or towards — someone. All that and a killer cover photo as well, the iris of Isaak’s eye only just in the light. (by Ned Raggett)
Personnel:
Pat Craig (keyboards)
Chris Isaak (vocals, guitar)
Kenney Dale Johnson (drums, vocals)
Prairie Prince (drums)
John Robinson (drums)
Rowland Salley (bass)
Chris Solberg (bass)
James Calvin Wilsey (guitar)
Tracklist:
01. You Owe Me Some Kind Of Love 3.52
02. Heart Full Of Soul 3.20
03. Blue Hotel 3.12
04. Lie To Me 4.13
05. Fade Away 4.16
06. Wild Love 2.56
07. This Love Will Last 2.46
08. You Took My Heart 2.30
09. Cryin’ 2.32
10. Lovers Game 2.55
11. Waiting For The Rain to Fall 3.39
All songs written by Chris Isaak;
except 02., written by Graham Gouldman
The offical website: