Chris Isaak Appreciation Thread

I saw Chris Isaak back in '87 at The Bottom Line in NYC. It was an early show and he was having a good time and wanted to play longer. He unplugged his guitar and walked outside where people were standing in line for the late show. He let them know that the early set was going late. He sang a song for them out on the street, then came back in climbed back on stage plugged back in and played a few more songs.

 

Absolutely agree, I always bring that point up to people when discussing his music. That run of albums from Heart Shaped World through Baja Sessions was a strong as any artist from any era. A fantastic run. Although to me after that he seemed to lose interest or something, somehow his music lost some of that great emotion and feel. But after all that was almost a 10 year run of stellar albums, in musical terms that is a pretty long time to maintain that excellence.

 

He used to visit Australia a bit way back...he guested on a lot of TV shows down there and always struck me as quite a humble guy. He never seemed to take himself too seriously...just a comment referencing a few of the earlier posts stating that he was a prima donna. He may be...just never struck me as that at all when I used to see him on TV in Australia.

 

That Thing You Do!...

 

now that's dedication to his craft...nice!

 

Back when I had a vhs deck with a blank tape always in it I must have taped at least 30 tv shows with him as as musical guest - Letterman, Leno. Austin City Limits, VH-1, etc. etc. He was always a popular <and safe, I guess> musical guest on variety and talk shows. All those vhs tapes ended up in a garbage bin when I moved out west.

 

I'm a pretty big fan.....

Shake Little Sister
King Without A Castle
Let's Have A Party
I Want You To Want Me
Dark Moon
It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You
Blues Has Found Us
She
Movie Star Is Sleeping
Keep The Heartache Real
Everyone Gets Down
Fast N Slow
Suspicion Of Love
Eyes Of Texas
So Lovely Is The Night
Winter Waves
Besame Mucho
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
I'll Be Home For Christmas
Santa Bring My Baby Back
My Baby Don't Love Me No More
Bonnie B
The Little White Cloud That Cried

Those are the studio b-sides.....if there are any others out there, I don't know about them...... I can give more details if anyone is looking for them. I've posted quite a few covers on albumartexchange.com:

http://www.albumartexchange.com/covers.php?sort=4&q=mattdm11 isaak&fltr=1&bgc=&page=

 

Sounds like it's time for a career spanning box set!

 

And for those who said it already....Heart Shaped World, San Francisco Days and Forever Blue is a great 3 album run. His first two albums I can't get into as much.....Baja Sessions is a throwaway album in that I don't really consider it a proper release....Speak of the Devil is solid but not up to part with the the rest of the 90s output. Always Got Tonight and Mr. Lucky are hit and miss, and suffer from too much compression, but some great tracks like We Let Her Down, Take My Heart, Life Will Go On, Courthouse.

Forever Blue was my first exposure to him and still my favorite album. Man what a great album....not a bad track on it.

 

NO! Then my years of hunting down rare singles all goes out the window.

 

For those who want to see the artwork

 

Very true indeed! They need to issue The Chris Isaak show to DVD, as it's never been officially released.

James Calvin Wilsey is a gentleman, I spoke to him a few years ago. My understanding is that he has some other business ventures in addition to a family, but still plays music. Composing and recording music for commercial purposes seems to be in line, considering Wilsey's distinctive sound and style.

 

Yes, he did, but the overall sound of SFD is already quite different from that of the first three albums, less dark, less intense and much cleaner.

 

Man my favorite record by Chris is "Always Got Tonight".

 

These are especially good songs

 

I don't think I even knew that the "Best Of" cd has 4 previously unreleased songs - I always just watch the dvd!

 

I think that is a great way of putting it. It was like an island of fun in his early catalog. With Forever Blue he went right back to the darker material; even the upbeat I Believe has dark undertones in the lyrics. But it is nice to be able to pull SFD out when I want to hear Chris, but am not feeling so blue.

 

Amazing voice and talent I have most of his LPs/Cds. Want to get more vinyl mind u

sean

 

Like a number of people here I also prefer the albums he recorded with James Wilsey.
So, tend to mostly listen to the first four albums.
I love that Fender guitar sound of Wilsey.
Hopefully Isaak and Wilsey will hook up again one day and record some new songs.


Isaak with Wilsey on lead guitar on Letterman in 1991

 

Uncle Bob!

 

I needed a "wake up" album today to ease me into my Saturday morning while sipping my coffee.

I just happened to spot Baja Sessions, put it on, and it turned out to be a perfect choice. I am really grooving on this one right now.

So, as often happens, whenever I am listening to an album, I did a quick search for a corresponding Hoffman thread to possibly bump up.

I own three Isaak albums:

Heart Shaped World
Forever Blue
Baja Sessions

All wonderful...

 

I would like to add that my CD copy of Forever Blue is very special to me as it belonged to my late mother.

When she died, my brothers and sister all insisted that I take her CD collection as I was the "music lover" of the family. I was very pleased that she had more than a few gems in her collection that she had found out about all on her own.

Forever Blue was one of them...

 

Indeed...damn! I love that movie!

 

I have a 3" promo Cd with 2 versions of Wicked Game.
One is an instrumental with only background vocals