Chris Isaak: Classic or Dud?

Listening to his new album of Sun Records covers and Great Cthulhu, this is the best musical comfort food ever!

I wasn't especially tempted by this, but then got a freebie and it is surprisingly enjoyable. There doesn't seem to be a comment on his christmas album above. Since CI always reminds me of sunny US days, an xmas album seems like a bad idea, but it's actually OK...

this guy never ages.

does anyone remember his short-lived cable TV series??

"Look at all you happy people; wish I could be like you. . ."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcnSZwkwUMs

Total classic.

Forever Blue is just about as good as they get. I just didn't know it at the time. . .

Rest of his catalogue is good, too.

"Go Walking Down There" got lots of airplay here. Cool song.

"Forever Blue" and "San Francisco Days" were both great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9SXTfSxXUQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDhzMPvkoys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G-5quGyj1g

I love the fact he has more of a singing cowboy style voice then a "rock voice". Either he was born into that or he really understands guys like Roy Orbison to a T. Either way hats off to him.

Forever Blue is my record of the moment and I have Baja Sessions on the way. I'll also probably pick up the Christmas Record before the holidays come around.

Big fan of San Francisco Days. That and Forever Blue are as good as it gets for this kind if thing, quality songs included along with the presentation.

"Forever Blue" and "San Francisco Days" were both great.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, April 13, 2013 8:35 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i still think of these as his "recent albums" since they came at the tail end of my chris isaak fandom

guy seems to be in a writing drought--only one album of new material in 11 years

Yeah, what's up with Chris Isaak? He had a really solid winning streak, and then just sort of ... stopped? Or at least, stopped getting any traction? He had the rare (a la UB40) hit with a song off an earlier album, had cool cachet, had some memorable acting roles in hip films. He's really funny, good looking. Is it just a matter of pop culture moving on? Is he an act like Los Lobos, with a hugely solid and popular catalog that just became instantly unfashionable?

He's retired and living off residuals from The Chris Isaak Show.

He's one of the hosts for X Factor Australia:
http://www.examiner.com/article/guy-sebastian-chris-isaak-james-blunt-join-x-factor-australia-judging-panel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aufudfyHIaA

CLASSIC

yup

in more ways than one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K35PUYZJSw

still my fave despite its use in that dumb and occasionally creepy movie about how men are afraid of commitment (which i realize describes like hundreds of movies).

Depressing, sad story about James Wilsey's final days
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/king-of-slow-guitarist-james-calvin-wilsey-784335/

Wow. Thanks for posting, I guess.

“Jimmy Wilsey of the Avengers was a young musician doing really interesting stuff that was really supportive of the song,” Klaus Flouride, bassist for the Dead Kennedys said in an interview with the online site MusicRadar"

Avengers were so great, their music still sounds amazing

Anyway.... Wilsey used to post quite a bit on the Telecaster Discussion forums. Some great info there - recommend this thread for anyone interested in the 70s punk scene in SF.

Intense vivid memory of seeing Chris Isaak covering "Heart Full Of Soul" on Johnny Carson in 1987 and thinking to myself "that's exactly how I want my guitar to sound"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=304DVYd9SXc

Whatever you think of Chris Isaak or the song's overexposure, "Wicked Game" is an all-timer, if only for the guitar sound.

It's definitely worth owning his Best Of compilation.

Dude's songs are helped by always immaculate production.

The male Lana Del Rey

spot on

I love all his stuff, but especially Forever Blue and San Francisco Days. Totally classy, great songs and playing. He did OK for himself, but I was just thinking yesterday about a different timeline where he covered "Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon" and it was used in "Pulp Fiction." Isaak's "Solitary Man" is super:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBV3topsAVg

lol Siegbrain totally!

Lots of guitarist biographies released this year, but this is the one I'm looking forward to the most.

https://www.seattlestar.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cover.jpg

"Wicked Game" alone is sufficient to ensure his place in the pantheon.

Love that guy’s music and the fact that he played both bass and guitar at such a high level. Apparently he had the classic super-addicted musician personality so I believe there will be a lot of S, D and R&R leading to agonizing inevitable slow and steady decay and organ failure.

He was quite a bit older than Isaak, right?

Isaak thoughts for the day:

San Francisco Days is the shit. I considered getting the red vinyl from RSD last year but apparently it's *not* the shit. The CD sounds pretty incredible anyway.

I haven't heard anything of his since The Baja Sessions, but everything up to and including that is pretty terrific.

He was always a musician following his own path, and he'd exclusively be a cult figure if "Wicked Game" didn't happen. As it is, he's both a minor legend and a cult figure. I think the LDR comparison is pretty apt, and he's also a bit like Richard Hawley. They're all retro-styled artists who manage to carve out a singular voice in a style which doesn't hide its influences and in fact displays them proudly, and never at all feels like a crummy watered-down version of the supposed real deal imo.

"can't do a thing to stop me" is the one that gets in my head the most, when "Wicked Game" doesn't.

I love the esprit du corps of "Two Hearts."

timeless + classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HLGHF-K75Y

He's so good. Funny, too.