Chris Isaak
Heart Shaped World
Alt.Rock/Singer-Songwriter
1989
192Kbps CBR

With his chiselled features and haunting croon, Chris Isaak appeared in the mid-1980s like a roots-rock Chet Baker. His hushed, romantic singing style perfectly complemented his songwriting, which blended the rockabilly/pop styles of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison with a country twang and touch of West Coast cool. His career took off with the song \"Wicked Game,\" featured in the 1990 David Lynch film, WILD AT HEART. Subsequently, Isaak proved a natural at acting, appearing in numerous films and even landing his own cable series in 2001, THE CHRIS ISAAK SHOW.

Chris Isaak managed to turn his videogenic visage and brooding masculinity to his advantage in a big way, becoming a sort of MTV-era cross between James Dean and Elvis. Heady stuff, but don\'t hate him because he\'s beautiful. In fact, Isaak had been plying his trademark latter-day rockabilly sound for some years before the inclusion of \"Wicked Game\" in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart jolted sales of Heart Shaped World. (But in truth, the stylish Herb Ritts video didn\'t hurt, either.) Still, the album is a moody gem, featuring the pensive title track, the smouldering \"Blue Spanish Sky\", and,more… of course, \"Wicked Game\". If you still doubt Isaak\'s good intentions, though, check out the album\'s rocking finale, a fine version of Bo Diddley\'s \"Diddley Daddy\".

Chris Isaak\'s dark, sultry, reverb-drenched \"Wicked Game\" poured out of radios across the nation in 1990, pushing the sales of HEART SHAPED WORLD well past platinum. With its meandering melody, moody atmospherics, and Isaak\'s half-baritone, half-falsetto delivery, its popularity was no accident: the song is a piece of pop perfection. Isaak\'s aesthetic is heavily retro--he borrows from the high, poignant drama of Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley (and even his chiseled features and slicked-back hair seem like something off a Sun Records album cover)--yet he combines his influences in a fresh and compelling way.
HEART SHAPED WORLD holds to the promise of \"Wicked Game,\" making for a record that begs to be played at 2:00 in the morning, with neon light streaming through the blinds. It has a haunted, heartbroken quality to it, with the spare instrumentation allowing plenty of room for Isaak\'s knee-weakening croon to unfurl. Most impressively, Isaak\'s stylish update of a classic sound makes the record hard to date, assuring its relevance for years to come.

Q - 3 Stars - Good

CD Buyer\'s Guide - \"pretty impressive\"

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Tracklisting
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1. (00:03:29) Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World
2. (00:03:16) Chris Isaak - I\'m Not Waiting
3. (00:03:33) Chris Isaak - Don\'t Make Me Dream About You
4. (00:04:46) Chris Isaak - Kings of the Highway
5. (00:04:48) Chris Isaak - Wicked Game
6. (00:03:58) Chris Isaak - Blue Spanish Sky
7. (00:04:19) Chris Isaak - Wrong to Love You
8. (00:03:23) Chris Isaak - Forever Young
9. (00:04:08) Chris Isaak - Nothing\'s Changed
10. (00:06:19) Chris Isaak - In the Heat of the Jungle
11. (00:04:05) Chris Isaak - Diddley Daddy

Playing Time.........: 00:46:04

Extra Files: m3u, Front Cover, Back Cover CD Cover And Inside Sleeve.

Total Size: 64mb<div class="clear-left">