Chris Isaak's Retro Passion
Nando Media
Scripps Howard December 8, 1998
By Michael Mehle
Chris Isaak and his band can deliver a hard-rocking, retro sound like few others, but the singer's career has been defined by the heartfelt romantic ballad songs about finding love, losing it, picking up the pieces and repeating the cycle.
That's the gist of his seventh album, "Speak of the Devil," a collection that yaws between soulful, '60s inspired rock and grand, pleading ballads about romantic desperation. But toward the end, Isaak croons optimistically in "Talkin' 'Bout A Home," a song that's a send-off to all other lovers and an invitation to settle down with someone special.
"It's a guy telling a girl that he's sent out letters to all the girls he used to go out with, he's cleaning it all up and telling her, 'Everybody knows, It's you and me,' " Isaak said recently from a tour stop in New Orleans. "I always picture him looking into the window of a jewelry store and looking at those rings. And I picture my hometown. There's a jewelry store there. And I picture myself there, thinking, 'This is it. I found her.' "
Is that supposed to be about Isaak who, judging by his autobiographical songs, must be the loneliest rock star/movie actor in America?
"I'm hoping that's going to be me," said the singer, 42. "I'm not worried about the ring. The ring I can get quick. I worry about the girl, and then, past that, I worry about me. People always say, 'I've got to find the right partner.' But, hey, you've got to be ready when you do, too."
Isaak's female relations have long been fodder for his albums. For instance, 1995's fantastic "Forever Blue" reflected the painful break-up with his girlfriend of the time.
"Speak of the Devil" hints that there's more pain to be found in relationships. The melancholic "Don't Get So Down On Yourself," he said, is about a boyfriend who reassures his lonely partner over the phone that there's support and friends for her.
"She's alone and feeling it," he said. "I like the idea of somebody saying, 'Yeah, your friends are still here for you. Don't get so down on yourself.' It's the kind of thing I'd love for somebody to say to me.
"I like that song. I think it's one of my favorites on the album. I like the message the best. There are times when you want somebody to say, 'Yeah, you're going to be all right.' "
Isaak doesn't worry about using his discs to dump his emotions on the public.
"People ask me if I reveal too much," he said. "It's not about me; it's about the people who are listening. I don't listen to Hank Williams and say, 'Oh, now I know all about Hank Williams.' That's not it. I listen to Hank Williams and say, 'Yep, that's my story.'
"Most people don't have any interest in what personally is going on in my life. They don't have to. They don't need to have that in order to get it." Does he want that type of personal interest from his fans. "I only want that from the person that I'm in love with," he said.
"Speak of the Devil" boasts a slightly different sound from his previous releases. Isaak's style is still grounded in that reverb-drenched, Sun Studios quality that finally landed him on radio with 1989's "Wicked Game," but "Speak of the Devil" is sprinkled with a few new wrinkles and a larger, Wall of Sound production.
"There's a touch of Phil Spector on there. But not the full Phil Spector. Nobody brought a handgun into the studio," Isaak cracked, alluding to the producer's reported penchant for wielding weapons during recording sessions.
He also worked with songstress Diane Warren, who has penned songs for everyone from Celine Dion to Aerosmith. You can hear her touch on the grandiose "Breakin' Apart."
"I wanted to try to do something that was different. She's great at having those big crescendos that climb and build. I like that," he said. "They asked me, 'Who would you like to write with?' And I thought, 'Well, I don't want to write with someone who writes like me.' I know all of my own tricks. I know all of my own bad medicine."
He's also continuing to work in movies. After small roles in films ranging from "Silence of the Lambs" to "That Thing You Do!," Isaak will play a Southern sheriff in a film with Tom Arnold called "Shepherd." He's also about to sign on for another role he won't detail, but he said all of the acting parts are merely a way to work his way behind the screen directing and writing films.
"Every time I act, I think it gets me closer to doing what I want to," he said. "I've got two film ideas that I'm writing now.
"I'm not Will Smith. I'm not going to be making the type of movie where everything is blowing up and the government is involved. I want to make the small B-movies that make a handful of people say, 'I can't believe somebody made that movie."'
MICHAEL MEHLE is a music critic at the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.