Music |
Silvertone
Chris Isaak
By
Published: Jan 01, 2005
Category:
Rock
Silvertone
Chris Isaak
I saw Chris Isaak in concert a while back. What a goofball. Tall as Elvis, with the King’s 1950s sneer and one of those show-biz suits not seen since those awful early Elvis movies. A lot of bad jokes and jumping around. And then two very perky Japanese beauties bounded on stage and danced like crazy for a minute or two.
Meanwhile, Chris Isaak was singing his songs. His spooky songs — at once bastard children of Roy Orbison, and, at the same time, howls of surfer pain. Very relaxed and totally fried. Tragedy never sounded this good.
And when the show ended, he rushed out to the lobby. Here’s one musician who likes signing autographs and meeting his fans. Who, as you might expect, develop world-class crushes on him and follow him from city to city.
Not long after we saw Chris Isaak in concert, we left the country and spent a month in the back of beyond, a good half hour from anything. On our small music machine, we often found ourselves spinning Isaak’s “Baja Sessions,” made after he took his band on a surfing trip. As if he were channeling Elvis in some ridiculous movie, he and the guys sat on the beach after each day’s surfing and played through his catalogue. Then they went back to San Francisco and recorded the songs live in the studio. That CD makes Jimmy Buffett sound…tense.
Put all that together, and it’s easy to overlook this guy, to see him as not much more than an Orbison retread with an incongruous live show. And, of course, to dismiss him as a pretty boy who gets named to the occasional People Magazine “beautiful people” list and scores small roles in Jonathan Demme’s movies. Career growth? He’s cutting the same grooves he was two decades ago. Creative breakthrough? The fans would weep.
On the other hand, if you actually listen to the guy, you’ll see that he’s on to something. That he knows his talents and exploits them fully. That he writes damn good songs. And that he really can get his voice way up there. And wasn’t his song — “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” — the best moment in “Eyes Wide Shut,” Stanley Kubrick’s disastrous last film?
Because his music has a template, his first CD is as good as the latest. For me, it’s also his best. A ghostly dance tune, all gauze and moonlight and voodoo. A triumphant hymn to a lover who’s returned. A dreamy ballad. Some praise for beautiful women, “they know exactly what they want.” In his way, he’s as atmospheric as Bryan Ferry — but without the high-class attitude. These songs are all-American romantic dreams, as blue collar as Roy Orbison and as rugged as a San Francisco surfer.
In interviews, Isaak makes light of his music’s best use — as a romantic catalyst. But it’s true. His music is an aphrodisiac: slow and sinuous and sincere. There are worse uses for popular music. Indeed, there are few better.
To buy “Silvertone” from Amazon.com, click here.
