Search - Chris Isaak :: Baja Sessions

Interesting pencil rewrite of the Isaak catalog

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 06/01/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Clocking in at only 39 minutes, and recorded in "Baja" San Francisco, this is more a placeholder than a true followup to last year's Forever Blue. Included among the thirteen tracks are reworkings of cuts from Isaak's 1985 LP Silvertone, including "Pretty Girls Don't Cry" "Back On Your Side" and "Dancin'", a cover of 1989's "Wrong to Love You," and a new version of 1993's "Two Hearts." Also included is a rendering of Roy Orbison's signature tune, "Only the Lonely," featuring what seems to be the C&H Sugar jingle used as a guitar riff. Rounding out the covers are the chestnuts "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)" "Yellow Bird" and "Sweet Leilani." In total, Isaak adds only four new titles to this LP.What's Isaak's motivation for covering Isaak? Apparently a desire to apply his signature sound to compositions recorded before his penmanship was so refined. The double tracked vocals of earlier versions have been replaced by the fuller, more confessional stylings of Chris Isaak circa 1996. The production is stripped of mid-80s gloss and given Isaak's now characteristic sound: sparse arrangements with a bass-heavy balance and crystalline guitars that compliment Isaak's languorous vocals. Given the explosive popularity of 1989's Heart Shaped World, the reworked songs provide a fan-friendly introduction to some of Isaak's earlier material.More of an Isaak-snack than a full meal. But it's a tasty snack."

Forget Jimmy Buffett

Paul C. Sullivan | 05/21/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Forget Buffett. Mix yourself a big pitcher of margaritas and find yourself a hammock, back porch swing, lawn chair or whatever you have. Then, sit back and let the sounds of Baja Sessions carry you away to Southern California or any other paradise you're long overdue for. The Roy Orbison cover is worth the price of the CD alone."

One of my top ten favorite pop music albums

D. Jack Elliot | Omaha, Nebraska | 07/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I once read in a review of a Creedence album that their music is "about as contrived as the weather." That's a good take on Isaac's Baja Sessions album. These songs are so honest, unpretensious, expressive, and well-performed that they seem to be something Isaak must have discovered, rather than written and recorded himself. As many other reviewers have observed here, he has one of the best voices in the history of popular music (personally, I think it's THE best). And I love the sense of place, the sense of location, the blend of southern Californian and Mexican cultures here. As with the blues and the Mississippi delta, or bluegrass with Kentucky and Apallachia, it's art that is expressive not just of the artist but of his culture as well, of the people around him rather than only of him, that is really worth something. The original material here is as good as the covers, which are done so well they seem as though Isaak might as well have written them, too."