Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World

1.    Heart Shaped World
2.    I’m Not Waiting
3.    Don’t Make Me Dream About You
4.    Kings Of The Highway
5.    Wicked Game
6.    Blue Spanish Sky
7.    Wrong To Love You
8.    Forever Young
9.    Nothing’s Changed
10.    In The Heat Of The Jungle
11.    Diddley Daddy (Bonus Track)

When Chris Isaak’s “Heart Shaped World” arrived in record stores in June 1989, there was virtually nothing like it in contemporary pop music. More than three decades later, the singer-songwriter’s third album still sounds unique, and his spectacular voice — flawless, controlled, tense, reflective, passionate, glowing and haunting — has certainly helped the album sell more than 2.5 million copies to date.

“Heart Shaped World”, which also features the unforgettable Top 10 hit “Wicked Game”, remains a masterfully atmospheric work that invites the listener to pour a late-night drink, sit down in a dimly lit room and take in Isaak’s reflections on love, relationships and questionable decisions. Upon release, “Heart Shaped World” spent ten weeks on the Billboard 200 and reached number 149. But in October 1990, after Lee Chesnut repeatedly played “Wicked Game”for two weeks after noticing an instrumental version of the song on the soundtrack to David Lynch’s film “Wild at Heart”, Reprise Records released “Wicked Game” as a single, and the album immediately shot to number 7 on the Billboard charts.

Had director David Lynch not specifically selected two tracks from “Heart Shaped World” for his film, the album would probably have met the same fate as Isaak’s earlier works and remained unnoticed by the mainstream. Although the album was highly praised upon its original release by media such as NME, the Chicago Tribune and Rolling Stone, it dropped out of the charts after only a few weeks. But with Lee Chesnut, then music director of a major radio station in Atlanta, everything changed.

Supported by the sensual video featuring Isaak and supermodel Helena Christensen, which received heavy rotation on MTV, the song entered the public consciousness in early 1991 and helped turn Isaak into a highly unusual star. Despite its vintage flair and shared DNA with legends such as Roy Orbison, Chet Baker and Glen Campbell, “Heart Shaped World” goes beyond nostalgia, rockabilly and retro clichés. For all its melodrama and sadness, Isaak’s magnificent baritone dives deep beneath the emotional surface. He searches for nuances that suggest his feelings extend beyond heartbreak and anguish, occasionally hinting at frustration, menace and anger.

You can hear it in his trembling falsetto and in the slow, methodical way he allows delicate whispers to shift into shadowy phrasing that ventures into the darker sides of romance and desire. The sonic aesthetic, which could have come straight from a Memphis blues club and is infused with diverse stylistic variations, allows the listener to physically experience Isaak’s soul-deep pain.

Lovingly mastered from the original tapes at MoFi’s California studio and housed in a mini-LP-style gatefold package, this Hybrid SACD presents the classic for the first time in hi-fi reference quality. Fascinating naturalness and captivating presence, with unclouded clarity, unrestricted dynamics and exceptional attention to detail: the Hybrid SACD of “Heart Shaped World” lets the listener dive deeper than ever before into the album’s lonely mood and reflective themes.