CHRIS ISAAK - HEART SHAPED WORLD
I got this album at 15. I was just getting into that whole David Lynch thing and Heart Shaped World was popular thanks to the success of Wicked Game which featured in ‘Wild at Heart’.
The ‘No Skipping’ rule of this historical listening experiment made me realise that I used to skip most of the tracks. For no good reason other than my ADHD style attention span though. More often than not its hard to find an album with no weak spots. The songs are ordered perfectly. The melodies and Isaak’s voice roll their way around your head all day. It’s been recorded like he’s sitting in the same room as you but he doesn't know you’re there.
How is it that someone I now know to be so charismatic and funny, can sound so intense when they’re singing? When I first heard Wicked Game, Chris Isaak was a mysterious heart broken voice belonging to what I assumed was a cowboy who lost their way and ended up in my CD player. I conceived a reality where this guy was singing to his heartbroken self one day when a record company dude just happened to be walking past and convinced him that he needed to get this song out there to the heartbroken masses.
This album reminds me of a trip I was forced take to Europe as a 16yo. I was nominated as my grandmothers helper/bag carrier/chaperone on her European trip of a lifetime. Which in retrospect is a great experience. At the time though when all you want to do is rock back and forth in the foetal position wearing black..its not ideal. My gran had to ‘ok’ my wardrobe before leaving which was horrendous. To make up for it I wore Converse All Stars with everything which pissed my gran off in all sorts of satisfying and amusing ways.
Shorts - All stars
Jeans - All stars
Evening Dresses - All stars
Pajama’s - All stars
So versatile!
I also had to make my hotel room bed before room service came because we couldn't let anyone, particularly not the hotel cleaning lady see just how wrinkled those bed sheets got when somebody actually slept in them. I was the youngest person on our tour bus by about 60 years.
We arrived in Amsterdam - yes...just the place for a grand-daughter and grandmother to spend some quality time hitting up the red light district (we did a tour and you don’t know odd until you’ve been on a group tour of dope cafe’s and sex clubs with your nanna...trust me). As a loathsome teen I spent most of my holiday locating and then zoning out to MTV in every country. Forget the MTV we know now - this was MTV when they still played music video’s. I couldn't understand much of what anyone was saying but the first video I saw was Wicked Game...featuring Chris Isaak and Helena Christensen rolling around on a beach. If you haven’t seen that video..then see it. Its a pop culture rite of passage...so are converse all stars - don’t try telling my gran that though.
STAND OUT TRACKS:
#1 Wicked Game
#3 Blue Spanish Sky
#4 Heart Shaped World
#7 Blue Hotel
#8 Dancin
#10 Voodoo
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