CHRIS ISAAK; "Forever Blue" (Reprise). * *
What do you do when your girlfriend dumps you? In Chris
Isaak's case, it gives you the impetus to write a new batch of songs.
"It wasn't actually like a breakup. It was more like an explosion," he writes. Which is probably why Isaak's "Forever Blue" is liberally laced with emotional ache, melancholy and downright despair. How else do you explain the bitterness of the title track wherein he sings "No reason left for living, still there's a lot to do." Dark stuff.
It is, Isaak says, "in a weird, dark way kind of funny . . . because as bad as things get, there're always things to do . . . you've still got to go down and wash the car. It's the little things like that that keep you going."
Yep, Chris Isaak is back with his first album in two years, and fans of the moody songster will not be disappointed with the morosity of "Somebody's Crying," "There She Goes," "Don't Leave Me On My Own" and "The End of Everything."
Catching a theme here? Isaak is throwing a pity party, and he wants everyone else to join him.
By all expectations, "Forever Blue" should be a bad album. How much broken-hearted misery can you take in one sitting, anyway? But it is not a bad album. It is not good, but it isn't bad, either.
Part of what makes it work is Isaak's voice - haunting in its similarities to the late-great Roy Orbison (without the falsettos, of course). Part of it is his uncanny knack for unforgettable melodies that harken back to the simplicity of rock 'n' roll in the late 1950s.
And an important part of Isaak's formula is the seductive electric guitar sound that weaves in and out of the melodies like a cool breeze on a sultry summer night. Just enough to make it refreshing.
"Forever Blue" (Isaak's fifth album in 10 years) starts off with the bluesy Canned Heat-esque "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing," offering hope-at-first-blush that Isaak is moving in new musical directions. Such hope is short-lived as Isaak then offers up a series of melancholy ballads - "Somebody's Crying," "Go Walking Down There," "Don't Leave Me On my Own," "Things Go Wrong" - that create the dark imagery that is Isaak's trademark.
In fact, there is nothing here that smacks of anything close to a great single that could push Isaak back to the brink of superstardom (if you're hoping for "Wicked Game" II, forget it). But there are a handful of tunes that are immensely enjoyable, superbly crafted and hyp-notic under the vocal prowess of Isaak.
Just a suggestion, Chris. If washing the car was all that kept you going during those I-got-dumped-on blues, you need get a real life.
Or try country music.
RATINGS: four stars (* * * * ), excellent; three stars (* * * ), good; two stars (* * ), fair; one star (* ), poor, with 1/2 representing a higher, intermediate grade.