Chris Isaak

With the well-chiseled features of a young Chet Baker and an ethereal croon that could’ve given Roy Orbison a run for his money, Chris Isaak would seem like a natural-born star. But he banged around for a few years before finally taking off with “Wicked Game,” where haunting, reverb-soaked guitar licks float across his almost otherworldly cries of passion denied. Isaak switched things up on “Baby Did A Bad Thing,” dropping down to the bottom of his range for an ominous, John Lee Hooker-like blues boogie. And on “Can’t Do a Thing (To Stop Me),” he hovers with deceptive calm above a cloud of angelic female harmonies, playing the unrequited lover whose only salvation lies in a shimmering swirl of fantasies about the object of his obsession.

Isaak is the ultimate victim of love, in Next Steps.

Despite his pinup-boy good looks and heavenly, heart-melting voice, Chris Isaak — at least judging by his songs — is the ultimate romantic ne’er-do-well. On the eerie, intense “Go Walking Down There,” he shouts out in anger and envy at happy, loving couples, consumed by the fire of his own foiled passion plays. On “Don’t Make Me Dream About You,” he’s just about to lose his battle of the heart, and you can easily imagine him taking the next step to the sad, deluded dreamland of “Can’t Do a Thing” (see: Basics.) Isaak even finds a historical precedent for his romantic wreckage, covering the unlucky-lovers anthem “Only the Lonely,” by the original Heartbreak Kid, Roy Orbison.

In Deep Cuts, Chris Isaak uncovers his rockin’ roots.

From his rockabilly hairdo to his vintage guitars, Chris Isaak has always taken an old-school approach to his roots-rock maneuvers, and it’s especially apparent on his choice of cover tunes. He adds a touch of West Coast cool to the Yardbirds’ British Invasion burner “Heart Full Of Soul” and surrenders to the spell of the Bo Diddley beat on a bumpin’, bluesy version of Bo’s “Diddley Daddy.” And when Isaak gets into a mellow mood, he reaches even further back, crooning a tender, Hawaiian-tinged take on the old calypso standard “Yellow Bird.”

Chris Isaak has the kind of voice that qualifies as a gift — it’s an instrument capable of subtlety and sensitivity, as well as passion and power. Where some singers batter away at a song from the outside, he works his way through a tune from the inside, whether he’s dropping words like windswept wisps of rain from a “Blue Spanish Sky” or spitting out the sassy come-ons of “Goin’ Nowhere.” The looks and charm that helped him establish an acting sideline haven’t hurt his popularity as a singer, but they might distract some folks from the pure artistry at the heart of his work. Here you have a chance to focus on the Essential qualities of Isaak’s catalog, with our handpicked platter of tunes from his blue, bittersweet, but beautiful world.