Maps of Music

Heart Shaped World (1989)

Where the lyrics of Heart Shaped World take you, and where it was really made.

The album released in June 1989 peaked at only number 149 on the Billboard 200, and it became Chris Isaak's biggest seller only after a radio music director in Atlanta began playing one of its songs in late 1990.

Key places

Recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley (1989)

Recording site Zellerbach Auditorium (Berkeley) — The album was recorded in 1988 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The point uses city-level coordinates, not the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Dave Wellhausen Recording, San Francisco (1989)

Recording site Soapbox West — Part of the album was recorded at Dave Wellhausen Recording in San Francisco. The point uses city-level coordinates, not the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Heart Shaped World: third studio album by American musician Chris Isaak
• Released on 13 June 1989 by Reprise Records
• Became Isaak's breakthrough album, driven by the Top 10 hit "Wicked Game"
• Remains his best-selling work
• Certified double platinum by the RIAA
• Core band: Isaak on vocals and guitar, James Calvin Wilsey on lead guitar, Rowland Salley on bass and vocals, Kenney Dale Johnson on drums and vocals
• Additional players include Prairie Prince on drums and percussion, Frank Martin and Pete Scaturro on keyboards, and Christine Wall and Cynthia Lloyd on vocals
• Production credited to Erik Jacobsen; Mark Needham engineered the album

Background

• Isaak's earlier albums had critical support but failed to get airplay on national radio
• The breakthrough came after the late-1990 radio exposure of "Wicked Game"
• "Wicked Game" grew out of a phone call from a woman arranging a one-night affair

Recording

• Recorded in 1988 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley and at Dave Wellhausen Recording in San Francisco
• Mixed at Amigo Studios
• Mastered at Artisan Sound Recorders by Greg Fulginiti
• The track "Diddley Daddy" is a cover written by Bo Diddley and Harvey Fuqua, and it had first appeared on the 1989 Shag soundtrack

Cover

• Front cover photography by Lex Van Rossen

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Christopher Joseph Isaak, born June 26, 1956, in Stockton, California.
• After college he formed his first band, Silvertone, a rockabilly group; the name came from the Silvertone guitar brand popular in the 1950s.
• The group remained his permanent backing band.

Members

• Original Silvertone members included James Calvin Wilsey (guitar), Jamie Ayres (bass), and John Silvers (drums).
• Ayres and Silvers were later replaced by Rowland Salley (bass) and Kenney Dale Johnson (drums).

Career

• Signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1985 and released the debut album Silvertone to critical acclaim.
• Known for a reverb-heavy rockabilly revivalist style and a wide vocal range; often compared to Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Duane Eddy.
• His breakthrough and signature song is "Wicked Game" (1989 album Heart Shaped World), which became a national top 10 hit in 1991.
• Other international hits include "Blue Hotel", "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing", and "Somebody's Crying".
• Has released 13 studio albums over four decades.
• Worked closely with director David Lynch, who used his music in several films; Isaak acted in Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
• Starred in the sitcom The Chris Isaak Show (2001-2004) and hosted the talk show The Chris Isaak Hour (2009).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Billboard 200 chart run of ten weeks in summer 1989, peaking at number 149
• Released without any advance single
• Parry Gettelman of the Orlando Sentinel gave the album a perfect rating and praised its romantically desolate lyrics
• Gettelman described the sound as highly atmospheric, with a dark film noir quality

Reappraisal

• Steve Huey, writing a retrospective review for AllMusic, noted qualities similar to Roy Orbison in Isaak's attempts at rockier pieces
• Huey judged that the ballads are Isaak's real strength

Records

• Billboard 200 peak of number 149 in 1989
• "Wicked Game" single pushed the album to number 7 on the Billboard chart by April 1991
• Sales of more than 500,000 copies in the United States
• Certified double platinum by the RIAA
• Isaak's best-selling work
• Reported as the best-selling artist on Warner in that period, ahead of Madonna, Paul Simon, Damn Yankees and Jane's Addiction

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Lee Chesnut, music director of WAPW in Atlanta, played "Wicked Game" repeatedly over two weeks after hearing an instrumental version on the soundtrack of David Lynch's Wild at Heart, which helped revive the album.
• The black-and-white video for "Wicked Game" featured Helena Christensen, and MTV put it in heavy rotation.
• At a sold-out gig at L.A.'s Wiltern Theater in March 1991, Sean Penn, Eric Roberts, k.d. lang, Dwight Yoakam, and Bruce Springsteen with Patti Scialfa attended.
• At the Hollywood Party after that show, Isaak got his first gold record.
• At the first of two May 1991 shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York, his performance was described as "consummate showmanship".
• "Diddley Daddy" was first released on the 1989 Shag soundtrack before appearing on this album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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