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Editorial Reviews
Chris Isaak's longstanding desire to musically salute his inspirations was fast-tracked when he read a 2000 interview with the great Sun Records producer Sam Phillips that appeared in the Oxford American. Near the end of the Q&A, Phillips was asked if any contemporary recording artists grabbed his attention. His response blew Chris away. "I don't keep up with the business like I used to," said Phillips, "but I love to listen to Chris Isaak. He's very talented, and his music is so damned honest. It's incredible." That pretty much sealed the deal for this Sun worshiper. The accurately titled Beyond the Sun, Chris Isaak's Vanguard Records debut is a self-described labor of love. Since he fell in love with his parents' 45s as a child in Stockton, California, this passionate writer/artist has been obsessed with the glory days of Memphis' Sun Studio and the visionary artists who got their starts there--including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis--all of them discovered and nurtured by Sam Phillips. Now, at long last, Isaak magically recaptures the transformative brilliance of the classic sides cut by these greats at Sun with Phillips during the mid-'50s, while also getting down to the nitty-gritty of his own deeply rooted musical identity.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 89 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Dear Music Appreciators,
I've been a fan of Chris Isaak since hearing "Wicked Game" in junior high - I still remember that famous music video oozing sex and cool and how many mix tapes I made for girls with that song on it...that was about 22 years ago and Chris Isaak is still at it...and still extremely underappreciated.
This latest album finds him paying tribute to the sounds of Sun Records and covering songs by some of his influences who recorded there. If the Sun Records story is unfamiliar to you it might be worth your time to read up on it a bit, you know - Google it or whatever.
If you're a fan of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, or, well, Chris Isaak of course, then I think you will find something to like here.
My overall impression of this album is that Chris Isaak alternates between turning in respectable, slightly reserved performances of some of the more famous songs ("Great Balls of Fire," "I Walk the Line") and high-energy, hot performances of some of the lesser-known songs ("Trying to Get To You," "Miss Pearl"). This highlights the fact that there is no one that can do those legendary hits like the original legendary artists, and maybe that's not a bad thing - after all , one wouldn't expect an album of, say, Beatles covers to transcend the original versions...this is a tribute album really, and a darn good one, and Chris Isaak gets bonus points for achieving his usual cool guy/fun guy/blue guy/retro guy dynamic, complimented as always by his usual breathtaking good looks and remarkably beautiful vintage voice.
Put this record on and let Chris Isaak take you back to the glory days of Sun Records...and let him make you feel just a little bit cooler along the way. This kind of music can fill a room with what I like to call "Instant Atmosphere," which is great for parties, or romance, or heartbreakingly cool, dimly lit moments of loneliness with a drink in your hand...
Sincerely,
Constant Listener
I've been a fan of Chris Isaak since hearing "Wicked Game" in junior high - I still remember that famous music video oozing sex and cool and how many mix tapes I made for girls with that song on it...that was about 22 years ago and Chris Isaak is still at it...and still extremely underappreciated.
This latest album finds him paying tribute to the sounds of Sun Records and covering songs by some of his influences who recorded there. If the Sun Records story is unfamiliar to you it might be worth your time to read up on it a bit, you know - Google it or whatever.
If you're a fan of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, or, well, Chris Isaak of course, then I think you will find something to like here.
My overall impression of this album is that Chris Isaak alternates between turning in respectable, slightly reserved performances of some of the more famous songs ("Great Balls of Fire," "I Walk the Line") and high-energy, hot performances of some of the lesser-known songs ("Trying to Get To You," "Miss Pearl"). This highlights the fact that there is no one that can do those legendary hits like the original legendary artists, and maybe that's not a bad thing - after all , one wouldn't expect an album of, say, Beatles covers to transcend the original versions...this is a tribute album really, and a darn good one, and Chris Isaak gets bonus points for achieving his usual cool guy/fun guy/blue guy/retro guy dynamic, complimented as always by his usual breathtaking good looks and remarkably beautiful vintage voice.
Put this record on and let Chris Isaak take you back to the glory days of Sun Records...and let him make you feel just a little bit cooler along the way. This kind of music can fill a room with what I like to call "Instant Atmosphere," which is great for parties, or romance, or heartbreakingly cool, dimly lit moments of loneliness with a drink in your hand...
Sincerely,
Constant Listener
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
First let me say that "Beyond the Sun" is a great album by Chris Isaak. And it is great in large part because it is not just "another Chris Isaak album." It is an album devoted to a music he loves, that he has in fact based his entire career on - rockabilly and early rock and roll. But it is also a deliberate departure from the songwriting formula that he has followed, with great success, for his entire professional life. We, and he, are better for the chances he takes here.
Like many reviewers, I am an enthusiastic fan of Chris Isaak. I first heard "Blue Hotel," from the album "Chris Isaak," while driving home from work. I bought the album the next day. I was hooked by the purity of Isaak's voice, his range, and the feeling he conveyed. The amazing guitar work of Calvin Wilsey (now unfortunately long gone from the band) perfectly complemented the brooding voice of Isaak. From the barely contained anger of "You Owe Me Some Kind Of Love," to the mixture of desolation and cynicism of "Lovers Game", Isaak displayed his mastery of a type of singing I thought had disappeared with Orbison and Elvis and Jerry Lee. It was a distinct style. It wasn't "Cathy's Clown" - to take nothing away from the Everly Brothers, or "I'm A Loser" - the Beatles had other ways of singing about broken hearts. And it sure wasn't the Stones or the Who.
The style adopted in "Chris Isaak" and the albums that came before and after it, is one of real teen angst, a style of songwriting that first flowered in rockabilly and the earliest rock and roll. It shows up repeatedly in many of the records by artists associated with Sun Records. These songs weren't just about poor guys who got dumped by their best girl, or were so dizzy over some prom queen that they lost control of their car and flew off the road and up to heaven. The new songs were complex and full of contradiction; at their best they had a depth and expressivenes that knocked the Bobby Rydell's, Bobby Vee's, and Fabian's right out of the box and off the radio. Who wanted to hear "Blue Velvet" when you could listen to "Heartbreak Hotel," "Any Way You Want Me," or "Running Scared"? Those songs convinced you with their lyrics and their passionate singing that their protagonists were as confused, co-dependent, and self-pitying as you and the guy who sat next to you in homeroom were. Those songs said no one has ever felt as bad as I do. They were self-absorbed, like most real adolescents are, and they didn't pretend to have all the answers. Even hard-boiled rockers like "Great Balls of Fire" were light years away from "Go Away, Little Girl." The first lines say it all - "You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain, too much love drives a man insane, you broke my will, what a thrill, goodness gracious, great balls of fire!" That's pretty powerful stuff, even without the not-so-subtle innuendo of the title.
Chris Isaak's genius has always been in his ability to capture that sound - the wailing pain and intensity that were so much a part of the birth of rock and roll. On album after album, he never fails to concoct convincing variations on his introspective "forever blue" rock persona. I remember a joke he told about himself between songs at a show - he's standing outside the venue between sets, and a man walking by stops, looks at him closely, then says "Hey, aren't you the guy who sings all those `sissy' songs?" Isaak replies, after a beat, "they're not sissy, they're sensitive."
Issak has the retro, sensitive "blue" rockabilly song down pat, from "Wicked Game" to "Funeral in the Rain" to "Speak of the Devil." Even a "light" tune like "Don't Leave Me On My Own," with its gently rolling rhythm and up-beat hooky melody is not immune - if the girl who ditched him will come back, "I'll fix the place up." Offering to clean his apartment in a pathetic attempt to win back his girl.
It is precisely because "Beyond the Sun" is filled with songs that are rockabilly classics but aren't classic "Chris Isaak" songs, that this record so satisfying. Several reviewers have noted that he is at his best on this album singing lesser-known tunes, particularly rave-ups like "Miss Pearl" or "Dixie Fried." I think that's because those songs are the ones that take him farthest away from his own songwriting style. They are songs that he obviously loves, but generally doesn't attempt. They come out sounding fresh, energized, and rocking.
Isaak also says in the liner notes that he tried to stay away from rote "covers" of the iconic tunes that everyone knows. And that approach generally works. On "It's Now or Never," Elvis' great homage to Mario Lanza, Isaak doesn't try to out-bombast the King. He pulls back a little, and his version of the song shines a new light on an old chestnut without being self-consciously different.
We can thank Chris Isaak for loving a music that was "uncool," so much so that he has devoted his career to it and written a great many songs that are very cool along the way. And we can thank him for taking a deliberate step away from the relative comfort of his own particular songwriting style this time around and giving us an album devoted to exploring some of the other styles that make up what we call early rock and roll, or rockabilly. Highly recommended.
Like many reviewers, I am an enthusiastic fan of Chris Isaak. I first heard "Blue Hotel," from the album "Chris Isaak," while driving home from work. I bought the album the next day. I was hooked by the purity of Isaak's voice, his range, and the feeling he conveyed. The amazing guitar work of Calvin Wilsey (now unfortunately long gone from the band) perfectly complemented the brooding voice of Isaak. From the barely contained anger of "You Owe Me Some Kind Of Love," to the mixture of desolation and cynicism of "Lovers Game", Isaak displayed his mastery of a type of singing I thought had disappeared with Orbison and Elvis and Jerry Lee. It was a distinct style. It wasn't "Cathy's Clown" - to take nothing away from the Everly Brothers, or "I'm A Loser" - the Beatles had other ways of singing about broken hearts. And it sure wasn't the Stones or the Who.
The style adopted in "Chris Isaak" and the albums that came before and after it, is one of real teen angst, a style of songwriting that first flowered in rockabilly and the earliest rock and roll. It shows up repeatedly in many of the records by artists associated with Sun Records. These songs weren't just about poor guys who got dumped by their best girl, or were so dizzy over some prom queen that they lost control of their car and flew off the road and up to heaven. The new songs were complex and full of contradiction; at their best they had a depth and expressivenes that knocked the Bobby Rydell's, Bobby Vee's, and Fabian's right out of the box and off the radio. Who wanted to hear "Blue Velvet" when you could listen to "Heartbreak Hotel," "Any Way You Want Me," or "Running Scared"? Those songs convinced you with their lyrics and their passionate singing that their protagonists were as confused, co-dependent, and self-pitying as you and the guy who sat next to you in homeroom were. Those songs said no one has ever felt as bad as I do. They were self-absorbed, like most real adolescents are, and they didn't pretend to have all the answers. Even hard-boiled rockers like "Great Balls of Fire" were light years away from "Go Away, Little Girl." The first lines say it all - "You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain, too much love drives a man insane, you broke my will, what a thrill, goodness gracious, great balls of fire!" That's pretty powerful stuff, even without the not-so-subtle innuendo of the title.
Chris Isaak's genius has always been in his ability to capture that sound - the wailing pain and intensity that were so much a part of the birth of rock and roll. On album after album, he never fails to concoct convincing variations on his introspective "forever blue" rock persona. I remember a joke he told about himself between songs at a show - he's standing outside the venue between sets, and a man walking by stops, looks at him closely, then says "Hey, aren't you the guy who sings all those `sissy' songs?" Isaak replies, after a beat, "they're not sissy, they're sensitive."
Issak has the retro, sensitive "blue" rockabilly song down pat, from "Wicked Game" to "Funeral in the Rain" to "Speak of the Devil." Even a "light" tune like "Don't Leave Me On My Own," with its gently rolling rhythm and up-beat hooky melody is not immune - if the girl who ditched him will come back, "I'll fix the place up." Offering to clean his apartment in a pathetic attempt to win back his girl.
It is precisely because "Beyond the Sun" is filled with songs that are rockabilly classics but aren't classic "Chris Isaak" songs, that this record so satisfying. Several reviewers have noted that he is at his best on this album singing lesser-known tunes, particularly rave-ups like "Miss Pearl" or "Dixie Fried." I think that's because those songs are the ones that take him farthest away from his own songwriting style. They are songs that he obviously loves, but generally doesn't attempt. They come out sounding fresh, energized, and rocking.
Isaak also says in the liner notes that he tried to stay away from rote "covers" of the iconic tunes that everyone knows. And that approach generally works. On "It's Now or Never," Elvis' great homage to Mario Lanza, Isaak doesn't try to out-bombast the King. He pulls back a little, and his version of the song shines a new light on an old chestnut without being self-consciously different.
We can thank Chris Isaak for loving a music that was "uncool," so much so that he has devoted his career to it and written a great many songs that are very cool along the way. And we can thank him for taking a deliberate step away from the relative comfort of his own particular songwriting style this time around and giving us an album devoted to exploring some of the other styles that make up what we call early rock and roll, or rockabilly. Highly recommended.
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Download
I'm a huge Fan of Chris Isaak, and Elvis, Cash, Roy, Jerry Lee, and the whole Sun recording catalog. When I heard that Chris was paying tribute to his idols and recording their work in the original Sun Studios, I was excited and couldn't wait to get my hands on the recording.
Though the wait seemed like forever, I wasn't disappointed. This is a great release from Mr. Isaak and a fitting tribute to Sun Records and its many artists. I've been listening to this all day, and there isn't a bad track on the whole recording.
I really appreciate that fact that this is a deluxe double recording with lots of material to indulge my sonic appetite.
Chris makes these songs both tributes and his own in a very subtle fashion. The music and vocals are sublime.
Sun earned its place in musical history by the material it produced, and Chris does that tradition honor.
Though the wait seemed like forever, I wasn't disappointed. This is a great release from Mr. Isaak and a fitting tribute to Sun Records and its many artists. I've been listening to this all day, and there isn't a bad track on the whole recording.
I really appreciate that fact that this is a deluxe double recording with lots of material to indulge my sonic appetite.
Chris makes these songs both tributes and his own in a very subtle fashion. The music and vocals are sublime.
Sun earned its place in musical history by the material it produced, and Chris does that tradition honor.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Traveling BEYOND THE SUN Is A Trip Well Worth Taking!
Cover albums can be a tricky thing, especially when the singer is particularly known for their ability as a songwriter. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jef Fazekas
Enjoyable Covers
I've listened to Chris Isaak for a couple decades. His voice is timeless. These covers are all good listens. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kevin Curtis
WoW
I love it. It's a great CD and I like the fact the Chris didn't try and change everything to sound like today's music. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Swifty
Beyond the sun
Gave this to my husband, a true CI fan. He liked it because of the new takes on old favorites - but he still prefers Chris Issak's original material.
Published 2 months ago by Sheilah M. O'heaney
Chris Isaak-Memphis Recording
This is the BEST. Isaaks recording of old sun record songs are awesome. If you love Isaak and you loved Elvis in the sun years, then this is for you. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Johnny Sponsel
Nice remake album
Love the spin Chris Isaak puts on his remake of many old rockabilly songs. His voice does Johnny Cash tunes proud.
Published 2 months ago by Linda
If you like Sun era recordings, you'll love this
Chris Isaak has a voice that sounds to me like a cross between Elvis and Roy Orbison. He and his band do a great job of covering the Sun hits that pays homage to the original... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Colin Alder
Classics from Sun beginnings with a new sound
I love the music with Sun beginnings. Who cold want more than Presley, Orbison Cash, etc. I will have to admit that after listenting since the late 50's I love the sound, but... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bill
Perfect, but............
I am a great fan of the Sun sound and Chris has done an absolutely fantastic job. So why only 4 stars ? Many of the songs are too perfect, too close to the original. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Stacky61
A loving and lovely tribute
A terrific album. Isaak weaves his way thru nearly two dozen Sun Records classics, plus throws in a couple penned by his own hand. Read more
Published 3 months ago by M. Hearing
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