Heart Shaped World [CD]

Chris Isaak's Heart Shaped World Is aMood Masterpiece: Double-Platinum AlbumFeatures the Smash "Wicked Game," BrilliantSinging, and Extraordinary Guitar TonesExperience the Brooding 1989 Recordin Audiophile Sound: Mobile Fidelity'sNumbered-Edition Hybrid SACD Plays withSuperb Clarity, Detail, and ControlThere was nothing in contemporary music like Chris Isaak's HeartShaped World when it hit in June 1989. More than three decadeslater, the singer-songwriter's third album still sounds unique. Hometo the Top 10 smash "Wicked Game," the brooding set remains amasterful mood piece that invites you to pour a late-night drink andrelish Isaak's elegant albeit raw ruminations on love, relationships,and questionable decisions. For all the melodrama and sadness athand, Isaak's baritone dives deep underneath emotional surfaces.He mines subtleties that go beyond heartbreak and anguish, andoccasionally suggest frustration, menace, and anger. The unhurriedcontributions of his backing band, anchored by the brilliant playingof guitarist James Calvin Wilsey, seamlessly match his patientdeliveries and cool command.Sourced from the original master tapes and housed in mini-LPstyle gatefold packaging, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition hybridSACD presents Heart Shaped World in audiophile quality. It unearthsthe staggering inner details, saturated tones, and extraordinaryatmospherics of the crisp production. And it brings you up closeand personal with Isaak's singing - impeccably controlled, tense,brooding, steamy, smoldering, haunted - situated amidst strippeddown backdrops that allow notes to fully bloom and decay. Therecord's lonesome temperaments and pensive themes have neverbeen more alluring on disc. As Isaak croons on the title track:"Trouble going down." Indeed.