Chris Isaak – Baja Sessions

This is one of the most laid back albums I own and always loved his persona. No wonder he tried film and TV for a while, he could have been the new Elvis if he wanted to...

I had a vision of them just writing and recording in a bungalow somewhere when I got this when new,
almost recorded in someones garden over a summer... that's the feel of the album and the pics on it.
Maybe it was the back cover of the booklet, but listening to it it sounds like it too, so if that was the aim they nailed it 10 out of 10.

I almost thought this was a record "between records" and maybe it was with so many covers.

such a pure beautiful inspired jewel of an album !

(laughing) Chris is in terrific vocal form here on Baja Sessions, where only three original tracks, along with a couple of re-issues, are stacked up against five covers. And while there isn’t actually an unpleasant moment to be found anywhere on the album, it’s only Chris’ great voice and drifting laid back delivery that allows rather disposable material to come across wonderfully, while still being entirely disposable … and sort of worth owning regardless.

While most listeners, who actually don’t listen, were entirely thrilled by the album, with releases such as San Francisco Days, Forever Blue and the stunning Heart Shaped World so recently behind him, I was expecting a rather large step forward, with of course the record being laced with more of his signature breezy laid back sophistication. What the album implies by its title is a concept, and in reality, there is no concept, simply a grouping of songs (again, mostly covers), that ride was just that, a grouping of songs that hang together seemingly without purpose.

The story goes that Chris was in the process of breaking in a new guitarist, and in the process, the whole band decided to hightail it south of the border, do some surfing, some jamming and see what transpired. The songs “Think Of Tomorrow” and “Dancin’” (which is a re-issue from his 1985 release) are the only solid memorable adventures on the entire album, one laced with the cover of Gene Autry’s (yes, the singing cowboy) number “South Of The Border,” and equally out of place recordings from Bing Crosby and of all people Dean Martin. While perhaps being presented as well as these songs could be, they simply don’t accomplish anything other than filling out an album. All of this of course means that I’m left pulling off the best material for my own personal assemblage … though, for some reason I haven’t managed to rid myself of the record as of yet.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that the album is pleasantly calm and flowing, but it fails to grab hold, sit you down and compel you to listen. Of course if I felt I needed to be cutting, I’d say, “Chris Isaak began as a welcomed rockabilly revivalist, though on Baja Sessions he’s resoundingly entered through the Elvis (Presley) stage door of his career. There is absolutely no other way to fathom or explain his straight faced renditions of hokey numbers such as “Sweet Leilani” or “South Of The Border” without feeling like this is Isaak’s self-proclaimed attempt to infiltrate the bar mitzvah circuit, a step that will relegate him to being a has-been so early in life. Let’s just hope that this is not the course he intends to stay.

*** The Fun Facts: While recorded nowhere near the Baja region, it’s claimed that the exotic location did inspire the vision, atmosphere and texture of the album … technically recorded in San Francisco.

Review by Jenell Kesler