ISAAK, CHRIS

For all its lonesome balladry, BAJA SESSIONS sounds positively exultant after 1995's morose FOREVER BLUE. The title refers to the pastoral Mexican peninsula that gave Isaak the inspiration for this set of lush, glistening ballads. Lap steel guitars glide through songs whose sunny climate belies Isaak's sad-sack lyrical bent. Isaak plays down his neo-rockabilly side in favor of the romantic crooning that's made him an international hearthrob. Rather than writing an entire album's worth of songs to fit this mood, Isaak picked several cover tunes as well as a couple selections from his own back catalog, and interpreted them in a manner concordant with the lazy, summer-vacation-feel of the recording. Isaak pays tribute to a primary influence on his version of Roy Orbison's "Only The Lonely," and brings his sad-surfer-boy feel to the Hawaiian-tinged pop chestnut "Sweet Leilani." On this vivid aural postcard from a place where sorrow sits as comfortably as happiness in the noonday sun, one can almost see Isaak's hastily scrawled message: "Having a miserable time, wish you were here."

Estimated despatch 5-10 days after ordering.