Chris Isaak Speak Of The Devil CD

Personnel includes: Chris Isaak (vocals, guitar); Hershel Yatovitz (guitar, vocals); Rowland Salley (bass, vocals); Kenney Dale Johnson (drums, vocals); David Palmer, Jamie Mahobric, Matt Chamberlain, John Pierce, Patrick Warren, Steve Ferrone, Curt Bisquera, Jimmy Pugh, Frank Marti, Mark Needham, Cynthia Corra, Mary Dunaway, Juolie Lorch, Wendy Waller, Terry Wood.
Producers: Chris Isaak, Erik Jacobsen, Rob Cavallo.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.
Personnel: Chris Isaak (vocals, guitar); Hershel Yatovitz (vocals, guitar); Kenney Dale Johnson (vocals, drums); Rowland Salley (vocals).
Audio Mixers: Chris Lord-Alge; Mark Needham.
Photographer: Melanie Nissen.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Curt Bisquera; Wendy Walker; Frank Martin; Jimmy Pugh; John Pierce ; Matt Chamberlain; Patrick Warren; Terry Wood; Steve Ferrone.
Speak of the Devil explores the same moody terrain as Chris Isaak's previous records, though the songs are fleshed out with more contemporary touches. The leadoff track, "Please," is unusually hard-hitting, with its acoustic/electric/soft/crash structure, Mellotron, and soundbite lyrics. "I'm Not Sleepy" is a roots rock rave-up (wherein Isaak lyrically quotes Lennon's "Oh Yoko": "In the middle of the night I cry your name"); the title cut is an eerie celebration of love lost and found; "Talkin' 'Bout a Home" is the album's tour de force. Yet, some of the loungy vocal touches in "Flying" and the final instrumental track, "Super Magic 2000," would be right at home on an indie rock record. And of course there's plenty of that thing Isaak does best: quintessential love's-gone-wrong-'n'-let's-make-it-right songs, as on the loping, country-tinged "This Time" and the teary "Walk Slow." ~ Denise Sullivan
Gorgeous and vibrant, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL boasts the strong crooning of Chris Isaak backed by the full-bodied, twanging guitar that's made his music such a distinctive pleasure since the mid-'80s. Isaak's focus on love and the different phases of relationships means that songs range from the built-up desperation in "Please" to the airy optimism of "Flying," punched up by chirpy background singers.
Silvertone (whose collective name is unacknowledged here) continues to be the most underrated back-up band in the biz, with their distinctive rootsy mix of blues, rockabilly and country. Hershel Yatovitz's shimmering guitar is pumped with reverb to add the proper urgency to "Wanderin'" and he contributes Spanish-flavored acoustic guitar to "Don't Get So Down On Yourself." But for all the smoldering edge that Isaak puts on slower songs such as the enticing "Talkin' Bout A Home," the Californian excels on faster numbers like the swinging "I'm Not Sleepy." Isaak's adventurousness leads him to end the album with the noirish instrumental "Super Magic 2000," complete with Peter Gunn-like tempo and solid surf-guitar adornments mixed with chirping crickets and blasting shotgun sound effects.Entertainment Weekly (10/2/98, p.74) - "Isaak is that deceptively dangerous guy to whom lost love is way better than potential love. And DEVIL has plenty of minor-key paeans to heartbreak. But it also has Isaak (backed by band Silvertone) melding his sexed-up Orbison crooning with some kick-ass retro-rock..." - Rating: B+