Throughout his impressive recording career — right from his stunning 1985 debut to this latest stellar effort, Mr. Lucky — Chris Isaak has tunefully and artfully explored the good, the bad and the ugly of love, as well as other matters of profound human interest.
Like some of Isaak’s best known past compositions, such as his international breakthrough smash “Wicked Game,” “Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing” and “Somebody’s Crying,” the songs on Mr. Lucky have a deeply felt sense of the consequences of good love gone bad, and bad love gone good. Standout tracks on Mr. Lucky include the opening “Cheaters Town,” his intimate travelogue of heartache, the tormented yet transcendent “We Let Her Down” — the first single from the new album — and “You Don’t Cry Like I Do,” a searing song of love and loss that reaches the operatic heights of Roy Orbison, one of Isaak’s greatest heroes and a kind man who generously made the effort to help Isaak out on his way up.