Chris Isaak: One Night Stand

An album review of a bootleg/radio broadcast from 1995

Chris Isaak

One Night Stand

Firefly

I love Chris Isaak, and often think about the gig I saw: 1995 — I had just moved to Wellington, first time out on my own, and one of my favourite musicians of recent years was touring. I booked a ticket, front row, centre, on my own. I was still just a teen. And it was an amazing experience. I met him after the show and got signatures, and the setlist…

And I’ve carried that with me (both literally, in the case of the setlist) and in so many memories, through my adult life to date.

This album — a new release in late 2023 — captures that exact 1995 tour. Well, there’s one or two songs short, no Spanish Sky alas, but that might be because this was originally a live-to-air radio broadcast, and perhaps they wanted to keep things fully upbeat, though just as likely they had a tight hour to fill and some material was cut for time.

But, wow, right out of the box, the guitars are pulsing across You Owe Me Some Kind of Love and Beautiful Homes. Isaak is his charming self with the banter, and in fine voice, also a charismatic bandleader, and this touring unit turns on a dime. The hushed beauty of the staple-hit, Wicked Game, then-new songs like I Believe and the dynamic Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing.

To me it’s just the ultimate memory lane, nostalgia-drive, but it feels like a great representation of the magic in an Isaak show. All killer here too, no filler, this was the end of his first decade as a recording artist, and it accounts for the vast majority of his hits. This was the era when he was on fire. So nice to have this finally, to be able to hear this again.