Chris Isaak - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 9-2005

Here is another album of an episode of the "PBS Soundstage" T.V. show. This one stars Chris Isaak. It seems the makers of the show really liked Isaak, because this was one of three episodes starring him. I can’t remember offhand anybody else who starred in three episodes of the show. All of them were in the early 2000s. To Isaak’s credit, he mostly played different songs in each episode, helped by the fact that one of them was a Christmas episode.

The music here is unreleased, and the sound quality is excellent.

This album is an hour and five minutes long. 

01 Dancin' (Chris Isaak)
02 talk (Chris Isaak)
03 Let Me Down Easy (Chris Isaak)
04 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
05 Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing (Chris Isaak)
06 talk (Chris Isaak)
07 Solitary Man (Chris Isaak)
08 talk (Chris Isaak)
09 Western Stars (Chris Isaak)
10 talk (Chris Isaak)
11 Can't Do a Thing [To Stop Me] (Chris Isaak)
12 talk (Chris Isaak)
13 Only the Lonely (Chris Isaak)
14 Wrong to Love You (Chris Isaak)
15 American Boy (Chris Isaak)
16 talk (Chris Isaak)
17 Notice the Ring (Chris Isaak)
18 talk (Chris Isaak)
19 Diddly Daddy (Chris Isaak)
20 talk (Chris Isaak)
21 Goin' Nowhere (Chris Isaak)
22 Blue Hotel (Chris Isaak)
23 Think of Tomorrow (Chris Isaak)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PKJh2PBd

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/lX2h2IWmNdkd3vU/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert.

Chris Isaak with Stevie Nicks, Michael Buble & Brian McKnight - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 9-21-2004

Here's a little Christmas gift - some Christmassy music. This is another episode of the excellent "PBS Soundstage" TV show. Chris Isaak was the host, but he also had three guest stars: Stevie Nicks, Michael Buble, and Brian McKnight.

I actually posted a Soundstage episode starring Chris Isaak already, from 2003. But he came back only a year later probably because of the Christmas theme, so all the music was different. He actually would go on to host the show yet again in 2005. I'll post that one eventually as well.

Isaak generally sang most of the songs, and then sang duets with the guests. Then everyone came back to take part in the final song.

I should have posted this earlier in the winter holiday season, but at least I posted it a few days before Christmas. Happy holidays!

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 57 minutes long. 

01 talk (Chris Isaak)
02 Blue Christmas (Chris Isaak)
03 talk (Chris Isaak)
04 Mele Kalikimaka (Chris Isaak)
05 talk (Chris Isaak)
06 Washington Square (Chris Isaak)
07 talk (Chris Isaak & Michael Buble)
08 The Christmas Song (Chris Isaak & Michael Buble)
09 talk (Chris Isaak & Michael Buble)
10 Let It Snow (Chris Isaak & Michael Buble)
11 talk (Chris Isaak & Michael Buble)
12 Gotta Be Good (Chris Isaak)
13 talk (Chris Isaak)
14 Pretty Paper (Chris Isaak)
15 talk (Chris Isaak)
16 Hey Santa (Chris Isaak)
17 talk (Chris Isaak)
18 Brightest Star (Chris Isaak)
19 talk (Chris Isaak & Brian McKnight)
20 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Chris Isaak & Brian McKnight)
21 talk (Chris Isaak)
22 Last Month of the Year (Chris Isaak)
23 talk (Chris Isaak)
24 Santa Bring My Baby Back (Chris Isaak)
25 White Christmas (Chris Isaak)
26 talk (Chris Isaak)
27 Christmas on TV (Chris Isaak)
28 talk (Chris Isaak & Stevie Nicks)
29 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (Chris Isaak & Stevie Nicks)
30 talk (Chris Isaak)
31 I'll Be Home for Christmas (Chris Isaak)
32 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Chris Isaak, Stevie Nicks, Michael Buble & Brian McKnight)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/KKwNCwC3

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/iT0YN3RcAjJSfeO/file

The cover photo is a screenshot I took from this exact concert. It shows Chris Isaak and Stevie Nicks.

Chris Isaak - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: In Concert, Manchester Apollo, Manchester, Britain, 6-28-1993

Here's another BBC concert by Chris Isaak, from 1993.

I previously thought there was just one BBC concert, in 1991. So when I posted that one, I just called it "BBC In Concert." Now, I've changed that to "BBC Sessions, Volume 1," and changed the cover art and mp3 tags accordingly. If you want to get the updated version, here's the link:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2022/12/chris-isaak-bbc-in-concert-town-and.html

Isaak was at the peak of his popularity in the early to mid-1990s, thanks mostly to his classic song "Wicked Game." But the above "Volume 1" album took place around the time that song was a hit. This concert took place two years later, when he was supporting his 1993 album "San Francisco Days." So the songs here are fairly different, though it's not surprising he played "Wicked Game" again.

Note that I've gotten some conflicting information about the venue. At the end of concert, the BBC DJ voiceover stated it took place at the Manchester Apollo. But the BBC website from the date the concert was broadcast stated it took place at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. However, a commenter noted that a local newspaper article review of the concert stated it took place at the Manchester Apollo, so it seems clear the BBC website made a mistake.

The main concert is just 28 minutes long. I thought that was a bit too short, so I went looking for some extra songs to add. I found a version of "Can't Do a Thing (To Stop Me)" from a BBC TV show in 1993, so I added that. Then I found three more songs from another BBC TV show in 1995, when he was promoting his next album, "Forever Blue."

This album is 41 minutes long.

01 Dancin' (Chris Isaak)
02 San Francisco Days (Chris Isaak)
03 talk (Chris Isaak)
04 Gone Ridin' (Chris Isaak)
05 Blue Spanish Sky (Chris Isaak)
06 I Want Your Love (Chris Isaak)
07 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
08 Blue Hotel (Chris Isaak)
09 Can't Do a Thing [To Stop Me] (Chris Isaak)
10 Goin' Nowhere (Chris Isaak)
11 Graduation Day (Chris Isaak)
12 I Believe (Chris Isaak)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/caC3Kmkt

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/KnrhlZYE9E1R4ZR/file

The cover photo is from 1993. I don't know any additional details.

Various Artists - Elvis: The Tribute, Pyramid Arena, Memphis, TN, 10-8-1994

Here's another interesting tribute concert, with loads of big stars. All of the songs performed were made famous by Elvis Presley. 

This concert seems to have mostly disappeared down the memory hole. An album of highlights from the concert was released, called "It's Now Or Never: The Tribute To Elvis." However, it's only 45 minutes long, containing just 15 songs. But the full two plus hour long concert was broadcast on TV at the time, so excellent sounding video footage of it exists.

This concert took place in 1994 despite the lack of any big anniversary or other important timely reason for it. Instead, the Elvis Presley estate decided that Presley's music was being forgotten by younger generations, so the concert was meant to help bring his music back into the spotlight.

As you can see from the album cover or the song list, a great many music stars performed in this concert. A few more - Jon Bon Jovi, Jeff Beck, and Cher, at least - backed out at the last minute. I found that mentioned in a newspaper article, though it didn't give a reason why. 

I used two versions of the video files of this concert, converted them to audio format, and broke them into mp3s. During that process, I cut out some material. There were several sections of a few minutes each that consisted of short films highlight different aspects of Presley's life. I removed all of those, plus their intros, since they were meant mainly to be seen, not heard. I also edited out some more talk by the announcers. However, I kept all the intros relevant to the songs. Plus, of course, I kept all the music.

The concert was mostly hosted by Karen Duffy, an MTV DJ, and singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. But actor John Stamos introduced a few acts, and TV host Phil Donohue introduced one, and sometimes one act introduced the next one.

Occasionally, I had a little trouble with the edits at the starts and ends of songs. For instance, there were quick cuts to or away from TV commercials, as well as the short films I mentioned above. I tried my best to smooth things out, but occasionally the transitions between tracks is abrupt.

Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana, James Burton, and the Jordanaires didn't have any performances on their own. However, all of them were key backing musicians or singers for Presley. From time to time, they backed up some of the other music acts. 

All of the performances were live from the concert, with two exceptions. I think "Too Much" by NRBQ actually took place before the TV broadcast began. But I slotted it into a logical spot in the concert. And U2 didn't show up for the concert, but sent video footage of their performance to be broadcast instead.

By the way, if you want to know more about the concert, I found a New York Times article of it from the time. Here's the link (I think you have to click on Option 2 to see it):

RemovePaywall | Free online paywall remover 

This album is two hours and three minutes long.

01 talk (Karen Duffy)
02 Good Rockin' Tonight (Sammy Hagar)
03 Too Much (NRBQ)
04 Baby, Let's Play House (Michael Hutchence & NRBQ)
05 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
06 talk (Chet Atkins)
07 How's the World Treating You (Chet Atkins)
08 talk (Karen Duffy)
09 Mystery Train (Dwight Yoakam)
10 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
11 Don't Be Cruel (Marty Stuart with the Jordanaires)
12 talk (Marty Stuart)
13 All Shook Up (Cheap Trick)
14 talk (John Stamos)
15 That's Alright Mama (Kris Kristofferson)
16 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
17 One Night (Billy Ray Cyrus with the Jordanaires)
18 talk (Karen Duffy)
19 Lawdy Miss Claudy (Travis Tritt)
20 talk (Karen Duffy)
21 Blue Moon [Edit] (Chris Isaak with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
22 Love Me (Mavericks)
23 talk (John Stamos)
24 talk (Carl Perkins)
25 Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
26 talk (Carl Perkins)
27 Rip It Up (Iggy Pop)
28 Memories (Mac Davis)
29 talk (Mac Davis)
30 talk (Bryan Adams)
31 Hound Dog (Bryan Adams with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
32 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
33 Always on My Mind (Sam Moore)
34 talk (Karen Duffy)
35 Heartbreak Hotel (John Cale)
36 talk (Karen Duffy)
37 I Want You, I Need You, I Love You (Ann Wilson)
38 talk (Karen Duffy)
39 Teddy Bear (Tanya Tucker)
40 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
41 Trouble (Paul Rodgers)
42 talk (Phil Donahue)
43 [Marie's the Name] His Latest Flame (Scorpions)
44 Can't Help Falling in Love (U2)
45 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
46 It's Now or Never (Wet Wet Wet)
47 talk (Mac Davis)
48 Love Me Tender (Tony Bennett)
49 talk (Mac Davis)
50 Young and Beautiful (Aaron Neville)
51 talk (Mac Davis)
52 Jailhouse Rock (Michael Bolton with Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana & Carl Perkins)
53 talk (Karen Duffy)
54 Tryin' to Get to You (Faith Hill)
55 talk (John Stamos)
56 See See Rider (Jerry Lee Lewis with James Burton & NRBQ)
57 Kentucky Rain - Suspicious Minds (Eddie Rabbitt & Mavis Staples)
58 talk (Karen Duffy)
59 Burning Love (Melissa Etheridge)
60 talk (John Stamos)
61 Amazing Grace (Billy Ray Cyrus & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GWnJSkKo

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/cqa2ziePj3VTmo8/file 

The cover image is a pretty weird one for this concert, but bear with me for the explanation. It depicts Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley (the daughter of Elvis Presley). They had recently gotten married at the time of this concert. (Their marriage only lasted from 1994 to 1996). The weird thing is that neither of them performed at this concert. However, they did attend it. At one point near the end, you can hear the announcer mention their names, along with those of Janet Jackson (Michael Jackson's sister) and Priscilla Presley (Lisa Marie Presley's mother). All four of them briefly stood up and waved to the crowd. 

The main reason I chose them for the cover is because this was the only decent photo from the concert that I could find. The mere fact they were at the concert made news, especially due to the fact that they had just been recently married. I think the image shows the two of them backstage before or after the concert. Even this picture was rather low-res and rough, but I used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality. 

Chris Isaak with Raul Malo - PBS Soundstage, Park West, Chicago, IL, 9-2003

It seems the people who made the "PBS Soundstage" TV show really, really liked Chris Isaak in the early 2000's. They gave him episodes in 2003, 2004, and 2005. No other musical act in the history of the show had three episodes in a short time period like that. Luckily, the content of all three are mostly different (with one of them being a Christmas show), so I'll post all three. Here's the first one, from 2003.

In early 2002, Isaak released his latest studio album, "Always Got Tonight." But by the time the Soundstage show was revived after being off the air for over a decade in 2003, it had been well over a year since that album's release. A couple of songs were played from that album - "One Day" and "Courthouse" - but mostly he just played the most popular songs from his career to that point.

And the end of this album, there are two songs by Raul Malo, who is best known for being the lead singer of the country band the Mavericks. You can read more about his in his Wikipedia page here:

Raul Malo - Wikipedia 

Oftentimes for this show, the main star is joined by one or more guest stars. But in this case, it seems there's no connection between Isaak and Malo. I looked at the video, and not only were two of them not on stage together, but the stage setting looks totally different for the Malo songs, suggesting they probably were recorded on a different day and/or different location. 

Also, I don't even really know exactly when the Isaak songs were recorded. I just found a mention that the concert happened some time in September 2003, so I went with that. If anyone has more precise details, please let me know.

This album is 51 minutes long.

01 American Boy (Chris Isaak)
02 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
03 talk (Chris Isaak)
04 Heart Shaped World (Chris Isaak)
05 talk (Chris Isaak)
06 Go Walking Down There (Chris Isaak)
07 Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing (Chris Isaak)
08 Courthouse (Chris Isaak)
09 Somebody's Crying (Chris Isaak)
10 talk (Chris Isaak)
11 One Day (Chris Isaak)
12 talk (Chris Isaak)
13 San Francisco Days (Chris Isaak)
14 talk (Chris Isaak)
15 Forever Blue (Chris Isaak)
16 Super Magic 2000 [Instrumental] (Chris Isaak)
17 Let's Not Say Goodbye Anymore (Raul Malo)
18 Let It Be Me (Raul Malo)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/y6uEmZ6X

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/zrFz94z3q7FptY1/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from this exact concert.

Chris Isaak - Acoustic, Volume 3: 1998-2016

Recently, a commenter pointed out to me that I had posted two volumes of Chris Isaak performing a third, yet I hadn't posted the third one. That was a very good point. I sometimes have albums all ready to go but then get distracted and fail to post them for some reason or another. So here's Volume 3.

As I mentioned with Volume 2 in this series, I really like how Isaak isn't afraid to perform songs just with an acoustic guitar or two. Typically, he's done this during short appearances, like in-person radio station promotions, where it probably isn't worth it for him to bring his entire band along. So this is mostly a compilation of unreleased performances from TV shows and radio shows. As usual, check the mp3 tags for all the details.

The only exceptions to that are tracks 7, 8, and 9. Track 7, "Forever Blue," is an acoustic version released on the album "Best of Chris Isaak." Tracks 8 and 9, "Don't Leave Me On My Own" and "Waiting," are also acoustic versions from the "Best of Chris Isaak" album, but only as bonus tracks on the iTunes version of that album.

Isaak's music career has been slowing down as he gets older, so this probably is the last album in this series. But never say never, I suppose.

This album is 50 minutes long.

01 Don't Get So Down on Yourself (Chris Isaak)
02 Sweet Leilani (Chris Isaak)
03 Blue Darlin' (Chris Isaak)
04 Speak of the Devil (Chris Isaak)
05 One Day (Chris Isaak)
06 Let Me Down Easy (Chris Isaak)
07 Forever Blue [Acoustic Version] (Chris Isaak)
08 Don't Leave Me On My Own [Acoustic Version] (Chris Isaak)
09 Waiting [Acoustic Version] (Chris Isaak)
10 Only the Lonely (Chris Isaak)
11 Somebody's Crying (Chris Isaak)
12 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
13 I Want You to Want Me (Chris Isaak)
14 Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing (Chris Isaak)
15 It Hurt Me So (Chris Isaak)
16 Great Balls of Fire (Chris Isaak)
17 Ring of Fire (Chris Isaak)
18 Oh, Pretty Woman (Chris Isaak)
19 My Happiness (Chris Isaak)
20 Live It Up (Chris Isaak)
21 Blue Christmas (Chris Isaak)
22 Perfect Lover (Chris Isaak)
23 Please Don't Call (Chris Isaak) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gpUPv5Xj

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/BpKi5r1ZG4I4Sh2/file

The cover photo shows Chris Isaak performing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno in November 2004.

Various Artists - An All-Star Tribute to Johnny Cash, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, 4-6-1999

I've previously posted "All-Star Tribute" concerts for Paul Simon and Brian Wilson. I discovered they were part of a short-lived annual tradition at the TNT TV network. There are only a couple more, so I plan on posting them too. Here's the next one, an "All-Star Tribute" to country legend Johnny Cash.

In 1999, Cash's health was in serious decline. He wouldn't die until 2003, at the age of 71. But by 1999, he rarely gave public performances. As he mentioned in his stage comments here, he hadn't performed on stage in the past year and a half. After this, he would only make about half a dozen additional musical performances, none of them full concerts. So although he did sing at the very end of this concert, maybe with his health in mind he only sang two songs.

The rest of the concert featured an impressive roster of musical stars singing songs made famous by Cash. It should be noted that the biggest stars, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and U2, weren't actually there but videotaped musical performances that were played at the concert. 

Unfortunately, one person who couldn't sing at this concert was Cash's famous musical daughter Rosanne Cash. This concert happened to take place during a three-year time period in which Rosanne was unable to sing due to a polyp on her vocal chords. She did, however, give a brief speech.

Most of the concert was emceed by actor Jon Voight. However, some of the other banter was by singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin, actor Kevin Bacon, and actor Tim Robbins. There were some additional parts that I cut out. These were narrated video tributes to different stages of Cash's life. I cut those out because they were mainly meant to be seen, not heard.

Like the other "All-Star Tributes" in this series, this concert remains officially unreleased. I found the video of it on YouTube, then converted that to audio. The sound quality is excellent throughout.

This album is an hour and a half long.

01 Jackson - Orange Blossom Special (Sheryl Crow & Willie Nelson)
02 talk (Jon Voight)
03 I Guess Things Happen That Way (Chris Isaak)
04 Get Rhythm Intro (Chris Isaak)
05 Get Rhythm (Chris Isaak)
06 talk (Jon Voight & John Carter Cash)
07 talk (Willie Nelson)
08 I Still Miss Someone (Willie Nelson)
09 talk (Jon Voight)
10 talk (June Carter Cash)
11 Ring of Fire (June Carter Cash)
12 talk (Jon Voight)
13 Train of Love (Bob Dylan)
14 talk (Jon Voight)
15 The Man in Black (Mavericks)
16 talk (Jon Voight)
17 The Ballad of Ira Hayes (Kris Kristofferson)
18 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
19 Sunday Morning Coming Down (Trisha Yearwood with Kris Kristofferson)
20 talk (Larry Gatlin)
21 Ghost Riders in the Sky (Brooks & Dunn)
22 talk (Jon Voight)
23 Tennessee Flat Top Box (Lyle Lovett)
24 talk (Lyle Lovett)
25 talk (Bruce Springsteen)
26 Give My Love to Rose (Bruce Springsteen)
27 talk (Jon Voight)
28 Flesh and Blood (Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow & Mary Chapin Carpenter)
29 talk (Kevin Bacon)
30 Delia's Gone (Wyclef Jean)
31 talk (Jon Voight)
32 talk (Dave Matthews)
33 Long Black Veil (Dave Matthews & Emmylou Harris)
34 talk (Jon Voight)
35 talk (Rosanne Cash)
36 talk (Marty Stuart)
37 Belshazzar (Marty Stuart with the Fairfield Four)
38 talk (Jon Voight & Bono)
39 Don't Take Your Guns to Town (U2)
40 talk (Jon Voight)
41 talk (Tim Robbins)
42 Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)
43 talk (Johnny Cash)
44 I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/VysgekNb

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/FO4eXOKBVGBjELk/file

alternate:

https://www.imagenetz.de/dmd9S

The cover shows John Mellencamp with Johnny Cash at this exact concert. Curiously, Mellencamp didn't appear in any of the songs. Perhaps he had a song or two that got cut out of the TV broadcast, or perhaps he had a non-performing role, I don't know. But I thought it was a good photo to show how Cash was honored.

Chris Isaak - Acoustic, Volume 2, KCRW Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 4-1994 & 6-9-1995

One reason I like Chris Isaak's music is that he's not afraid to perform in solo acoustic mode. Here is the second of three albums I've made collecting such acoustic performances.

This album consists of two unreleased radio show performances, both from the same radio station, KCRW, but a year apart from each other. The first six songs are from a 1994 show, and the other seven are from a 1995 show.

Luckily for my purposes, there was only one repeat between the two shows. That repeat happens to be his most famous song by far, "Wicked Game." I've included both versions, since it's such a great song.

This album is 31 minutes long.

01 Devil Woman (Chris Isaak)
02 La Tumba Sera el Final (Chris Isaak)
03 Solitary Man (Chris Isaak)
04 Beautiful Homes (Chris Isaak)
05 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
06 5-15 (Chris Isaak)
07 Somebody's Crying (Chris Isaak)
08 Graduation Day (Chris Isaak)
09 Forever Blue (Chris Isaak)
10 Blue Day, Black Nights (Chris Isaak)
11 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
12 Blue Darling (Chris Isaak)
13 Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing (Chris Isaak)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16520386/CHRSISAK1994-1995AcustcVlum2KCRStdosLsAnglesCA__4-1994___6-9-1995_atse.zip.html

All I know about the cover photo is that it was taken in Paris in 1995.

Chris Isaak - Acoustic, Volume 1: 1989-1996

I'm a big fan of acoustic music, and one thing I like about Chris Isaak is that he's always had an acoustic side to his music. It hasn't fully shown up that much on his studio albums, but I've found enough for three albums of acoustic versions. This is the first one.

Everything here is officially unreleased. The first song is from 1989. The next big chunk, tracks two through ten, are from a 1991 appearance on the Dutch radio show "2 Meter Sessies." Tracks 11 through 13 are from a 1994 appearance on a Los Angeles radio show called "Music Hall." Then tracks 14 through 17 are from another appearance on that show a year later. The last song is from an appearance on an Australian TV show in 1996. So the vast majority of these are from in-person radio station performances. All the songs were essentially done in studio conditions, with no audience noise.

This album is 42 minutes long. 

01 Vaya Con Dios [Edit] (Chris Isaak)
02 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
03 Undo the Right (Chris Isaak)
04 Leavin' It All Up to You (Chris Isaak)
05 I'm Not Waiting (Chris Isaak)
06 La Tumba Sera el Final (Chris Isaak)
07 Solitary Man (Chris Isaak)
08 Western Stars (Chris Isaak)
09 Leah (Chris Isaak)
10 Pretty Papers (Chris Isaak)
11 Guess Things Happen that Way (Chris Isaak)
12 Sweet Leilani (Chris Isaak)
13 Nobody Else but Me (Chris Isaak)
14 Cryin' (Chris Isaak)
15 You're the Only Good Thing [That's Happened to Me] (Chris Isaak)
16 Forever Blue (Chris Isaak)
17 Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing (Chris Isaak)
18 Think of Tomorrow (Chris Isaak)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16323372/CHRSISK1989-1996AcsticVlum1_atse.zip.html

I don't know any details about the cover photo, except it was taken in 1991.

Chris Isaak - Beyond the Sun - Alternate Version (2011)

It seems that singer Chris Isaak was born in the wrong era. He managed to be a pretty big star in the 1990s, but due to his musical style, I'm sure he would have been a much bigger star if he'd been of the right age in the 1950s and 60s. In 2011, he finally did the obvious thing and released an album consisting entirely of cover versions of 1950s and 60s songs, called "Beyond the Sun." But while this album is pretty good, I'd like to think that I made it even better simply by making it shorter.

Let me explain a bit more. "Beyond the Sun" was first released as a relatively short album, just 35 minutes long. But later, a deluxe edition was released that more than doubled the album length. If you consider all the songs from this version, about half are covers of classic hits and the others are covers of lesser known songs. (There's even one original on the deluxe edition only, "My Baby Don't Love Me No More," that fits the style of the others.) In my opinion, most of those classic hits have been overplayed already. The world doesn't really need more versions of "Can't Help Falling in Love," "It's Now or Never," "I Walk the Line," "Ring of Fire," and the like. So I removed all the really well known songs, and it left me with an album's worth of songs. I think this is a more interesting listen for people like me who know those other songs backwards and forwards.

This album is 37 minutes long.

01 Dixie Fried (Chris Isaak)
02 How's the World Treating You (Chris Isaak)
03 Miss Pearl (Chris Isaak)
04 Live It Up (Chris Isaak)
05 So Long I'm Gone (Chris Isaak)
06 My Happiness (Chris Isaak)
07 Doin' the Best I Can (Chris Isaak)
08 Your True Love (Chris Isaak)
09 Lovely Loretta (Chris Isaak)
10 Everybody's in the Mood (Chris Isaak)
11 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry [Over You] (Chris Isaak)
12 Doncha' Think It's Time (Chris Isaak)
13 My Baby Don't Love Me No More (Chris Isaak)
14 Bonnie B (Chris Isaak)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16122617/CHRSISK2011_ByndthSunAltrntVrsin_atse.zip.html

I got lucky with the cover art. Searching the Internet for the artist name and album name, I stumbled across this art done as a pretend poster, in the style of many 1950s posters. I had to crop some things to get the rectangular poster to fit into a square space, but every bit of this, including all the text, was in the original. I tried to figure out who did it, to give credit, but the website is originated from appeared to be defunct.

Various Artists - Roy Orbison Tribute Concert to Benefit the Homeless, Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, CA, 2-24-1990

I recently stumbled across this Roy Orbison concert. As far as I can tell, it's never really appeared as a bootleg, other than as a single file with no song titles or artists given. So I had to some research just to figure out what this was exactly. But I think it was worth it because it's a very interesting show, with lots of big names. Despite it being ostensibly about Roy Orbison, probably the biggest musical event of the concert was the reunion of three key members of the Byrds - Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman - who were then joined by Bob Dylan for the song "Mr. Tambourine Man." Dylan wrote it in 1964, and the Byrds had a Number One hit with it in 1965, but they'd never done the song on stage together.

Roy Orbison died of a heart attack at the end of 1988, when he was only 52 years old. The timing of his death was especially unfortunate because he hadn't had much commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, but that drastically changed right as he died, with him being a member of the Traveling Wilburys supergroup. He even had his first Top Ten hit in over 25 years with "You Got It." 

Regardless, Orbison was a much admired musical legend. So when he died, his wife Barbara Orbison put together a tribute concert that also doubled as a benefit concert to help the homeless. It's an odd concert as these things go, because most of the acts paid tribute to Orbison by covering his songs, but some other acts went in a different direction and played songs that seemed to have no link to Orbison whatsoever. For instance Iggy Pop played "Home," a song from his then-current album. Speaking of Iggy Pop, another odd aspect to the concert was the musical acts involved. Some made lots of sense, because they'd been heavily influenced by Orbison, such as John Fogerty or Chris Isaak. 

Others were more mystifying musically. For instance, you may well wonder what Patrick Swayze is doing here, dueting on the Everly Brothers song "Love Hurts" with Larry Gatlin. Yes, that Patrick Swayze, the famous actor. He released a few songs here and there, but never put out an album. Apparently, some acts mainly got involved because they liked the charitable cause.

Aside from Iggy Pop, the Patrick Swayze and Larry Gatlin duet, and the Byrds songs, plus a duet version of "I'm in the Mood" by John Lee Hooker & Bonnie Raitt, and "The Thrill Is Gone" by B. B. King, I believe all the rest of the songs have some Orbison connection. For instance, "In the Real World," "Rock House," "Chicken Hearted," and "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" are fairly obscure songs, but they were all written and/or sung by Orbison. (He also did "Love Hurts," although the Everly Brothers did it first.)

Anyway, this contains all of the music performed at the concert that I could find. However, I cut out some of the talking between songs. There were some pitches for people to donate to the charitable cause, which is no longer relevant since the phone number mentioned has long gone dead, I'd assume. But I suspect there was more banter between songs, and maybe even more songs, that didn't get bootlegged. The show was broadcast on TV, but I think it's a safe bet a lot of edits were made to get it to fit within the allowed screen time. There were some acts involved that didn't get any songs featured at all, such as Michelle Shocked and the duet of Wendy and Lisa. They did help out along with some others on the all-female version of "Oh, Pretty Woman," but I wouldn't be surprised if they did songs that got cut from the TV show, and thus this bootleg, because they weren't so famous.

Also, near the end of this concert, the Byrds did four songs: "Turn, Turn, Turn," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Eight Miles High," and "He Was a Friend of Mine." Dylan took part with "Mr. Tambourine Man," as I previously mentioned. " He also took part in "He Was a Friend of Mine," but just barely, because he merely strummed along on guitar and didn't sing at all, so I didn't add his name to the credits for that song. I know this because I found a video of it on YouTube.

The Byrds performances of "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" have been officially released on a Byrds box set. But the other two remain unreleased, as far as I know.

This album is an hour and 39 minutes long. If anyone knows the correct order of the songs, please let me know.

UPDATE: On February 12, 2023, I updated the mp3 download file. Musical associate Lilpanda had a different source for this concert, with the same high quality sound. Most of it was the same, but there were five songs I didn't have. So I added those. I don't know the correct song order, so I put three of the newly discovered ones at the start (the ones by NRBO, Joe Ely, and Syd Straw). That also included two songs by the Byrds, "Eight Miles High" and "He Was a Friend of Mine," so I put those with the rest of the Byrds' set. That added about 20 minutes of music to the album.

01 Chicken Hearted (NRBQ)
02 Working for the Man (Joe Ely)
03 She's a Mystery to Me (Syd Straw)
04 talk (John Fogerty)
05 Ooby Dooby (John Fogerty)
06 Mean Woman Blues (Levon Helm)
07 I'm in the Mood (John Lee Hooker & Bonnie Raitt)
08 talk (Chris Isaak)
09 Leah (Chris Isaak)
10 Dream Baby [How Long Must I Dream] (Shrunken Heads [Tom Tom Club & Jerry Harrison])
11 Crying (k. d. lang)
12 The Thrill Is Gone (B. B. King with Al Kooper & Don Was)
13 You Got It (John Hiatt with Don Was)
14 It's Over (Was [Not Was])
15 In the Real World (Booker T. Jones)
16 Home (Iggy Pop)
17 Oh, Pretty Woman (k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt & Emmylou Harris)
18 That Lovin' You Feelin' Again (Emmylou Harris & Michael McDonald)
19 Claudette (Dwight Yoakam)
20 talk (Bernie Taupin)
21 Running Scared (Benny Mardones)
22 Love Hurts (Larry Gatlin & Patrick Swayze)
23 talk (Stray Cats)
24 Rock House (Stray Cats)
25 talk (Barbara Orbison)
26 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
27 Candy Man (Bonnie Raitt with Chris Isaak)
28 Turn, Turn, Turn [To Everything There Is a Season] (Byrds)
29 Eight Miles High (Byrds)
30 talk (Roger McGuinn)
31 Mr. Tambourine Man (Byrds & Bob Dylan)
32 He Was a Friend of Mine (Byrds)
33 Only the Lonely (Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/3by8k2RW

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/FNC3nsZwXP8dae0/file

alternate:

https://www.imagenetz.de/m7zft

For the cover, I used a photo of Dylan with the three former Byrds from this exact concert. The section at the top with the title comes from some promotional artwork for this concert, but I cropped and stretched it to fit.

Chris Isaak - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: In Concert, Town and Country Club, London, Britain, 3-12-1991

Here's something else I came across as part of my BBC project, Chris Isaak performing a concert for the BBC in 1991.

This concert arguably took place at Isaak's commercial peak. His biggest hit is "Wicked Game," which was released in 1989. However, it only made a minor impact at the time. Then it was included in the movie "Wild at Heart" in 1990, and got enough buzz to get re-released as a single. It finally reached the US Top Ten in January 1991, just two months before this concert.

When I first posted this album in 2022, I wrote that the sound quality wasn't up to usual BBC standards. But in 2025, a kind commenter sent me a better sounding version, so that's what you hear here. 

This album is 58 minutes long.

UPDATE: As mentioned above, I redid the mp3 download file, with a better sounding version of all the songs. Specifically, I changed it on November 15, 2025. I also changed the title to "Volume 1" after finding material for a "Volume 2."

01 Dancin' (Chris Isaak)
02 Lovers Game (Chris Isaak)
03 talk (Chris Isaak)
04 You Owe Me Some Kind of Love (Chris Isaak)
05 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
06 Gone Ridin' (Chris Isaak)
07 Wild Love (Chris Isaak)
08 Don't Make Me Dream about You (Chris Isaak)
09 talk (Chris Isaak)
10 Beautiful Homes (Chris Isaak)
11 talk (Chris Isaak)
12 Diddley Daddy (Chris Isaak)
13 A Town without Pity (Chris Isaak)
14 In the Heat of the Jungle (Chris Isaak)
15 talk (Chris Isaak)
16 Blue Hotel (Chris Isaak)
17 talk (Chris Isaak)
18 Caldonia (Chris Isaak)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/BqJsPyDg

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/5dv4qHBQImDq4dA/file

The cover photo appears to come from this exact concert, as it was taken at the Town and Country Club, in London, in 1991.

Chris Isaak - Heartbeat - Non-Album Tracks (2007-2020)

This is the fourth, and possibly last, Chris Isaak stray tracks collection. Musical artists tend to slow down as they get older and this already deals with a 13-year time period. Perhaps there will be another one in 2033 or after!

Only six of the 17 songs here are officially released. Those are bonus tracks or from various artists compilations. Isaak was the star of a TV show for a while, "The Chris Isaak Hour," and five more of the songs are from that. Those all sound excellent and are essentially studio tracks. Most of the rest, while unreleased, also come from excellent sources, such as DVDs or TV shows. Only the song "Bonnie B" comes from a typical concert bootleg.

If you look at the song list, you'll see Isaak does a great many duets or other collaborations. In fact, 12 of the 17 songs are like that. He sings a lot of duets with other famous people, usually covers of classic songs.

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 Don't Be Cruel [Edit] (Chris Isaak with Brandi Carlile)
02 Cry (Chris Isaak & Jerry Lee Lewis)
03 Love Me Tender (Chris Isaak & Brandi Carlile)
04 Bonnie B (Chris Isaak with Brian Setzer)
05 Dream Deferred (Chris Isaak)
06 I Got It Bad (Chris Isaak)
07 It's Late (Stevie Nicks & Chris Isaak)
08 Lovesick Blues (Glen Campbell & Chris Isaak)
09 Red River Valley (Stevie Nicks & Chris Isaak)
10 Help Me Make It through the Night (Jewel & Chris Isaak)
11 We Lost Our Way (Jewel & Chris Isaak)
12 Crying, Waiting, Hoping (Chris Isaak)
13 Heartbeat (Chris Isaak & Michelle Branch)
14 Blue Hotel (Emilie Simon & Chris Isaak)
15 Patient Is the Night (Blasting Company with Chris Isaak)
16 I Can't Stop Loving You (Chris Isaak)
17 We'll Meet Again (Chris Isaak)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15129139/ChrisIsk_2007-2020_HeartbeatVariousSongs_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from the MTV Video Awards ceremony in 1991.

Chris Isaak - Change Your Mind - Non-Album Tracks (1996-2007)

It's strange, but I actually prefer these Chris Isaak stray tracks collections I've made more than most of his studio albums. That's the same with Norah Jones for me. I suspect it's because these artists stick to certain expectations and styles on their own albums, but let their hair down and do more varied things when it comes to stray tracks.

This album is a case in point. It still has that distinctive Chris Isaak sound. Many of the songs are originals, and it sets a sad, romantic mood much of the time. Yet he covers a bunch of interesting songs from Cheap Trick ("I Want You to Want Me") to Judy Garland ("Over the Rainbow")!

All but three of the songs here are officially released. Six come from B-sides. Another is from a best of, and most of the rest are from soundtracks or various artists compilations. The two unreleased ones are "Get Rhythm" - from a TV tribute to Johnny Cash, "Devil in Disguise" - from a TV tribute to Elvis Presley, and an acoustic band version of "Solitary Man" - from a concert broadcast on TV. All three of those TV sources sound better than most bootlegs, so there's high sound quality all through this album.

I have one more stray tracks album from him to post. Then I have some acoustic stuff from him.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 Change Your Mind (Chris Isaak)
02 The Little White Cloud that Cried (Chris Isaak)
03 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Chris Isaak)
04 Eyes of Texas (Chris Isaak)
05 So Lovely Is the Night (Chris Isaak)
06 Everyone Gets Down (Chris Isaak)
07 Fast N' Slow (Chris Isaak)
08 Get Rhythm (Chris Isaak)
09 Winter Waves (Chris Isaak)
10 It Wouldn't Be the Same without You (Chris Isaak)
11 Devil in Disguise (Chris Isaak & LeAnn Rimes)
12 Besame Mucho (Chris Isaak)
13 Solitary Man [Acoustic Band Version] (Chris Isaak)
14 I Want You to Want Me (Chris Isaak)
15 Over the Rainbow (Chris Isaak & Jerry Lee Lewis)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15129166/ChrisIsk_1996-2007_ChangeYourMindVariousSongs_atse.zip.html

The cover image comes from a concert poster from this time period. It was rectangular shaped, as most posters are, but I cropped the bottom portion, and brought the bottom jagged edge up.

Chris Isaak - That's My Desire - Non-Album Tracks (1988-1995)

A while back, I posted an album of Chris Isaak's stray tracks, dealing with the years 1985 to 1988. I actually have three more stray tracks albums for him. This is the second one. It's from arguably his most commercial successful time period, mostly due to his classic hit "Wicked Game."

This is a very varied mix in terms of the sourcing. Six of the songs are officially unreleased, and all come from live performances. I was careful though to only include performances with very good sound quality, for instance from soundboard bootlegs.

The rest are all studio tracks. They include an A-side, two B-sides, songs from various artists compilations, and movie soundtracks. The instrumental version of "Wicked Game" is of particular note. The song with vocals was first released on Isaak's 1989 album "Heart Shaped World." But in 1990, this all-instrumental version was included in the David Lynch directed movie "Wild at Heart." The song wasn't a hit at all at first, but this version helped it gain attention, and it ended up being a hit in early 1991. The instrumental version is the vocal version minus the vocals, as far as I can tell, but it's still nice. 

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 Suspicion of Love (Chris Isaak)
02 Jack the Ripper - Rumble - Tequila - Jack the Ripper [Instrumental] (Chris Isaak)
03 Don't Leave Me This Way (Chris Isaak & Etienne Daho)
04 Wicked Game [Instrumental Version] (Chris Isaak)
05 Leah (Chris Isaak)
06 That's My Desire (Chris Isaak)
07 Dark Moon (Chris Isaak)
08 5-15 (Chris Isaak)
09 Diddley Daddy (Chris Isaak)
10 Shake Little Sister (Chris Isaak)
11 La Tumba Sera el Final (Chris Isaak)
12 Blue Moon (Chris Isaak)
13 Blue Days, Black Nights (Chris Isaak)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15129176/ChrisIsk_1988-1995_ThatsMyDesireVariousSongs_atse.zip.html

The cover is a promotional photo from 1990.

Chris Isaak - Devil Woman - Non-Album Tracks (1985-1988)

Here's another album where I felt blocked from posting it for a long time. This is a collection of stray tracks from the start of Chris Isaak's career. Isaak released his first album in 1985. During his first years, he played many covers in concert that he didn't put on album. This is mainly a collection of those. Unfortunately, because he wasn't a big star at first, there aren't many bootlegs from those years, and most of them are average sounding.

So, for a long time, I had a bunch of interesting covers to make up an album, but I felt I couldn't post it due to the sound quality. But happily, I waited and waited, and eventually I came across a better sounding bootleg. I used that for the last seven songs, which is the whole second half of the album. A few of the other songs still only sound good, not great, but I figure this is likely the best things are going to get, and the overall sound quality is good enough.

The only officially released song here is the first one, "Another Idea." That's a bonus track from his 1985 album, simply titled "Chris Isaak." All the other songs are taken from concert bootlegs.

On a different note, I want to comment why I think this album is worth listening to. To be honest, I'm not that big of a fan of Chris Isaak's studio albums. Sometimes he has good to great original songs, most notably his classic hit "Wicked Game." But too often, his songs are predictable, without a lot of variation from one song to another. I actually prefer his non-album tracks. I think the situation is very similar to Norah Jones, where her album songs generally fall into a predictable, samey mold, but she has a lot of non-album songs where she takes greater chances, and does many more covers, leading to greater variety.

For this album, I'm pretty sure that all the songs are covers, with the exception of the first one. Isaak is known for his retro sound based mainly in 1950s styles. He certainly knows his stuff, playing some interesting obscurities, as well as some well-known classics.

By the way, I like Isaak's non-album material so much that I have three more stray tracks albums of his. And I'll be able to post them soon, now that I've gotten past the problems mentioned above that stopped me from posting this one.

Here's the original artists for each song:

01 Another Idea - Chris Isaak
02 Devil Woman - Marty Robbins
03 Fortune Teller - Allen Toussaint
04 I Just Don't Understand - Ann-Margaret
05 Mystery Train - Junior Parker
06 Baby, Please Don't Go - Big Joe Williams
07 Believe What You Say - Ricky Nelson
08 The Man with the Golden Arm [Instrumental] - Elmer Bernstein
09 Bonnie B - Jerry Lee Lewis
10 Caledonia - Louis Jordan
11 Shake Your Hips - Slim Harpo
12 Vaya con Dios - Les Paul & Mary Ford
13 Dixie Fried - Carl Perkins
14 Honky Tonk [Instrumental] - Bill Doggett

Here's the usual song list:

01 Another Idea (Chris Isaak)
02 Devil Woman (Chris Isaak)
03 Fortune Teller (Chris Isaak)
04 I Just Don't Understand (Chris Isaak)
05 Mystery Train (Chris Isaak)
06 Baby, Please Don't Go (Chris Isaak)
07 Believe What You Say (Chris Isaak)
08 The Man with the Golden Arm [Instrumental] (Chris Isaak)
09 Bonnie B (Chris Isaak)
10 Caledonia (Chris Isaak)
11 Shake Your Hips (Chris Isaak)
12 Vaya con Dios (Chris Isaak)
13 Dixie Fried (Chris Isaak)
14 Honky Tonk [Instrumental] (Chris Isaak)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15127585/ChrisIsk_1985-1988_DevilWomanVariousSongs_atse.zip.html

The album cover uses a promotional photo of Isaak from 1985.