The 1980s - Midnight Oil

If there’s something to protest, Midnight Oil is your band.  Whether it be reparations for indigenous Australian peoples, the environment, nuclear disarmament, uranium mining, climate change, increased funding for public education, saving the whales, mining safety – pick your favorite issue and Midnight Oil will show up and sing for their supper.  Singer Peter Garrett is a politician and an activist.  He left Midnight Oil in 2002 for a solo career – in politics.  He was an Australian Member of Parliament for the Australian Labor Party.  He served in two Labor Party governments as a minister.   He served on Greenpeace’s international board for two years, and has participated in various Australian community and cultural organizations.  Before serving in elective office he was a critic of US military and foreign policies, which moderated once he became part of the Establishment.  Garrett has since left politics. 

Though they haven’t created new music since 2002, Garrett returned to Midnight Oil to resume live shows. Midnight Oil always has been and continues to be his soapbox.  Their politics are up front, in your face, and they are unapologetic for that.  They are for Australia what The Clash was for England.  AllMusic critic William Ruhlmann wrote that “it's hard to dance when you're being lectured to.”  Given that, their music is still compelling listening.  Midnight Oil was definitely not about sex, drugs, and rock and roll.  They had [and continue to have] things to say, and they’re not shy about saying them.  Radio-friendly pop hits their songs are not.  But, the songs are good….really good.  I found a quote from Jim Moginie [guitars, keyboards, and songwriting] about Midnight Oil’s appeal:  “We’ve always been a political band, but the bottom line is that the songs have to be good. You can’t stand up there playing a G chord for half an hour and saying how the whole world’s fucked up, you have to bring people in through hooks.”

The first time I became aware of Midnight Oil was not from something I heard, but rather something I saw.  In 1984 they released an album called Red Sails in the Sunset.  The cover showed a hypothetical view of Sydney and Sydney Harbor after a nuclear attack [it was the Cold War, after all].  This wasn’t your typical album cover, and it was attention-grabbing.  The first time I heard them was a song called Beds Are Burning [from 1987’s Diesel and Dust].  This was Midnight Oil’s clarion call for reparations for Aborigines.  This was my gateway drug to Midnight Oil.  When I heard who it was I put two and two together and thought “oh yeah, those are the guys who nuked Sydney”.  Peter Garrett as the front man is someone you’ll never forget once you’ve seen him.  He’s 6’6” and is bald as Mr. Clean.  Midnight Oil’s music is music for resistance.  U2 like to think their music is such, but they reinvented themselves as rock stars beginning with Achtung Baby and haven’t looked back [much].  The Clash broke up long ago, and Joe Strummer is still dead. If you’re a social justice warrior, Midnight Oil is the band for you.

The first two albums [Midnight Oil (1978) and Head Injuries (1979)] find our Aussie heroes trying to find their way, as would any band with a new recording contract.  The politics hadn’t really kicked in.  They were trying anything to see if any music would stick.  There’s punk rock bluster, attempts at ska, Bowie-style glam, love songs, and guitar heroics.  I put those songs at the end of my playlist because they’re kind of a sore thumb compared to the rest of the songs, but they’re good taken on their own merits. Places Without A Postcard [1981] saw them paired with producer Glyn Johns.  The two didn’t really mix, but the formula emerged – relentlessly political lyrics with head-banging rock.  The band gelled in 1982 with 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982].  The medium and the message became a good match for these guys.  For my money, the albums to get are: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982]; Red Sails in the Sunset [1984]; Diesel and Dust [1987]; Blue Sky Mining [1990]; Earth and Sun and Moon [1993].  You can’t go wrong with any of these.  You can cherry-pick songs from the other albums, but these are the ones that hold up as coherent statements.  The songs are great.  These albums are when Midnight Oil hit their protest-music stride.  Here’s the caveat emptor - sometimes listening to Midnight Oil is like watching British movies – sometimes you need the subtitles on [or in this case, the lyric sheets] in order to understand them. 

1.      When the Generals Talk – Red Sails in the Sunset [1984]

2.      Best of Both Worlds - Red Sails in the Sunset [1984]

3.      Feeding Frenzy – Earth and Sun and Moon [1993]

4.      My Country - Earth and Sun and Moon [1993]

5.      Renaissance Man - Earth and Sun and Moon [1993]

6.      Truganini - Earth and Sun and Moon [1993]

7.      Drums of Heaven - Earth and Sun and Moon [1993]

8.      Beds Are Burning - Diesel and Dust [1987]

9.      The Dead Heart - Diesel and Dust [1987]

10.  Sell My Soul - Diesel and Dust [1987]

11.  Blue Sky Mine – Blue Sky Mining [1990]

12.  Stars of Warburton – Blue Sky Mining [1990]

13.  Bedlam Bridge – Blue Sky Mining [1990]

14.  King of the Mountain – Blue Sky Mining [1990]

15.  Minutes to Midnight – Red Sails in the Sunset [1984]

16.  Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers – Red Sails in the Sunset [1984]

17.  Kosciusko – Red Sails in the Sunset [1984]

18.  Bells and Horns in the Back of Beyond – Red Sails in the Sunset [1984]

19.  Shipyards of New Zealand – Red Sails in the Sunset [1984]

20.  Only the Strong - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982]

21.  Scream in Blue - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982]

22.  Short Memory - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982]

23.  Power and the Passion - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982]

24.  Armistice Day - Place Without a Postcard [1981]

25.  Lucky Country - Place Without a Postcard [1981]

26.  Gunbarrel Highway - Diesel and Dust [1987]

27.  Redneck Wonderland - Redneck Wonderland [1998]

28.  In the Valley – Earth and Sun and Moon [1993]

29.  Now or Neverland – Earth and Sun and Moon [1993]

30.  River Runs Red – Blue Sky Mining [1990]

31.  Shakers and Movers – Blue Sky Mining [1990]

32.  Antarctica – Blue Sky Mining [1990]

33.  Tone Poem – Capricornia [2002]

34.  Dreamworld - Diesel and Dust [1987]

35.  Outside World - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982]

36.  Read About It - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982]

37.  Somebody's Trying to Tell Me Something - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 [1982]

38.  Run By Night - Midnight Oil [1978]

39.  Nothing Lost – Nothing Gained - Midnight Oil [1978]

40.  Cold Cold Change - Head Injuries [1979]

41.  Stand In Line - Head Injuries [1979]

42.  Back on the Borderline - Head Injuries [1979]

43.  No Reaction - Head Injuries [1979]

The 1980s - The Pretenders

I saw the Pretenders at Red Rocks in the summer of 1984.  They were supporting their album Learning to Crawl.  By this time, there were two new guys in the band – Robbie McIntosh [guitar] and Malcolm Foster [bass].  They were good, almost great.  They played almost every song I wanted to hear.  It was a good mix between “what came before” and what was new at the time.  They even played something they had not released [yet].  That was a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Room Full of Mirrors.  I’ll give props to anybody who covers Hendrix well, and the Pretenders didn’t disappoint. 

Guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon were half of “what came before”.  For those unfamiliar with the tale, in the summer of 1982 Chrissie Hynde, drummer Martin Chambers and Scott had a band meeting to fire Pete Farndon.  Farndon had a serious drug problem, which made him difficult to work with.  Two days after they fired Pete Farndon, Scott died from heart failure.  He overdosed on cocaine.  Farndon himself died ten months later.  He drowned in his bathtub after overdosing on heroin.

The time between the band’s formation in 1978 and the loss of two founding members in 1982, the Pretenders recorded two albums and one EP.  These albums [Pretenders, Extended Play, and Pretenders II] were brash and harder than most contemporary rock records, which blended sounds of 1970s rock and roll [think “Rolling Stones”], New Wave, and Punk that also had plenty of melody.  Chrissie Hynde may not look sexy [she isn’t ugly either by a long shot], but she sounds sexy. She’s an excellent songwriter who also has an affinity for the Kinks.  Her rhythm guitar playing and the lead playing of James Honeyman-Scott made for an excellent pairing. 

Chris Thomas produced those records with the original band, and is crucial to the Pretenders’ story.  His first foray into record production came when George Martin threw him into the deep end during sessions for the Beatles’ White Album.  He left Thomas a note - "Dear Chris, Hope you had a nice holiday. I'm off on mine now. Make yourself available to The Beatles. Neil and Mal know you're coming down."  After the White Album, Thomas produced Procol Harum, Roxy Music, Badfinger, and the Sex Pistols and mixed Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.  He met Chrissie Hynde before the Pretenders formed.  She told him she wanted to be a singer and asked for his help.  His advice to her was that singing was not enough – she needed to get a band and take up songwriting.  She obviously took his advice.

Their first single was a Kinks cover, Stop Your Sobbing [produced by Nick Lowe].  It was the strength of the single [and seeing them perform live] which convinced Thomas to produce the first album.  Pretenders is one of the better debut albums one would hear from anybody [see my playlist below for song titles].  Under Thomas’ direction, the songs are focused and inspiring.  His production brings the band a direction and a hard edge that would be missing from records not involving him.  Extended Play appeared the next year with two songs left over from Pretenders that didn’t make the album.  It also had two songs for the next album [Message of Love and Talk of the Town] and a live version of Precious.  Oddly enough, one of those songs [Cuban Slide] is my favorite Pretenders song.  Pretenders II was a bit of a letdown from the first album.  To be fair, the first album set the bar incredibly high.  The songs don’t rock as hard, and some of the songs sound like filler.  However, the songs that aren’t filler equal the standard set by those from the first album.  It was these collections of songs from the original band on which the Pretenders’ reputation is built.  One can only wonder how the rest of the Pretenders’ music would turn out had James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon stayed away from hard drugs.  Tony’s rating for this period [on a scale of 0 (must avoid) to 5 (classic)] – 4.9. 

Two months after Scott’s death the two remaining Pretenders [Hynde and Chambers] began recording a memorial to Scott.  With the help of guitarist Billy Bremner [Rockpile], guitarist Robbie McIntosh, and bassist Tony Butler [Big Country].  This song became Back on the Chain Gang.  Robbie McIntosh was a friend of Scott’s.  The same day they fired Pete Farndon, Scott said he wanted to bring McIntosh into the band.  The B-side of Back on the Chain Gang was My City Was Gone [which I think is a better song].  In addition to the task of replacing two founding members, Chrissie Hynde was three-months pregnant at the time.  It was going to take a while to rebuild the Pretenders.

Learning to Crawl showed a band that came back from the dead.  It too was produced by Chris Thomas, whose production was as clear and crystalline as always, but the band’s sound changed.  How could it not?  Musicians simply don’t “plug and play” from one band to another and expect to sound like the musicians they replace. The music was not as aggressive as it was on the first three releases.  The punk fury that fueled the first release was replaced by more mature melodicism.  That being said, the opening cut [Middle of the Road] is just as raucous as anything that came before.  Chrissie Hynde’s songs were, in a word, remarkable.  They were more mature, as death of close friends and new motherhood were bound to change Chrissie’s outlook.  The first clue to this maturity comes at the end of Middle of the Road – “I’m not the cat I used to be/I got a kid I’m 33, baby…” Robbie McIntosh’s playing is leaner and more muscular than that of James Honeyman-Scott, but his style suited the new songs.  Malcolm Foster was a very solid and dependable replacement for Pete Farndon.  His teaming with Martin Chambers made them a formidable rhythm section.  2000 Miles was written as another tribute to James Honeyman-Scott, but since it mentions ‘Christmastime’ it’s been known as a Christmas song since its release.  The only song on the album I don’t like is the one Chrissie Hynde didn’t write - Thin Line Between Love and Hate.  I do remember hearing this one at Red Rocks.  It’s a “bathroom break” song.  My favorite song from Learning to Crawl?  That would be Thumbelina, with its old-fashioned chugging train-song rhythm. Tony’s rating - 4.5. 

Get Close followed in 1986.  There were three different producers for this one, none of them named Chris Thomas.  Chrissie Hynde was the only Pretender on the front cover.  This is “truth in advertising”.  The band that made Learning to Crawl can be found on one only song – Room Full of Mirrors.  Shortly thereafter, Martin Chambers was told his services were no longer required.  Chrissie thought his playing wasn’t good.  He attributed his playing to apathy resulting from the inability to cope with the deaths of James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon.  When Chambers was canned, Malcolm Foster had a “fuck this shit” moment and followed Chambers out of the band.  With Robbie McIntosh the only other Pretender, he and Hynde recorded the remainder of Get Close with session players.  Some of the songs are good [see below], but others are a mess.  There was a power ballad [ick!] and some ‘funk’ tunes [doubleplusick!].  I’m sorry – white girls from Akron may be brash and ballsy with plenty of attitude, but funky they are not.  What is telling about Get Close is that the outtakes rock harder than the tunes that made the album.  After the tour for this album was done in 1987, so was Robbie McIntosh – he’d had enough.  He later went on to work for Paul McCartney (1989-93).  Tony’s rating – 2.5.

In 1972 Traffic recorded a Steve Winwood song called (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired.  That phrase sums up the Pretenders’ fifth album, Packed [1990]. This was a Pretenders album in name only, and has “contractual obligation” written all over it.  I’m not sure what this album was packed with, but quality music was not.  The tunes are uninspiring, the production is bland.  I never thought I’d say this about an album involving Chrissie Hynde, but Packed is just plain boring.  Save your money - avoid at all costs.  Tony’s rating – 0.

Four years elapsed between the release of Packed and its follow-up, Last of the Independents.  Chris Thomas was back for this one, and the difference between this and Packed shows. This album and the two that followed it, ¡Viva El Amor! (1999) and Loose Screw (2002) featured a stable line-up – Chrissie Hynde, Adam Seymour [guitar], Andy Hobson [bass], and the return of Martin Chambers.  Critics labeled each of these albums as “the best since Learning to Crawl”.  Maybe if you take all the good songs from all three albums and make your own album that might be true.  That’s not to say that these are bad albums.  On the contrary – they’re pretty good.  Learning to Crawl had set the bar very high.   These albums proved what Chris Thomas told Chrissie Hynde in the early days about what she needed – good original songs and a real band to play them.  Tony’s rating for this period – 3.5.

The albums that followed Loose Screw have a low-fi aesthetic.  To these ears they sound like they could’ve been recorded in someone’s garage in a couple of days.  The low-fi aesthetic works well for some acts.  Their music would be much different without it [Tom Waits, Los Lobos, and bluesmen from north Mississippi come to mind].  The Pretenders – not so much.  Break Up the Concrete finds the Pretenders without Martin Chambers.  However, he toured to support the album.  Apparently he didn’t want to play on it, but was more than happy to do the road work.  Alone is another Pretenders album in name only.  Chrissie Hynde is the sole Pretender on the record, which she did with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and a bunch a session guys.  The album title is appropriate. Tony’s rating for this period – 2.

In 2014, Chrissie Hynde finally put out an album under her own name after 35 years of making records – Stockholm.  I have one song on my playlist from that album - Down the Wrong Way.  It might have been a real good Pretenders B-side, but I can sum up in two words why I included it – Neil Young.  Happily, the sexy voice was/is still intact.

When the Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Chrissie Hynde addressed the criticism that the Pretenders today is nothing but a tribute band.  Her response was that they pay tribute to James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon each and every night they play.  Touché.  That lady from Akron is pretty clever…

Here’s my Pretenders playlist:

1.      Room Full of Mirrors [Get Close, 1986]

2.      World Within Worlds [Get Close (Bonus track), 1986]

3.      Down the Wrong Way [Chrissie Hynde – Stockholm, 2014]

4.      Cuban Slide [Extended Play, 1981] à Tony’s favorite Pretenders song

5.      Porcelain [Extended Play, 1981]

6.      Birds of Paradise [Pretenders II, 1981]

7.      Mystery Achievement [Pretenders, 1980]

8.      Message of Love [Pretenders II, 1981]

9.      Talk of the Town [Pretenders II, 1981]

10.  The English Roses [Pretenders II, 1981]

11.  Jealous Dogs [Pretenders II, 1981]

12.  Day After Day [Pretenders II, 1981]

13.  Waste Not Want Not [Pretenders II, 1981]

14.  I Go To Sleep [Pretenders II, 1981]

15.  Bad Boys Get Spanked [Pretenders II, 1981]

16.  The Adultress [Pretenders II, 1981]

17.  Brass in Pocket [Pretenders, 1980]

18.  The Wait [Pretenders, 1980]

19.  Space Invader (Instrumental) [Pretenders, 1980]

20.  Private Life [Pretenders, 1980]

21.  Kid [Pretenders, 1980]

22.  Stop Your Sobbing [Pretenders, 1980]

23.  Tattooed Love Boys [Pretenders, 1980]

24.  Up the Neck [Pretenders, 1980]

25.  The Phone Call [Pretenders, 1980]

26.  Precious [Pretenders, 1980]

27.  Middle of the Road [Learning to Crawl, 1984]

28.  When I Change My Life [Get Close, 1986]

29.  Light of the Moon [Get Close, 1986]

30.  Back on the Chain Gang [Learning to Crawl, 1984]

31.  Time the Avenger [Learning to Crawl, 1984]

32.  Show Me [Learning to Crawl, 1984]

33.  Thumbelina [Learning to Crawl, 1984]

34.  My City Was Gone [Learning to Crawl, 1984]

35.  2000 Miles [Learning to Crawl, 1984]

36.  Hold a Candle to This [Get Close (Bonus track), 1986]

37.  Hollywood Perfume [Last of the Independents, 1994]

38.  Night in My Veins [Last of the Independents, 1994]

39.  Money Talk [Last of the Independents, 1994]

40.  I’m a Mother [Last of the Independents, 1994]

41.  Rebel Rock Me [Last of the Independents, 1994]

42.  Popstar [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]

43.  Dragway [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]

44.  Baby’s Breath [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]

45.  Legalize Me [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]

46.  Biker [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]

47.  Lie To Me [Loose Screw, 2002]

48.  Fools Must Die [Loose Screw, 2002]

49.  Walk Like a Panther [Loose Screw, 2002]

50.  Boots of Chinese Plastic [Break Up the Concrete, 2008]

51.  Break Up the Concrete [Break Up the Concrete, 2008]

52.  Alone [Alone, 2016]

The 1980s - Chris Isaak

I’m not sure what came first – the movies, the video, or the concert [I think it was the concert].  I saw Chris Isaak open for the Allman Brothers Band in 1989.  The venue was Cal Expo in Sacramento, California.  He introduced himself as being from just down the road, Stockton.  I don’t remember the set list [it’s been 30 years, forgive me].  But I do remember that he was an opening act that was actually pretty good.  Most opening acts that I’ve seen since 1982 can’t make that claim.  Usually opening acts are so bad you just hope their sets go quickly so you can hear the act you paid to see.  He had a new album to plug called Heart Shaped World.  But since I was there to see the Allman Brothers I didn’t pay much attention to what he played.  I just know that he and his band sounded very good.  I quickly forgot about the guy from Stockton after the show, until…

One of the songs from Heart Shaped World was Wicked Game.  The song had a video one doesn’t forget after having seen it.  The video features a topless Helena Christensen [and a shirtless Chris Isaak for the girls].  MTV sure liked the video.  The song became popular because of the video.  The video got made because an instrumental version of Wicked Game appeared in David Lynch’s movie Wild at Heart.  Lynch is the guy who made the TV show Twin Peaks.  It was a weird show, as Wild at Heart [Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern] was an off-the-wall movie that came out in 1990.  I still watch it from time to time.  The movie was a cult favorite [I’m part of the cult].  Apparently an Atlanta DJ is part of the David Lynch movie cult as well and started playing Wicked Game a lot.  Then the song hit nationwide.  Funny how things happen that way.  It turns out that Lynch used two other Chris Isaak songs [Gone Ridin' and Livin' for Your Lover] in another bizarre movie [1986’s Blue Velvet with Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, and Dennis Hopper].

Here’s how your humble narrator [me] buys music.  If there’s a song I like, I’ll check out the album it comes from.  If the only good thing on the album is the song I like, I’ll pass on the rest of the albums.  But if the album is any good, I’ll buy the next two.  If they’re any good, I end up buying the whole discography [unless it’s an incredibly huge discography like Willie Nelson’s].  She Who Must Be Obeyed doesn’t like it, but that’s what she married.  I liked Wicked Game, so I bought Heart Shaped World.  I liked Heart Shaped World, so I bought San Francisco Days [1993] and Forever Blue [1995].  I hit the Chris Isaak jackpot.  Now I own copies of almost all of his studio output.  In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he didn’t sound like anything else on the radio, much like the Stray Cats did in the mid-1980s.  What was old and classic was new again.  Moody ballads are his strength.

Chris Isaak sings about one thing and one thing only – women.  Judging from the lyrical content, Chris Isaak is one lonely guy.  Given his voice and his looks, I find that hard to believe.  His body of work is described as songs of smoky, wounded romance and dark menace, and of desire and need.  AllMusic reviewer William Ruhlmann describes Isaak’s sound as “meticulously constructed retro” where he entered a time machine and emerged in 1960 when Roy Orbison ruled the music charts with melodramatic ballads and Elvis had just returned from the Army.  Comparisons with Roy Orbison abound.  Is he as good as Roy?  Nobody is or ever will be, but he channels Roy very well – Elvis as well when the occasion merits it.  The formula from album to album rarely deviates, but the same can be said about AC/DC and Motörhead.  Chris Isaak’s strength is the ability to making the sounds of early rock and roll [twangy with a healthy dose of reverb and delay] and make it sound contemporary.  His guitarist for his first four albums was James Wilsey, whose Spaghetti Western lead guitar playing was influenced heavily by the likes of Link Wray, Hank Marvin and Duane Eddy.  The slight deviations from the sound vary from additions of steel guitar, Hammond organ or Farsifa organ.  Sometimes his songs sound like they would fit perfectly on any Dwight Yoakam album [that’s not a bad thing].  If you’re not like me and don’t want to own everything he’s done, a good place to start would be Heart Shaped World and Forever Blue.  You can make up your own mind whether you want to jump in the deep end like I did.

Here’s my Chris Isaak playlist:

1.      Heart Shaped World [Heart Shaped World, 1989]

2.      Somebody's Crying [Forever Blue, 1995]

3.      Wicked Game [Heart Shaped World, 1989]

4.      Go Walking Down There [Forever Blue, 1995]

5.      We Let Her Down [Mr. Lucky, 2009]

6.      Graduation Day [Forever Blue, 1995]

7.      Shadows In a Mirror [Forever Blue, 1995]

8.      The End of Everything [Forever Blue, 1995]

9.      Move Along [San Francisco Days, 1993]

10.  Except the New Girl [San Francisco Days, 1993]

11.  Speak of the Devil [Speak of the Devil, 1998]

12.  Don't Make Me Dream About You [Heart Shaped World, 1989]

13.  Kings of the Highway [Heart Shaped World, 1989]

14.  One Day [Always Got Tonight, 2002]

15.  Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing [Forever Blue, 1995]

16.  Best I Ever Had [Mr. Lucky, 2009]

17.  Courthouse [Always Got Tonight, 2002]

18.  Life Will Go On [Always Got Tonight, 2002]

19.  Things Go Wrong [Forever Blue, 1995]

20.  Goin' Nowhere [Forever Blue, 1995]

21.  5:15 [San Francisco Days, 1993]

22.  Please [Speak of the Devil, 1998]

23.  Walk Slow [Speak of the Devil, 1998]

24.  First Comes the Night [First Comes the Night, 2015]

25.  Insects [First Comes the Night, 2015]

26.  Blue Spanish Sky [Heart Shaped World, 1989]

27.  Blue Hotel [Chris Isaak, 1986]

28.  Funeral in the Rain [Silvertone, 1985]

29.  You Took My Heart [Chris Isaak, 1986]

30.  Some Days Are Harder Than the Rest [First Comes the Night, 2015]

31.  Like the Way She Moves [Speak of the Devil, 1998]

32.  King Without a Castle [Best of Chris Isaak, 2006]