Always Got Tonight

You have to admire Chris Isaak -- the guy's been making records for close to 20 years, and he's still the very model of effortless cool with pipes to match, not the easiest accomplishment for a guy who's pushing fifty. At the same time, while Isaak's gifts haven't faded a bit with time, he hasn't displayed a stunning degree of versatility, either -- he's still the same lovelorn lover man with the retro-hipster style he introduced on Silvertone in 1985. But Isaak's eighth album, Always Got Tonight, suggests that slowly but surely Isaak is learning to change with the times. Isaak actually puts a retro-funk groove on the title cut, he lets his country influences rise to the surface on "American Boy," "Notice the Ring" shows a little electronic glimmer around the edges, and "One Day" lays on a bit more of the rock juice than you might expect.