Greatest Hits (Chris Gaines album)
Greatest Hits, also titled Garth Brooks in... The Life of Chris Gaines, is an album by American country music artist Garth Brooks, in which Brooks assumes the fictitious persona of Australian rock artist Chris Gaines. Originally, this album was intended to be the soundtrack for a movie called The Lamb that would star Brooks as a rock star recalling the different periods of his life. This album was purposely released a year in advance from the scheduled film release date to pique interest in Brooks performing rock instead of country. The Lamb, however, was never filmed due to financial and management problems.
| Garth Brooks in...the Life of Chris Gaines | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Garth Brooks (as Chris Gaines) | ||||
| Released | September 28, 1999 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 56:23 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Don Was | |||
| Garth Brooks chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |    [7] |
| AllMusic | [1] |
| The A.V. Club | (mixed)[8] |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide |  [9] |
| The Daily Vault | B−[10] |
| Entertainment Weekly | C−[2] |
| Mojo | (favorable)[11] |
| PopMatters | (favorable)[12] |
| Q | [11] |
| Rolling Stone | [3] |
The album was released on September 28, 1999. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart behind Creed's Human Clay, and also gained Brooks his first and to date only appearance in the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100, with "Lost in You", which peaked at No. 5. The track "It Don't Matter to the Sun" was later covered in 2005, by Rosie Thomas on her If Songs Could Be Held album, and later as a duet between Don Henley and Stevie Nicks on the Target edition of Henley's 2015 album Cass County. The track "Right Now" samples the chorus of The Youngbloods' 1969 hit "Get Together", while the track "Maybe" was previously recorded by Alison Krauss on her 1999 album Forget About It.
On November 13, 1999, Brooks hosted Saturday Night Live as himself but performed the musical number ("Way of the Girl") as Chris Gaines without acknowledging to the audience that they were the same person. The album had disappointing sales compared to Brooks' previous albums, with some citing Brooks' image change of wig and make up, and the album's rock-star concept for this fact.[13]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "That's the Way I Remember It" | Tommy Sims, Tony Arata | 4:29 |
| 2. | "Lost in You" | Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Sims | 3:05 |
| 3. | "Snow in July" | Kennedy, Kirkpatrick, Mike More, Andrew Logan | 4:20 |
| 4. | "Driftin' Away" | Sims | 4:56 |
| 5. | "Way of the Girl" | Kennedy | 3:44 |
| 6. | "Unsigned Letter" | Kennedy, Kirkpatrick | 4:17 |
| 7. | "It Don't Matter to the Sun" | Kennedy, Kirkpatrick, Sims | 4:21 |
| 8. | "Right Now" | Cheryl Wheeler, Chet Powers | 3:24 |
| 9. | "Main Street" | Kennedy, Kirkpatrick, Trisha Yearwood | 4:12 |
| 10. | "White Flag" | Kennedy, Kirkpatrick | 4:43 |
| 11. | "Digging for Gold" | Kennedy, Kirkpatrick | 5:08 |
| 12. | "Maybe" | Kennedy, Phil Madeira | 5:11 |
| 13. | "My Love Tells Me So" | Kennedy, Kirkpatrick, Sims | 4:33 |
| Total length: | 56:23 | ||
Personnel
- Garth Brooks (as Chris Gaines) – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
- Tommy Sims – acoustic guitar, keyboards, programming, backing vocals
- Wayne Kirkpatrick – acoustic guitar, clavinet, keyboards, backing vocals
- Gordon Kennedy – backing vocals, lead vocals on "My Love Tells Me So", acoustic, electric and bass guitars
- Reggie Young – electric guitar
- James "Hutch" Hutchison – bass guitar
- Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
- Rami Jaffee – Hammond B-3 organ
- Phil Madeira – Hammond B-3 organ
- Mike Lawler – clavinet, keyboards
- Blair Masters – keyboards
- Greg Phillinganes – keyboards
- Matt Rollings – keyboards
- Kenny Aronoff – drums
- Eddie Bayers – drums
- Dan Needham – drums
- Chris McHugh – drums, percussion
- Lenny Castro – percussion
- Terry McMillan – percussion
- Chris Harris – backing vocals
- Mark Heimermann – backing vocals
- Crystal Taliefero – backing vocals
- J.B. Baird – recording and mixing engineer
- George Massenburg – recording and mixing engineer
- Glenn Spinner – recording and mixing engineer
- Rik Pekkonen – recording engineer
Charts
Garth Brooks in... The Life of Chris Gaines peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and peaked at No. 5 on the Canadian Albums Chart. In November 1999, it was Certified 2 x Platinum by the RIAA.
Weekly charts
Singles
Sales and certifications
References
External links
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