Garth Brooks - The Life Of Chris Gaines

In... The Life of Chris Gaines is a way for Garth Brooks to indulge his rock-star fantasies without directly putting his country credibility on the line. This fictional greatest-hits album is supposedly a prequel to a movie (The Lamb) in which Brooks will assume the role of a mysterious Australian-born pop singer. The first single, "Lost in You," sounds like Kenny Loggins auditioning for a role in the Backstreet Boys. Gaines's other "hits" range from the funk-lite of "Snow in July" to the Prince-like "The Way of the Girl," the Beatlesesque "Maybe," and the blatant Wallflowers rip "Unsigned Letter." The tune on which Brooks most resembles the cat in the hat we all know is the melancholy ballad "It Don't Matter to the Sun." The most provocative tune is "Right Now," which interpolates (really) the Youngbloods' hippie classic "Get Together" with Cheryl Wheeler's antigun screed "If It Were Up to Me." As himself, Garth Brooks has sold almost 100 million albums. If he's lucky, many of those fans will forgive him for Chris Gaines. --Rick Mitchell Amazon.com

amazing discovery

When I first heard "It Don't Matter to the Sun" it moved me to tears ... it was extremely soulful and touching. When my husband and I married we burned a CD of our favorite love songs and "It Don't Matter to the Sun" was probably my favorite. October 31, 2008

Music for music's sake

Like anyone with a brain and a diverse taste in music, I like this album a lot. You can easily tell from the reviews that it's a controversial album, and you can just as easily tell why when you read the negative reviews. Most of them seem to say (paraphrased) "I don't like it because it's not country". I have but one word for those folks: "Duh". If you were led to believe that it would be the same as his others, you have only yourself to blame. I personally like the review "I used to believe if a country star sings a song it is country." Where does such nonsense come from? You honestly believe a musician is only capable of creating one style of music? It's even funnier when you consider a lot of the big-name stars in all genres don't write their own stuff, so that would mean you think they can only sing one style of music. Music was never meant to be crammed into a box with a label like "country" or "rock" (don't even get me started on "alternative").

A lot of people probably won't like this album because it refuses to settle into a nice, little, label-friendly genre. It covers a lot of different styles. It baffles me that people consider it rock because it's not rock, it's an amalgam. It covers rock, pop, semi-funk, country, and even (in my opinion) some inspiration from the 70s on "My Love Tells Me So". Sadly, most people refuse to step outside the boundaries of their preferred genres and refuse to like (or even accept) anything from any other genre for fear it will make them look uncool.

I like music from every genre, and this album is no exception. While these songs won't change the world, they're good music and lyrics. My personal favorite, and I believe the album's most popular, is "Right Now". Unfortunately, most people don't pay attention to lyrics, so they won't get the message and will simply write it off as a pandering attempt to garner additional fame (as the negative reviews are so quick to say).

I wish more artists would cast off the chains of labels such as "country", "rock, "pop", etc and embrace the music talent within to write in whatever style comes to them. Unfortunately, I think the public still isn't ready for such a concept. October 15, 2008

Wish more artist had the power & guts to do this

I think this is fun stuff. A great artist stretching the boundries and getting out of the box everyone has placed them in. I wish they would've gone ahead with the movie. Garth's videos were done so well, I think a movie would've only been better. Different writers and producers along the "timeline" of Gaines career would've given a greater range in style/sound, and moved even further from the Garth Brooks sound. But I do like it overall.

"That's the Way...", "Unsigned Letter", and "It Don't Matter..." are good songs. "White Flag" is my favorite.

Come on Garth resurrect this thing and do an indie film; play out your vision for this! Your instincts have served you pretty well so far. October 2, 2008

Garth's most underrated album

Great, great album. I am a huge Garth fan and I would put this album at or near the top. The execution and marketing were way off, but the music speaks for itself. A must have for any true music lover. June 20, 2008

Rock from a country star.

This was actually a replacement, that's how much I liked it the first time. You wouldn't believe that voice is coming out of Garth Brooks face but it is and it is great just like his country stuff. February 14, 2008

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