Chris Gaines Greatist Hits

 (492 customer reviews)

When this CD first came out, I had only heard its biggest hit, "Lost in You," and didn't realize that it was Garth Brooks or that it was part of this unorthodox project. That song alone made me want to buy the CD, and I have listened to it regularly over the past two years. It's easy for us to comment today about what would or would not have been popular over the past 20 years, because we have such imperfect memories. We can say these songs could never have been hits and that they lack anything remarkable, but then again, how can you explain Men at Work, Men Without Hats and Devo?The songwriting team of Wayne Kirkpatrick, Gordon Kennedy and Tommy Sims (which won a Grammy for the Eric Clapton hit, "Change the World") also provided most of the studio work and background vocals. And one of the key producers was Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. This was not a half-effort, but instead was a genuine attempt on Brooks' behalf to do something new and unusual...Read more

I inadvertently discovered Garth Brooks via this recording. This is because I don't own a single country-western album nor do I listen to country-western. Thus, Brooks was unknown to me. I picked this up in the library as a rock album and enjoyed it enormously. I then read about it and discovered that it was a country-western singer, Garth Brooks, doing the entire rock n' roll album under another name, the fictional Chris Gaines. I've since listened to some of Brooks's other albums (also from the library) and I like him a lot when he veers away from country-western into more of the rock mode. When he is in solid country-western mode, I can do without his singing. So if you are a country-western fan, you may well hate this album. If you are more of a rock or pop fan, Brooks is a really good discovery for you if you are willing to sort through his music, picking out the rock and pop and leaving the country-western in his albums. You can find 2-3 good songs an album doing this...Read more

I couldn't wait to hear this CD. I've never been a Garth fan or country fan, but I love all types of music and love to hear artists challenge themselves. Having said that, this album is the audio equivalent of watching Michael Jordan play baseball. I gave the disc two stars. Garth is a talented enough musician that even his worst is worth one star. He earned his second star just by doing this project. The guy doesn't have to ever record again. He could retire and go play Nintendo. Instead, he decided to have fun. The problem is that it's not as much fun for the listener as it was for him. Here's the situation: Garth took off 20 pounds (!) and put on funky clothes and wigs to become a different character named Chris Gaines. Gaines was to be his "rock" persona. The pictures are brilliant. Gaines looks like he might fit on a mix-tape with the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, maybe even Beck. The hysterically funny bio inside...Read more