Greatest Hits (Chris Gaines album)

Garth Brooks in...the Life of Chris Gaines
Studio album by Garth Brooks (as Chris Gaines)
Released	September 28, 1999
Genre	Alternative rock, country rock, country pop
Length	56:23
Label	Capitol
Producer	Don Was
Garth Brooks chronology
Double Live (1998) Garth Brooks...In the Life of Chris Gaines (1999) Garth Brooks and the Magic of Christmas (1999)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[1]
AllMusic	[2]
The A.V. Club	(mixed)[3]
The Daily Vault	B−[4]
Entertainment Weekly	C−[5]
Mojo	(favorable)[6]
PopMatters	(favorable)[7]
Q	[6]
Robert Christgau	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]

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.

This was released on September 28, 1999. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, 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.

On November 13, 1999, Brooks hosted Saturday Night Live as himself but performed the musical numbers as Chris Gaines without acknowledging to the audience that they were the same person. He performed "Way of the Girl". 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.^[10]

Track listing

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

Chart performance

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.

Charts Chart (1999) Peak position Canadian RPM Top Albums 5 Canadian RPM Country Albums 2 German Albums Chart[11] 72 Irish Albums Chart[12] 1 Norwegian VG-lista Albums 13 UK Albums Chart 158 US Billboard 200[13] 2 Singles Year Single Peak chart positions US Country US CAN Country CAN CAN AC UK 1999 "Lost in You" 62 5 55 46 1 70 "It Don't Matter to the Sun" 24 113 23 — — — "That's the Way I Remember It" — — — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart Chart successions

Sales and certifications Region Provider Certification Sales/shipments Canada CRIA Platinum[14] 100,000+ United States RIAA 2× Platinum[15] 2,000,000+

Personnel

• Kenny Aronoff – drums
• Eddie Bayers – drums
• Garth Brooks (as Chris Gaines) – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
• Lenny Castro – percussion
• Chris Harris – backing vocals
• Mark Heimermann – backing vocals
• Hutch Hutchison – bass guitar
• Gordon Kennedy – backing vocals, lead vocals on "My Love Tells Me So", acoustic, electric and bass guitars
• Rami Jaffee – Hammond B-3 organ
• Wayne Kirkpatrick – acoustic guitar, clavinet, keyboards, backing vocals
• Mike Lawler – clavinet, keyboards
• Phil Madeira – Hammond B-3 organ
• Blair Masters – keyboards
• Chris McHugh – drums, percussion
• Terry McMillan – percussion
• Dan Needham – drums
• Greg Phillinganes – keyboards
• Matt Rollings – keyboards
• Tommy Sims – acoustic guitar, keyboards, programming, backing vocals
• Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
• Crystal Taliefero – backing vocals
• Reggie Young – electric guitar
• J.B. Baird – recording and mixing engineer
• George Massenburg – recording and mixing engineer
• Rik Pekkonen - recording engineer
• Glenn Spinner - recording and mixing engineer

References

1. Shelly Fabian. "Garth Brooks - 'Garth Brooks... in the Life of Chris Gaines'". About.com. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
2. Greatest Hits at AllMusic
3. Stephen Thompson (2002-04-19). "Garth Brooks: In The Life Of Chris Gaines". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
4. Christopher Thelen (1999-10-13). "The Daily Vault Music Reviews : Chris Gaines Greatest Hits (aka In The Life Of Chris Gaines)". The Daily Vault. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
5. David Browne (1999-10-01). "In... The Life of Chris Gaines Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
6. "Garth Brooks - In The Life Of Chris Gaines CD Album". CD Universe. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
7. Nikki Tranter (1999-09-27). "Garth Brooks: In the Life of Chris Gaines". PopMatters. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
8. Robert Christgau. "CG: Garth Brooks". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
9. David Wild (1999-10-28). "Garth Brooks: In...The Life Of Chris Gaines". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
10. http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/news/Garth_Flop/33437/p1/
11. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Garth+Brooks/3491/longplay
12. "Hits of the World - Ireland". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 30 October 1999. p. 43. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
13. "Album Info: In the Life of Chris Gaines". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
14. "Canadian Recording Industry Association: Certification Results- February 15, 2010". CRIA. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
15. "Gold & Platinum - February 12, 2010". RIAA. Retrieved 2010-02-12.

External links

• Official Chris Gaines Myspace