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 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 on the U.S. Top 40 of the 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
- "That's the Way I Remember It" (Tommy Sims, Tony Arata) – 4:29
- "Lost in You" (Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Sims) – 3:05
- "Snow in July" (Kennedy, Kirkpatrick, Mike More, Andrew Logan) – 4:20
- "Driftin' Away" (Sims) – 4:56
- "Way of the Girl" (Kennedy) – 3:44
- "Unsigned Letter" (Kennedy, Kirkpatrick) – 4:17
- "It Don't Matter to the Sun" (Kennedy, Kirkpatrick, Sims) – 4:21
- "Right Now" (Cheryl Wheeler, Chet Powers) – 3:24
- "Main Street" (Kennedy, Kirkpatrick, Trisha Yearwood) – 4:12
- "White Flag" (Kennedy, Kirkpatrick) – 4:43
- "Digging for Gold" (Kennedy, Kirkpatrick) – 5:08
- "Maybe" (Kennedy, Phil Madeira) – 5:11
- "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
| Charts (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 |
| U.S. 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 |
1 x platinum [14] |
100,000+ |
| United States |
RIAA |
2 x 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
External links
[1]
[8]