When Garth Brooks burst onto the country music scene in the late
\n’80s, I wonder if people expected him to achieve the level of
\nsuperstardom he’s seen. While other stars in the field of country
\ndefinitely helped pave the way, it was Brooks who brought country
\nback from the commercial dead and made radio prognosticators
\ndeclare country music the next big wave.<\/p>\n
Looking back at his self-titled debut album, there are some
\nsigns that this boy was destined for greatness, though the arrows
\nseemed to point more towards a hardcore country rather than
\ncross-over success.<\/p>\n
Brooks has the traditional country “twang” in his voice – the
\nexact thing which would have had me guessing that Brooks would have
\nbecome simply a country music superstar. The songs in this vein,
\nsuch as “Not Counting You” and “I’ve Got A Good Thing Going,” are
\ndecent efforts for their own genre.<\/p>\n
But Brooks begins knocking down the barriers early on. “If
\nTomorrow Never Comes” almost sounds like it would be at home on
\nadult contemporary stations as well as country outlets; Brooks’s
\nvocal delivery is flawless. Likewise, “Everytime That It Rains” has
\ndefinite commercial appeal on both sides of the fence.<\/p>\n
Brooks’s strength, however, still was in the world of country –
\nbut more in a
\nnouveau<\/i> vein. “Cowboy Bill” is a great example of
\nstorytelling set to music – had it been recited, it would have
\nreminded me a bit of Waddie Mitchell. Had Brooks made an album of
\nsongs like “Cowboy Bill,” one could have legitimately argued that
\nhe belonged in the folk category as much as country.<\/p>\n
If there’s anything about country music that still annoys me,
\nit’s that they continue to do or sing about things that perpeutate
\nstereotypes. One of the lines in the song “Alabama Clay” (which
\nBrooks, to his credit, didn’t write): “His neck was red as Alabama
\nclay.” Hmm.. neck red as clay… neck was red…
\n
\nredneck<\/i>
\n<\/b> ? (Quick, someone call Jeff Foxworthy.) C’mon, guys, you want
\npeople to stop thinking about you as hicks, stop writing such
\ndamned stupid lyrics!<\/p>\n
The only other weakness is a bit of stagnation in some songs.
\n“The Dance” is pretty enough, but there’s not enough lyrical
\ndevelopment. On this and one or two other songs, the constant
\nrepetition of the chorus is just a bit annoying. If they wanted to
\nstretch out the tracks, why not – at the least – come up with an
\nalternate chorus?<\/p>\n
\nGarth Brooks<\/i> contains some early hits like “Much Too Young
\n(To Feel This Damn Old)”, but it will most likely appeal more to
\nthe country music fan moreso than the A\/C lover, simply because the
\nalbum is more country-oriented. Producer Allen Reynolds does a
\nwonderful job of creating a rich sound on this, and Brooks has a
\ndecent selection of tunes – both from outside sources and ones he
\nco-wrote.<\/p>\n
So is there anything really
\nwrong<\/i> with
\nGarth Brooks<\/i>? No, not really – but those who pick this one
\nup expecting to hear real crossover music might be disheartened at
\nfirst. Still, this is an album that is worth taking a serious look
\nat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6016],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38772","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-garth-brooks","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38772"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}