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| Garth Brooks - Fresh Horses Band: Garth Brooks Tracks: - Old Stuff, The - Cowboys And Angels - Fever, The - That Ol' Wind - Rollin' - Change, The - Beaches Of Cheyenne, The - To Make You Feel My Love (from "Hope Floats") - It's Midnight Cinderella - She's Every Woman - Ireland Garth's ballads are the highlight In my opinion, Garth Brooks has always sounded best as a ballad singer, although he has released quite a few good uptempo songs in his career. After listening to Fresh Horses(which I have on tape) quite a few times, I've found a lot to validate my opinion. The ballads "The Change", "The Beaches Of Cheyenne", and "That Ol' Wind", all among Garth's biggest hits(and among his best songs), are the highlights on Fresh Horses. Garth's buddy Tony Arata, the writer of Garth's classic hit "The Dance", wrote "The Change". I've seen the video of the song a lot on Great American Country(with its footage of the '95 Oklahoma City bombing), and if you are listening to the lyrics about the hand reaching out to pull a "lost soul" from harm while watching the video, I think you'll get an idea of what Arata was thinking when he wrote "The Change". Perhaps the message here is that even when things are collapsing around us, if we have faith and hope and continue to reach out to others, "this world...will not Change [us]." "The Beaches Of Cheyenne", about a woman shattered by a sudden loss, is also a great song, as is "That Ol' Wind", Garth's well-performed story about two lovers getting back together after spending a long time apart. All in all, there are six ballads on Fresh Horses, and each one is well-written and well-done. I wish I could say the same about Fresh Horses' uptempo songs, though. Garth has two good ones here: "The Old Stuff" and "The Fever". "The Old Stuff", where Garth tells about his days before he hit it big, kicks into high gear after a slow piano introduction and has several fine instrumental breaks by the musicians. "The Fever", originally written by Joe Perry and Steve Tyler of the rock Band Aerosmith, was reworked by Garth into a song about a rodeo performer and features some solid fiddle breaks by Garth's fiddle player, Jimmy Mattingly. Despite the fast pace of "The Fever", the song's lyrics are well-done and give what I think is a good picture of a rodeo cowboy hanging on for dear life. On the other two upbeat songs, the honky-tonk songs "Rollin'" and "It's Midnight, Cinderella", Garth tries to get the feel of his classic hits "Not Counting You" and "Two Of A Kind, Workin' On A Full House", but he doesn't quite pull it off. Musically, "Rollin'" and "Cinderella" sound great, but Garth and his co-writers could have done quite a bit better on the lyrics. Garth can be fun, but on the aforementioned two songs, I think he sounds flat-out silly. However, occasional slap-happy lyrics don't completely mar a well-done record. Fresh Horses is a solid effort that didn't deserve its absurdly low sales figures(come on, "only" triple platinum?). I give it a four-star rating. I wish I had saved my money. Buying THE HITS was the first time I had really listened to Garth Brooks, and after that I followed things closely. I liked "She's Every Woman" and "The Fever" when I heard them on the radio. So on November something 1995 I bought The Beatles ANTHOLOGY VOL. 1 and GARTH BROOKS-FRESH HORSES. At least The Beatles ANTHOLOGY is interesting to listen to (after I started reading about them I listened to it more). FRESH HORSES has little on it to offer a listener. "The Old Stuff" might be fine if done in concert, but on album in a CD boombox its stale. I can not even sit through "Cowboys And Angels", I either have to skip the song, or turn off the CD. "The Fever" may not be Country, but it is a good song, especially on a painted set. "That Ol' Wind" and "Rollin" are fine. "The Change" makes me a little tired, but its still a fine effort. "The Beaches Of Cheyenne" is without a doubt, the BEST song on the album. "It's Midnight Cindarella" would be acceptable on a better album, but here it's another strike against an already dull record. "She's Every Woman" is a terrific song. After 66% dull, I don't think I gave "Ireland" a Fair listen. I ended up giving this CD to my sister, to make room for more interesting albums. Fortunately, FRESH HORSES appears to be a one-time incident, SEVENS is much more fresh, energetic, and interesting. If you're looking for a good Garth Brooks album this isn't it. The ballads are the highlight on this one Garth Brooks has always sounded best as a ballad singer, in my opinion, although he has released quite a few good up-tempo songs in his career. After listening to my tape of Fresh Horses quite a few times, I've found a lot to validate that opinion. "The Beaches of Cheyenne", "The Change", and "That Ol' Wind", all among Garth Brooks's biggest hits (and among his best songs) are the highlights on Fresh Horses. Garth's buddy Tony Arata, who wrote Garth's classic "The Dance", is the writer on "The Change". I've watched the video of that song a lot on Great American Country (with its footage of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing), and if you listen to the lyrics about the hand reaching out to pull a victim--a "lost soul"--from harm while watching the video, you get an idea of what Arata was thinking when he wrote the song. Perhaps the message here is that even with evil all around us, if we have faith and hope, and continue to do good, "this world...will not Change (us)." "The Beaches Of Cheyenne", about a woman shattered by a sudden loss, is also an excellent song, as is "That Ol' Wind", which tells the story of two lovers getting back together after spending a long time apart. All in all, there are six ballads on this album, and each one is well-written and well-performed. I wish I could say the same about the up-tempo songs, though. There are two good ones here, "The Old Stuff" and "The Fever". "The Old Stuff", in which Garth tells about his days brfore he hit it big, kicks into high gear after a slow piano introduction and features some fine instrumental work by the musicians. "The Fever", originally written by Joe Perry and Steve Tyler of the rock Band Aerosmith, was reworked by Garth into a song about a rodeo performer and has several solid fiddle breaks by Garth's fiddle player, Jimmy Mattingly. Despite the fast pace of the song, the lyrics are well-done and give what I think is a realistic picture of a rodeo cowboy hanging on for dear life. The other two upbeat songs, "Rollin'" and "Cinderella", are honky-tonkers in the tradition of Garth's classic hit "Two Of A Kind, Workin' On A Full House". Musically, these two songs sound great, but I think Garth and his co-writers could have worked a little harder on the lyrics. Garth can be fun, but he doesn't have to be fun to the point of being silly, as I think he was on these two songs. However, occasional slap-happy lyrics don't completely mar a well-done record. I give Fresh Horses a four-star rating. Buy Garth Brooks Fresh Horses at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.comJamster - the latest ringtones for your phone! |
