Garth Brooks Album: “Scarecrow”

Scarecrow is a fine album - one that favorably compares with Brooks' best efforts. Garth and longtime producer Allen Reynolds have put together a set of songs that move effortlessly between poignant and exhuberant. It is, however, more than just a country album.

From the start of his recording career, Brooks has shown us that his range of influence spans beyond traditional country. Garth's composition "Thicker Than Blood" is a tribute to familial devotion that takes on a global importance in light of the the September 11 tragedy. It recalls vintage James Taylor, while the first single, "Wrapped Up in You," has a Paul McCartney meets the Kingston Trio feel to it, and "Mr. Midnight" seemingly crosses Billy Joel with Harry Chapin.

After the bland Chris Gaines' CD, it is nice to hear Brooks cut loose on a set of uptempo tunes that create a little ruckus. He sounds delighted to be in the presence of his hero George Jones on the duet "Beer Run" while "Squeeze Me In" finds him whooping it up with Trisha Yearwood. "Big Money" and "Rodeo or Mexico" are particularly fun, while his bluegrass rendition of America's "Don't Cross the River" is a rootsy gem.

Emotions run the gamut on this album, from the optimistic love song "Why Ain't I Running" to the pessimistic "The Storm." "When You Come Back to Me," which Brooks recorded for the film Frequency, hits home with its theme of reconnecting with a loved one, while "Pushing Up Daisies" takes a chilling look at Brooks' father's disconnection with life since his wife's (Garth's mother's) death last year.

It all combines for a well-balanced package, sometimes fun, sometimes moving, and usually substantial. If it is Garth's last release (don't hold your breathe on that one), this was a great swan song.

First I must say that yes I am biased, Garth is my favorite artist, and my hero. That's why I was dreading the release of this his final cd.

After his divorce I expected a collection of dark, moody, brooding songs. I then heard him say that he thought he finally made a happy album. He did! The one exception being a song entitled The Storm, which is about a woman dealing with the aftermath of...what else...a divorce.

The rest of the songs while some are the ballads that he is best known for, they never go into the heartbreaking territory of some of his older hits such as say, Somewhere Other Than The Night or even The Dance. The remainder of the disc is what can only be described as a goodbye letter to the most hardcore loyal of his fans (me included in this category) with little lyrics thrown in here and there that touch on subjects in his personal life that only the most ardent fan would grasp outside their respective songs.

The disc itself is a mixture of his first Self Titled cd and Fresh Horses. While I hate to see him go, I'm glad he's leaving with a bang and not a whimper. So in trbiute to my hero, I'm gonna' go to my local AHBA, grab Two Pina Colada's and listen to Scarecrow and celebrate a wonderful man and a great career!

I put the CD in my player as soon as I could and my first thought after was "That was nowhere near as good as Sevens!" Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed in his latest offering. I listened to it a couple of more times and the songs started getting stuck in my head. I'd be hearing 'em in my head at work and so forth, making me want to hear the CD even more. I suddenly realized, it's not as bad as I thought. Like a fellow reviewer said on down, just because it's not what you were really expecting it to sound like, doesn't make that a bad sound. Now I listen to it all the time. I don't really skip any songs like I usually do, to try and get to the best ones.

Stuff like Pushing Up Daises, Thicker than Blood, and Mr. Midnight are a few of the highlights on here. Then you have the fun stuff like Beer Run (sounds like the two had a blast singing this one), Rodeo or Mexico and Big Money that are easy listening. Like many others, I'm glad to see When You Come Back To Me Again from Frequency (good movie!) included on here. The only two I'm really not impressed too awful much with is Why Ain't I Running and the duet with Trisha. For some reason, those just don't hit me as good as the rest. They're aren't bad, just not to my tastes as much as the others.

All in all, not a bad collection of songs. Nowhere near the perfection of the debut, No Fences, Ropin' the Wind or Sevens, this one is more along the lines of Fresh Horses and In Pieces in my eyes. A fun listen, but I wish he would have retired on a note more along the lines of Sevens.

Garth Brooks 2001 CD Scarecrow was the last studio album he released before retiring from recording and touring. Fortunately he has released some new songs in the last few years, and even performed some shows. This CD showed Garth at the peak of his talents. Scarecrow features the following tunes:

1. Why Ain't I Running 3/5

2. Beer Run (B-Double E-Double Are You In?) w/ George Jones 4/5

3. Wrapped Up in You 4/5

4. Storm 3/5

5. Thicker Than Blood 3/5

6. Big Money 3/5

7. Squeeze Me In - w/ Trisha Yearwood 4/5

8. Mr. Midnight 5/5

9. Pushing Up Daisies 4/5

10. Rodeo or Mexico 3/5

11. Don't Cross the River 3/5

12. When You Come Back to Me Again [Theme from "Frequency"] 5/5

As a big fan of Garth's, and living outside the US, I gladly paid the (...) Amazon shipping fee to get the album asap. Unfortunately, I was let down by a cookie-cutter, soul-and-creativity-lacking piece of plastic. After a week, I have nothing positive to say about any tracks. Garth, I'll give you one more chance. Jeff Wilson, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.