Garth Brooks Is Back With 'Ultimate Hits'

Garth Brooks on Saturday confirmed what Billboard.com first reported on Aug. 10 -- that he will release "The Ultimate Hits," a 34-track, two-CD greatest hits retrospective with four new songs, and a DVD with videos on Nov. 6.

The album will be self-distributed via his Pearl Records to all retailers. "We're doing deals one-on-one with retail," Brooks' said. His two-year exclusive deal with Wal-Mart expired on July 7.

Brooks, who confirmed that longtime marketing partner Joe Mansfield will head sales efforts, said the package will likely be sold for a retail price of $11-14. Interestingly, Brooks' release will not be available via iTunes since the artist does not want songs to be sold individually, only as a package.

The collection will sport two different album covers, one of which will be a limited edition.

Big Machine Records, which will handle promotion of the new cuts, will deliver power ballad "More Than a Memory" to radio on Aug. 27. The song, about the singer's inability to move on from a broken relationship, was written by Lee Brice, Kyle Jacobs and Billy Montana.

Big Machine is the new label home of Brooks' wife Trisha Yearwood, but he joked that he didn't turn to the label for promotional support because "my wife told me to."

The announcements came at a press conference in Nashville during which Brooks and Big Machine president Scott Borchetta addressed the media. Radio programmers were flown in for a two-day event during which they heard the new music and attended a seminar that provided a retrospective of Brooks' career.

Brooks, who retired in 2001, is maintaining his stance that he'll be a stay-at-home-dad until his daughters are grown. His youngest daughter should graduate high school in 2015.

Still, some sort of live component to the project's release seems imminent. "If we're going to do something on that scale, we're going to find a way to bring it locally into your town," he said, noting that country radio would somehow be involved. While Brooks wouldn't give details on what is rumored to be an extended run in a single market, he did allow that he would be doing a "thank you" concert for Wal-mart.

He also said he would actively promote the album via television, radio and other media venues. "You're going to see us everywhere," Brooks said at the press conference. "It's my job to let people know it's out there. And then after February, I'm going to go back to whatever I was doing before this."

The other new cuts on the release include "Midnight Sun," a song Brooks co-wrote with Jerrod Niemann and Richie Brown, and "Leave the Light On," which was penned by Randy Goodrum and Tommy Sims. Also included is a duet on Huey Lewis' "Workin' For a Livin'."

In an interesting twist, songwriters who penned the included hits have agreed to a reduced royalty rate. Meanwhile, the songwriters who wrote the collection's new songs will be paid at a normal rate.


BILLBOARD.com

I'll definitely get this.

Garth will suck me into this one too. Damn him.

Im in......

I hate country. But I love Garth Brooks. Thanks for the info. Can't wait to see a track list.

DISC 1: 1. Ain't Going Down ('Til The Sun Comes Up) 2. Friends In Low Places 3. Shameless 4. Two Of A Kind, Workin' On A Full House 5. The Beaches Of Cheyenne 6. If Tomorrow Never Comes 7. Papa Loved Mama 8. More Than A Memory 9. Good Ride Cowboy (Tribute to Chris Ledoux) 10. In Another's Eyes (with Trisha Yearwood) 11. The Fever 12. Midnight Sun 13. Learning To Live Again 14. Longneck Bottle 15. To Make You Feel My Love 16. We Shall Be Free 17. The Dance DISC 2: 1. Callin' Baton Rouge 2. Two Pina Coladas 3. The Thunder Rolls 4. That Summer 5. The River 6. Beer Run (with George Jones) 7. Unanswered Prayers 8. Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old) 9. Workin' For A Livin' (with Huey Lewis) 10. What She's Doing Now 11. When You Come Back To Me Again 12. Standing Outside The Fire 13. American Honky Tonk Bar Association 14. The Change 15. Rodeo 16. Wrapped Up In You 17. Leave The Light On

The first cover is the limited edition cover. All these songs except Leave A Light On will now have a video.
Been nice if this set would've had Garth's version of Hard Luck Woman & the video had him in KISS makeup.

Also looks like the order of the songs has changed. Garth said at the press conference for the CD "the songs were being sequenced 'as they felt good' the songs but the videos would be chronologically...

DVD in Chronological Order: "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)" "If Tomorrow Never Comes" "The Dance" "Friends in Low Places" "Unanswered Prayers" "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House" "The Thunder Rolls" "Rodeo" "Shameless" "Papa Loved Mama" "What She's Doing Now" "The River" "We Shall Be Free" "Learning to Live Again" "That Summer" "Standing Outside The Fire"

"Ain't Goin' Down ('Til The Sun Comes Up)" "Callin' Baton Rouge" "American Honky-Tonk Bar Association" "The Fever" "To Make You Feel My Love" "The Beaches of Cheyenne" "The Change" "Two Piña Coladas" "Longneck Bottle" "In Another's Eyes" (original version) "Wrapped Up In You" "Beer Run (B Double E Double Are You In?)" "When You Come Back to Me Again" "Good Ride Cowboy" "More Than a Memory" "Workin' for a Livin'" "Midnight Sun"

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Garth Brooks – The Ultimate Hits Exclusive “Pink Edition”! Garth Brooks has joined forces with Susan G. Komen for the Cure in the promise to end breast cancer forever, with the release of the “Pink Edition” of The Ultimate Hits album. The album is a new 3-disc set, and contains 30 classics, 3 new songs and a bonus track on two CDs. The set also includes a DVD with videos for all 33 songs, including new and never-before-seen footage. For every “Pink Edition” of The Ultimate Hits album sold, $10 will go to Komen for the Cure. Each CD is packaged with important information to help you protect your breast health, and the health of people you love. The album is currently available for pre-orders, and will ship on November 5th. This is a Promise Shop exclusive - order now and reserve yours today! Please note: * $15.00 each CD * $6.95 Shipping & handling charge for 1 CD, $8.95 for 2 or more will apply. * Sales tax will be based on your shipment address. * If you purchase additional items all items will ship at the same time as the CD.

He should title this "Garth Brooks Super Duper Greatest Hits." Seriously, how many times is he going to go to the well. He's the George Lucas of country music.

He only had one greatest hits before?

Yes, and he released two more studio albums after it. But since then he did release a Box set of his first five cds, another Wal-Mart box set of his last three releases with a bonus CD, a 2-disc live cd and a 4-DVD set. So it's pretty safe to say his fans aren't lacking in overlapping material. Still, one thing I've always respected Garth for is being fan-friendly and pricing accordingly. I'll probably get this one. Wonder if Garth was a little pissed at the way Wal-Mart handled his exclusives? That DVD set was cheap, but it really should have been remasted better.

Garth songs More Than A Memory Debuts at #1 on the country charts of Billboard and Radio & Records.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/Forma...ntry_Chart.asp

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/chart...+Country+Songs

Sweet tracklist, although I'd much rather have extended studio versions of FiLP and Thunder Rolls...and prolly Tearin it Up and Burnin it Down.

It's listed at $19.99 at Amazon. I hope it's selling for less in stores or I may not bite on this.

You can still get that MEGA set of his from Wal-Mart they have ton's of them still!

Some fans, me included, will buy this for 4 new songs plus the DVD with unreleased videos. I have all Garth's CDs except The Hits (no new songs) which I recently sold 2 copies I had because I got enough to buy 2 of these sets when WalMart has it for around $12-15.

I have always been a fan, but I only had his albums on cassette when they were released, so I guess I will get this.

My copy of he first GH CD is munched, so this comes in the nick of time.

Now $12.99 at Amazon.

ALSO: Updated the new order of the track list at post #6 (same songs, different order).

Nice sentiment. Great cause. UGLY cover! = pass.

I heard an interview with Garth Brooks on Xm today (it's been replayed a number of times over the last few weeks), and they mentioned that there was one number one and a handful of top fives not included (but The Fever was, even though it didn't break top twenty).

The XM guy also said that Garth doesn't want any of the previously unreleased tracks to be played fully on the radio before the CD hits the stores. Seriously, Prince gets a bad rap for being controlling, but I don't think he is as bad as Garth (and I am a big fan of both).

I'm curious to see what type of price a B&M Wal-Mart is gonna have on this one. I'd like to grab the 3-disc version and am wondering if they're gonna beat out Amazon's price.

Singles missing are:
1990 "Not Counting You" #2
1992 "Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy?" (w/Chris LeDoux) #7
1993 "Somewhere Other Than the Night" #1
1994 "One Night a Day" #7 - - -
1994 "Hard Luck Woman" #67 Country, #45 Hot 100, #28 AC
1994 "The Red Strokes" #49
1995 "She's Every Woman" #1
1996 "It's Midnight Cinderella" #5
1996 "That Ol' Wind" #4
1998 "She's Gonna Make It" #2
1998 "Burnin' the Roadhouse Down" (w/Steve Wariner) #28
1998 "Where Your Road Leads" (w/Trisha Yearwood) #18
1998 "You Move Me" #3
1998 "It's Your Song" #9
1999 "Lost in You" (credited to Chris Gaines) #62 Country, #5 Hot 100
1999 "It Don't Matter to the Sun" (credited to Chris Gaines) #24 Country
2000 "Do What You Gotta Do" #13
2000 "Katie Wants a Fast One" (w/Steve Wariner) #22
2001 "Wild Horses" #7
2001 "Thicker Than Blood" #18
2002 "Squeeze Me In" (w/Trisha Yearwood) #16
2002 "Why Ain't I Running" #24
2006 "Love Will Always Win" (w/Trisha Yearwood) #23
2006 "That Girl Is a Cowboy" #34

Those are two of my favorite tracks by him. Very disappointed they weren't included.

I remember Garth saying he just wasn't a fan of "Not Counting You", which is why it didn't make The Hits either & "Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy?" is on many Chris LeDoux CDs. Garth probably didn't put it on his CD to take away sells from Chris LeDoux CDs.

My local Wal-Mart had this for $11.88 today. Great deal for two cds and a dvd.

I am fine with most of the songs left off, but I really like Red Strokes. She's Gonna Make It is probably left off because of his ex wife, since he always said that the song was basically about what would happen if they broke up (which they did).