Only Country Music: Garth Brooks Boxes 2014-2020 Albums, Premieres “Time Traveler,” On New Box Set

Garth Brooks Limited Series Cover
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Garth Brooks’ first edition of The Limited Series arrived in 1998.  The collection of the superstar artist’s first six albums became the first-ever box set to debut at No. 1 on two charts, and set a record for the best first-week sales of any box set to that point in the SoundScan era.  He followed it with the second Limited Series in 2005.  The Walmart/Sam’s Club-exclusive set collected his next three albums plus the previously unreleased The Lost Sessions and a DVD of music and interviews.  Now, Brooks has unveiled another retailer-exclusive installment of The Limited Series in time for the holidays.

Available exclusively through Bass Pro Shops and Talk Shop Live, the new Limited Series is a 7-CD package with a retail price of under $30.00.  It picks up where the 2005 box left off, bringing Brooks’ career up to date with his next three solo studio albums originally released between 2014 and 2020: Man Against Machine (2014), Gunslinger (2016), and Fun (2020).  (His 2016 album of seasonal duets with wife Trisha Yearwood, Christmas Together, is not included; none of his yuletide LPs have made the cut for the box sets.)

Man Against Machine was Brooks’ first studio album since 2001, not counting the 2013 covers box set Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences.  Though Man debuted at a strong No. 1 Country and No. 4 on the Billboard 200, its sales initially disappointed given Brooks’ track record.  He followed it up with Gunslinger two years later, which Walmart initially bundled with the Yearwood duets album.  While only three songs on Man bore a songwriting credit for Brooks, he co-wrote nine of the ten tracks on Gunslinger.  With Christmas Together, Gunslinger earned a No. 3 berth on the Country chart; the standalone album reached No. 4.  The Limited Series presentation mirrors the original CD version, not the expanded edition which was released on the 2016 Target-exclusive box The Ultimate Collection.  2020’s Fun, featuring a host of Brooks co-writes and guest turns from Trisha, Kelly Clarkson, and the legendary Charley Pride, was long in the works; singles trickled out beginning in June 2018 while the full album didn’t hit stores until the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those three studio albums are joined on the new box by the standard edition of 2019’s Triple Live, a 3-CD sequel to Double Live recorded during Brooks’ 2014-2017 world tour and his Stadium Tour (which began in 2018 and didn’t conclude until 2022, having been interrupted by the pandemic).  The seventh disc of the box premieres Brooks’ new studio album, Time Traveler.  The ten-song album welcomes Kelly Clarkson (“The Ship and the Bottle”) and Ronnie Dunn (“Rodeo Man”); Dunn’s presence effectively creates a new Brooks and Dunn.  (Dunn’s usual partner Kix Brooks is no relation to Garth.)  With a number of Brooks originals, Time Traveler offers a history in miniature of country music and the many styles under its umbrella.

A glossy 68-page booklet is included in the box set, featuring many color photos and an introduction from the artist as well as full credits and lyrics for each of the studio albums.  The discs are all stored in jewel cases, with the three discs of Triple Live in one case.  Brooks’ many box sets can be somewhat tricky to follow, but this release is relatively straightforward and handily completes his core solo album discography to date.  It’s also currently the only place to hear Time Traveler.  Look for the final volume (for now!) of The Limited Series at Bass Pro Shops retail locations or at the links below.

And those looking for remastered editions of Brooks’ Christmas albums: he’s got you covered, too.  This Friday, his Pearl Records label will reissue both 1992’s triple-platinum Beyond the Season and 1999’s platinum The Magic of Christmas on CD as Amazon exclusives.  They’re available individually and, as of this writing, as a two-for-the-price-of-one bundle at Amazon.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Garth Brooks, The Limited Series (Pearl 70136-1, 2023) (Bass Pro Shops / Talkshoplive)

CD 1: Man Against Machine (RCA/Pearl 88875-01135-2, 2014)

  1. Man Against Machine
  2. She’s Tired of Boys
  3. Cold Like That
  4. All-American Kid
  5. Mom
  6. Wrong About You
  7. Rodeo and Juliet
  8. Midnight Train
  9. Cowboys Forever
  10. People Loving People
  11. Send ‘Em On Down the Road
  12. Fish
  13. You Wreck Me
  14. Tacoma

CD 2: Gunslinger (Pearl 85420-6001-541-2, 2016)

  1. Honky-Tonk Somewhere
  2. Weekend
  3. Ask Me How I Know
  4. Baby, Let’s Lay Down and Dance
  5. He Really Loves You
  6. Pure Adrenaline
  7. Whiskey to Wine – with Trisha Yearwood
  8. Bang! Bang!
  9. Cowboys and Friends
  10. 8Teen

CD 3: Fun (Pearl 1879-2, 2020)

  1. The Road I’m On
  2. That’s What Cowboys Do
  3. All Day Long
  4. Shallow – with Trisha Yearwood
  5. Dive Bar – with Blake Shelton
  6. Amen
  7. The Courage of Love
  8. I Can Be Me with You
  9. Message in a Bottle
  10. Stronger Than Me
  11. (A Hard Way to Make an) Easy Livin’
  12. Where the Cross Don’t Burn – with Charley Pride
  13. (blank track)
  14. Party Gras (The Mardi Gras Song)
  15. (Sometimes You’ve Got to Die to) Live Again

CD 4: Time Traveler

  1. Me Without You
  2. Rodeo Man – with Ronnie Dunn
  3. Only Country Music
  4. St. Paul/Minneapolis (A True Story)
  5. Neon Neighborhood
  6. The Ship and the Bottle – with Kelly Clarkson
  7. Pleasure in the Rain
  8. The Ride
  9. Another Man’s Sky
  10. We Belong to Each Other

CDs 5-7: Triple Live (Pearl 824-26, 2019)

  1. The Thunder Rolls
  2. That Summer
  3. Ask Me How I Know
  4. Fishin’ in the Dark
  5. In Another’s Eyes
  6. Rodeo
  7. Mom
  8. Papa Loved Mama
  9. Guy Goin’ Nowhere

 

  1. Friends in Low Places
  2. Two of a Kind (Workin’ on a Full House)
  3. Unanswered Prayers
  4. People Loving People
  5. Shameless
  6. Ain’t Going Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up)
  7. Tacoma
  8. Standing Outside the Fire

 

  1. Callin’ Baton Rouge
  2. The River
  3. The Beaches of Cheyenne
  4. The Fireman
  5. More Than a Memory
  6. Two Pina Coladas
  7. Whiskey to Wine – with Trisha Yearwood
  8. We Shall Be Free
  9. The Dance

Garth Brooks, Beyond the Season (Liberty CDP-7-98742-2, 1992 – reissued Pearl, 2023) (Amazon U.S.) (Bundle – Amazon U.S.)

  1. Go Tell It on the Mountain
  2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
  3. The Old Man’s Back in Town
  4. The Gift
  5. Unto You This Night
  6. White Christmas
  7. The Friendly Beasts
  8. Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy
  9. Silent Night
  10. Mary’s Dream
  11. What Child Is This?

Garth Brooks, The Magic of Christmas: Songs from ‘Call Me Claus’ (Capitol 7243-5-23550-2, 1999 – reissued Pearl, 2023) (Amazon U.S.) (Bundle – Amazon U.S.)

  1. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
  2. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
  3. The Christmas Song
  4. White Christmas
  5. Baby Jesus Is Born
  6. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
  7. Winter Wonderland
  8. Sleigh Ride
  9. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
  10. (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays
  11. Silver Bells
  12. Go Tell It on the Mountain
  13. The Wise Man’s Journey (Instrumental)
  14. O Little Town of Bethlehem
Joe Marchese
Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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5 thoughts on “Only Country Music: Garth Brooks Boxes 2014-2020 Albums, Premieres “Time Traveler,” On New Box Set”

  1. Garth is a master at marketing. He gets people rebuy his catalog over and over. The albums in this set are arguably the weakest of his career. The Triple Live album, should be a two disc set, it would easily fit on two discs. That album has the same flaw as the “Double Live” set, he fades out between songs which really ruins the “live” experience.
    I’ve fallen for his sales gimmicks for years, but I’m done. I’ll get the new album when it invariably gets an individual release, most likely a “deluxe” edition with bonus tracks. That is if he follows his past.
    Still waiting for the vinyl reissues of his debut and “Ropin’ The Wind” which were left out of his previous vinyl collection. My guess these will get issued with a bigger set that includes all the titles from that first vinyl set.

  2. I’m a Garth fan, and I did buy this latest set… but I must say, I am over all the re-issues and re-issues of re-issues. Why do we need yet another version of “Triple Live?” First, it was available as an exclusive download through Live Nation, then it was included in the vinyl set, and then it was included in the third volume of his book series… and now, we get it again. It’s just too much, Garth!!!!

  3. try being a Garth fan in the UK .. no access to this set whatsoever .. why doesn’t Garth consider his non-USA fans ..

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