Country superstar Garth Brooks is getting into the box set game once more with a 10-disc set exclusively hitting shelves at Target later this month. The Ultimate Collection is a 121-track set that collects Brooks' past and present works across more than 25 years of recording and touring. Seven themed discs feature a plethora of hits, fan favorites and covers (including the unreleased Randy Travis cover "1982"); two live discs feature five unreleased cuts including duets with wife Trisha
Having recently introduced some EMI-controlled artists to the ICON roster, Universal now incorporates some of those artists (and some of their most treasured R&B and country acts) into a new budget-oriented series, Ballads. And while none of the artists covered here really, truly need more compilations on the market - and, one can assume, the assembly of these is as low-impact as the ICON series - there's actually some promise to be had here. The overall selection of artists isn't terrible,