** Garth Brooks

IN . . . THE LIFE OF CHRIS GAINES

(Capitol)

Brooks is the guy who revived the notion of Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy -- the mainstream country megastar. So, after watching Canadian country phenom Shania Twain ride her last album to the upper regions of the rock charts, he's got to be suffering from a rather severe case of crossover envy.

Enter Chris Gaines, Garth's new alter ego, because the next best thing to being a rock star is pretending you're one. A faux greatest-hits disc and teaser for an actual yet-to-be-filmed movie starring Garth as Gaines, In . . . the Life of Chris Gaines isn't quite the departure that Brooks has been boasting it is. The Bee Gees falsetto he employs on the Babyface-style ballad "Lost in You," the lite-funk groove that propels "Snow in July," and the stiff-as-a-scoreboard rapping in "Right Now" (a track that fuses Cheryl Wheeler's "If It Were Up to Me" and the Youngbloods' "Get Together") are all new twists. And they're the awkward aberrations on a disc dominated by the adult-contemporary soft and folk rock that's been a Brooks staple since "The Dance" -- he even follows up his cover of Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" with a dead ringer for "Knocking on Heaven's Door." Put a wig and a soul patch on him and, sure, Garth can be made to resemble Soundgarden's Chris Cornell. But he still sounds like Loggins and/or Messina, and the cut most likely to throw off faithful fans is the one on the top of his head.

-- Matt Ashare