This Is <i> Not</i> Garth Brooks : “THIS IS GARTH BROOKS”

Garth Brooks

Liberty Home Video ($24.98) *1/2

This concert video (an expanded, 85-minute version of January’s NBC-TV special) captures most of the pizazz but little of the soul of the most compelling male arrival in country music in a generation. There’s something magical about the way Brooks connects onstage with his audience, a deeply personal bond that goes beyond the quality of his singing or his songs. That phenomenon isn’t easy to capture, but director Bud Schaetzle doesn’t even come close. Instead of the warmth and individuality of the performance, the focus is on the energy, making Brooks seem stagy and false. Interview segments are equally stiff.