*** GARTH BROOKS, “Sevens”Capitol

“Life is only therapy--real expensive and no guarantees,” Brooks sings in “You Move Me.” Well, leave it to Brooks to take his cure in public. His strongest collection to date is a 40-plus-minute couch session in which good ol’ boy becomes human-potential poster boy.

There are arena-rock pep talks and Eagles-eyed pop-country hymns to self-actualization. Denial is portrayed in a Buffett-like drinking anthem, split personalities crawl all over the place, and the fate of those who can’t cope with rejection is not pretty--most memorably so in the Nashville gothic of “I Don’t Have to Wonder.”

While some of the music leans toward typical synthetic modern country, the album is spiked with some solid bluegrass and honky-tonk roots, and Brooks sings with a natural ease and personality that makes him hard to resist even when he’s serving up canned corn.

“Sevens” varies its menu with some lively fillers, slices of throwback sentimentality and the big ballad with Trisha Yearwood, but it draws its real substance and character from the same compulsive introspection that seems to turn every Brooks activity into a high drama. The music may not be as compelling as his life, but then what is?

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

*

Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www.latimes.com/soundclips