Hootie & the Blowfish's debut album, Cracked Rear View, was the success story of 1994/1995, selling over 12 million copies. It's a startling, large number, especially for a new band, but in some ways, the success of the record isn't that surprising. Although Hootie & the Blowfish aren't innovative, they deliver the goods, turning out an album of solid, rootsy folk-rock songs that have simple, powerful hooks. "Hold My Hand" has a singalong chorus that epitomizes the band's good-times vibes. N...   [ read more ]

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Following up a debut as successful as Cracked Rear View would be intimidating for most groups, but it had to be especially daunting for such a direct, straightforward combo as Hootie & the Blowfish. What made Cracked Rear View such a success was its very unpretentiousness; how each song sounded like it was the crowd-pleaser from the local bar band. Hootie & the Blowfish haven't lost that universal appeal on their second album, Fairweather Johnson, but they have been able to add more weight t...   [ read more ]

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It's easy to make fun of Hootie & the Blowfish because they are what everyone says they are -- a bar band made good. Since they were a bar band from the early '90s, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they knocked out Smiths and R.E.M. covers along with songs from the Led Zeppelin and Bill Withers songbooks -- this was the music of the time, and they were a band of their time. All of this surfaces on their B-sides and rarities collection, Scattered, Smothered and Covered. As these 15 son...   [ read more ]

CD $7.58