Published on Apr 26, 1998
These days, it’s almost hip to hate Hootie & The Blowfish.
It’s easy to slam them for being lightweight and so much AOR fodder
– but then again, aren’t these people who make fun of them the same
sheep that led the band’s debut release
Cracked Rear View to be the best-selling album in Atlantic
Records’ catalog?
And while radio made the big mistake of oversaturating the
airwaves with many of the singles off this album, the fact remains
that
Cracked Rear View isn’t that bad an album. I still don’t
understand how it sold as well as it did, but it’s pretty damn
catchy at times.
With Darius Rucker’s acoustic guitar and deep baritone delivery,
Hootie’s sound is pretty recognizable almost from note number one.
Mark Bryan’s electric leads often are quite flowing (though live,
it seems hard for him to keep his guitar in tune), while bassist
Dean Felber and drummer Jim Sonefeld provide a strong backbone for
the music – powerful, but not too showy.
From what I remember, there were really only four singles
released from
Cracked Rear View, although at least two other got
significant airplay or publicity. Their debut single “Hold My Hand”
was originally shipped to the alternative stations – I distinctly
remember WKQX-FM in Chicago playing it quite a bit – only to drop
it like a lead brick once it became a mainstream hit. The harmonies
on this song – as well as the undeniable power of the acoustic
guitar – were the keys to the success of this track, as well as
Rucker’s delivery.
Then, there’s the followup “Let Her Cry,” which I swore if I
heard one more time on the radio, I was going to vomit. A syrupy
sweet tale of love lost and life wasted, VH-1 and radio drooled all
over this like a 12-year-old kid staring at nude Anna Nicole Smith
pictures on the Internet. The song, in fact, is way too syrupy for
my tastes – the world already had one weeping singer in the person
of Johnnie Ray, and he’s dead, okay? Give it up.
Fortunately, the next two singles were some of the best work on
the album. “Only Wanna Be With You,” self-deprecating video and
all, is a charmer with a distinctively Latin tinge in the main
rhythm. It’s a great tune that I have yet to get tired of hearing.
Same thing goes for “Time,” which demonstrates the complete power
and control that Rucker and crew have over their sound. If any song
deserved the attention of the audience, it was this one.
Two other songs off
Cracked Rear View got limited attention. I remember some
Chicago radio stations touting “Drowning” as a up-and-coming
single, only to disappear in the shadow of the latter two tracks.
Too bad – “Drowning” is probably the angriest that Hootie & The
Blowfish have gotten in their music to date, and their music could
use a little more of that fire. The other song, “I’m Goin’ Home,”
is a powerfully poignant piece Rucker sings about the death of a
loved one. (I remember that the band performed this song on one of
the numerous New Year’s Eve specials on TV in 1994-1995.) It’s
another song that radio could have leaped on, but didn’t.
There are some weak spots on
Cracked Rear View, the same ones I would almost expect to
hear on any debut album. The band isn’t able to maintain a high
quality level on all the songs – “Not Even The Trees” and
“Goodbye,” the album closers, are pretty much throwaways. Even the
piece featuring then-unknown Lily Haydn – “Look Away” – isn’t one
that sticks out.
But there is enough on
Cracked Rear View that helps shed some light as to why this
band gained a lot of popularity. Radio saturation and strong
word-of-mouth helped their case a lot, as did VH-1. And undoubtedly
it remains the band’s best work (as we await the release of the
third album, due sometime this year.)