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So Few Answers

"Be the One" (321K WAV) | RealAudio | About RealAudio
"Old Man & Me" (324K WAV) | RealAudio | About RealAudio

Hootie & the Blowfish: Fairweather Johnson (Atlantic)

What if massive success ruined your life? What if you, a well-meaning four-piece band from South Carolina, made a pleasant, but otherwise unremarkable album that should have sold maybe a million copies and instead sold more than thirteen million? Could you follow up your breakthrough with something radically different, or would you feel inclined to "play ball" and give your existing fans--at least the ones who haven't joined the knee-jerk backlash--something that would meet their expectations? Or would you take the middle road, as Hootie & the Blowfish have done with Fairweather Johnson, and put out an album that's a little tougher and more varied than the last, but which isn't likely to challenge most opinions of the band?

And what would you do about a single? Would you choose a gritty, soulful number, like the album's excellent opening track, "Be the One"? Or would you hedge your bets by rerecording "Old Man & Me," a tune from one of your early-nineties indie releases, even if the guitar lick sounded way too much like the one in World Party's "Way Down Now"? Would your credibility improve by association with some guest vocalists? Sure, but what if Toad the Wet Sprocket only helped make "She Crawls Away" sound like Crosby, Stills, Seals, & Crofts? And what if Nanci Griffith's lovely turn on "The Earth Stopped Cold at Dawn" heightened your own singer's emotive shortcomings?

66

Or does none of this matter? After all, some of your success makes sense, doesn't it? Darius Rucker is a robust singer with a distinctive voice, and you have written some memorable, if a bit maudlin, pop tunes, haven't you? So what if most of the people who bought Cracked Rear View turn out to be fair-weather Johnsons? Who cares if this record sells only half or a quarter as many copies? Sure, the record company won't be pleased, but you'll still be that happy little band from South Carolina that grew too big, too fast, right? Right. --Bob Remstein


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