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SCATTERED, SMOTHERED & COVERED
Hootie & The Blowfish
(Atlantic-Warner)
It's never a good sign when a band that once filled the SkyDome returns to play the Guvernment.
Such has been the fate of these South Carolina soft-rockers in recent years.
And this collection of covers, mostly recorded as B-sides while the foursome was making albums from 1994 to 1998, indicates their fortunes aren't getting any better.
More often than not, this CD comes across as "a let's fulfill our contract" project.
Still, the band gave Vancouver rockers 54-40 a nice boost stateside with their cover of I Go Blind, recorded as a B-side to 1994's Cracked Rear View, and included here.
Otherwise, the highlights are limited.
Was there ever a poorer choice for a Led Zeppelin cover -- in this case Hey Hey What Can I Do -- than these guys? They were chosen to be part of a Led Zeppelin tribute album and couldn't say yes fast enough. Unfortunately, they make it sound like a coffee commercial.
The same goes for other songs: Their stripped-down version of Tom Waits' I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You, featuring just Darius Rucker on lead vocals and Mark Bryan on acoustic guitar during their 1996 MTV Unplugged concert; their pumped-up take on the Cindy Walker-penned Roy Orbison classic Dream Baby; and misguided attempts at R.E.M.'s Driver 8 and The Smiths' Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.
Better bets are the energetic rocker Araby, by the Austin band The Reivers; their cover of Vic Chesnutt's Gravity Of The Situation, featuring Nanci Griffith, and recorded for Sweet Relief II; and a not-half-bad version of Bill Withers' Use Me.
Track Listing
01. Fine Line Foster, Radney 3:32
02.I Go Blind Osborne, Neil 3:14
03.Almost Home Croslin, John 3:51
04.Hey Hey What Can I Do Page, Jimmy 3:52
05.Renaissance Eyes Dixon, Don 5:04
06.Before The Heartache Rolls In Foster, Radney 4:24
07.Araby Croslin, John 2:49
08.I'm Over You Humara, Walter Sa 4:18
09.Gravity Of The Situation Chesnutt, James V 4:36
10.I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You Waits, Tom 2:58
11.Dream Baby Walker, Cindy 3:00
12.Driver 8 Berry, Thomas Wil 4:27
13.Let Me Be Your Man Rithcey, Gregory 3:04
14.Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want Marr, John 1:50
15.Use Me Withers, Bill 5:01