1994 studio album by Hootie & the Blowfish
Cracked Rear View is the debut studio album by
Hootie & the Blowfish , released on July 5, 1994, by
Atlantic Records .
[2] Released to positive critical reviews, it eventually became one of the
highest-selling albums in the United States , and also one of the
best-selling albums worldwide , with over 20 million units.
[4]
Recording
Don Gehman was chosen by
A&R man
Tim Sommer as a producer because of his previous work with
John Mellencamp and
R.E.M.
[5] It cost US$200,000 to make.
[6]
Reception
Cracked Rear View is Hootie & the Blowfish's most successful album. Cracked Rear View reached number one on the
Billboard 200 five times over the course of 1995. It was the best-selling album of 1995 in the United States, selling 7 million copies.
[14] In April 1996,
Time reported that the album had generated over US$100 million in gross
revenues for Atlantic Records.
[6] It has sold 10.2 million copies in the United States per
Nielsen SoundScan as of 2012.
[15] An additional three million copies were sold through CD clubs, which are not included in SoundScan's total.
[16] The album has been certified 21x
platinum (double
diamond ) as of 2018.
[17] It is the joint
19th-best-selling album of all time in the United States .
[18] The album also reached number one in
Canada
[19] and
New Zealand .
[20]
Critical reviews of Cracked Rear View were mostly positive.
AllMusic's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine crowned the album as "the success story of 1994/1995." He also stated "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."
[2]
Track listing
All songs written by
Mark Bryan , Dean Felber,
Darius Rucker and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, except where noted.
"Hannah Jane" – 3:33
"
Hold My Hand " – 4:15
"
Let Her Cry " – 5:08
"
Only Wanna Be with You " – 3:46 (Bryan, Felber, Rucker, Sonefeld,
Bob Dylan )
"Running from an Angel" – 3:37
"I'm Goin' Home" – 4:10
"
Drowning " – 5:01
"
Time " – 4:53
"Look Away" – 2:38
"Not Even the Trees" – 4:37
"Goodbye" – 4:05
Includes
hidden track "
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child " (Traditional) – 0:53
In 2001, the album was re-released on
DVD-Audio with the disc featuring a discography, photo gallery, and video of a live performance of "Drowning".
The 25th anniversary edition from 2019 includes the following bonus discs:
Disc 2: B-sides, Outtakes, Pre-LP Independent Recordings
"All That I Believe"
"
I Go Blind " (Neil Osborne, Phil Comparelli, Brad Merritt, Darryl Neudorf)
"Almost Home"
"Fine Line"
"Where Were You"
"
Hey, Hey What Can I Do " (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
"The Old Man and Me" – Kootchypop Version
"Hold My Hand" – Kootchypop Version
"If You're Going My Way" – Kootchypop Version
"Sorry's Not Enough" – Kootchypop Version
"Only Wanna Be with You" – Kootchypop Version
"Running from an Angel" – 1991 Version
"Time" – 1991 Version
"Let Her Cry" – 1991 Version
"Drowning" – 1991 Version
"I Don't Understand"
"Little Girl"
"Look Away" – 1990 Version
"Let My People Go"
"Hold My Hand" – 1990 Version
Disc 3: Live at Nick's Fat City, Pittsburgh, PA, February 3, 1995
"Hannah Jane"
"I Go Blind"
"Not Even the Trees"
"If You're Going My Way"
"Look Away"
"Fine Line"
"Let Her Cry"
"Motherless Child"
"I'm Goin' Home"
"Use Me"
"Running from an Angel"
"Sorry's Not Enough"
"Drowning"
"The Old Man and Me"
"Only Wanna Be with You"
"Time"
"Goodbye"
"
The Ballad of John and Yoko " (
Lennon-McCartney )
"Hold My Hand"
"
Love the One You're With " (
Stephen Stills )
DVD
Hi-Res 24/96 Bonus Tracks
"All That I Believe"
"I Go Blind"
"Almost Home"
"Fine Line"
"Where Were You"
Music videos:
"Hold My Hand"
"Let Her Cry"
"Only Wanna Be with You"
"Time"
"Drowning" – Live
Personnel
Hootie & the Blowfish
Mark Bryan –
electric guitar ,
acoustic guitar ,
vocal percussion ,
mandolin on "Only Wanna Be with You",
piano on "Not Even the Trees",
Dean Felber –
bass guitar ,
clavinet ,
vocals , piano on "Only Wanna Be with You"
Darius Rucker – vocals, acoustic guitar,
percussion
Jim "Soni" Sonefeld –
drums , percussion, vocals, piano on "Look Away" and "Goodbye", glasses on "Not Even the Trees"
Additional musicians
Production
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications
Awards
See also
References
^ The Hard Report (July 1, 1994). "#3 Most Added". Hard Report, the (381): 9. from the debut album Cracked Rear View out July 5
^
a
b
c
d
Erlewine, Stephen Thomas .
"Cracked Rear View – Hootie & the Blowfish" .
AllMusic .
Rovi Corporation . Retrieved December 1, 2010 .
^
a
b Cracked Rear View (CD liner).
Hootie & the Blowfish .
United States :
Atlantic Records . 1994. 82613-2.{{
cite AV media notes }}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link )
^
"Drumming Up Memories: Jim Sonefeld of Hootie & The Blowfish Book Signing Event" . The New Irmo News. December 13, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2024 .
^
Sommer, Tim (July 14, 2016).
"My Life in the Bush of Hootie: How I Signed the Biggest Band of 1995" .
The New York Observer .
Jared Kushner .
^
a
b Farley, Christopher John (April 29, 1996).
"Music: Can 13 Million Hootie Fans Really Be Wrong?" .
Time .
ISSN
0040-781X . Retrieved March 12, 2024 .
^
Christgau, Robert (2000).
"Hootie and the Blowfish: Cracked Rear View" .
Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s .
St. Martin's Griffin .
ISBN
0-312-24560-2 .
Archived from the original on July 29, 2013. Retrieved May 5, 2012 .
^ Graves, Wren (July 6, 2019).
"Classic Album Review: Hootie & the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View" .
Consequence . Retrieved February 28, 2024 .
^
Larkin, Colin (2011). "Hootie and the Blowfish".
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.).
Omnibus Press .
ISBN
978-0-85712-595-8 .
^ Blake, Mark (March 18, 1995). "Albumz".
Kerrang! . No. 536.
EMAP . p. 48.
^ Yonke, David (1999). "Hootie & The Blowfish". MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide . Visible Ink Press. pp.
557 .
ISBN
1-57859-061-2 .
^ Evans, Paul (October 20, 1994).
"Hootie & the Blowfish: Cracked Rear View" .
Rolling Stone . Archived from
the original on December 26, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2012 .
^ Randall, Mac (2004). "Hootie & the Blowfish". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.).
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.).
Simon & Schuster . pp.
390–91 .
ISBN
0-7432-0169-8 .
^
"HOOTIE'S WHO IN 1995" . The Washington Post .
^ Caulfield, Keith (July 5, 2012).
"Usher's 'Confessions' Album Hits 10 Million in U.S. Sales" . Billboard . Retrieved September 6, 2022 .
^
"Four Columbia House insiders explain the shady math behind "8 CDs for a penny" " . The A.V. Club . June 10, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2022 .
^ Doerschuk, Bob.
"Hootie & the Blowfish set release date for new album 'Imperfect Circle' " . USA TODAY . Retrieved September 6, 2022 .
^
RIAA Top 100
Archived July 1, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
^
a
b
"RPM — Item Display : Top Albums/CDs — Volume 62, No. 3, August 21, 1995" .
Library and Archives Canada . March 31, 2004. Archived from
the original (PHP) on February 2, 2014.
^
"Cracked Rear View by Hootie & the Blowfish" (ASP) . charts.nz . Hung Medien. Retrieved December 28, 2010 .
^
"Australiancharts.com – Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View" . Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^
"Offiziellecharts.de – Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View" (in German).
GfK Entertainment Charts . Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^
"Charts.nz – Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View" . Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^
"Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100" .
Official Charts Company . Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^
"Official Albums Chart Top 100" .
Official Charts Company . Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^
"Hootie & The Blowfish Chart History (Billboard 200)" .
Billboard . Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^
"ARIA Top 100 Albums for 1995" . Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved June 6, 2021 .
^
"Top RPM Albums: Issue 2839" .
RPM .
Library and Archives Canada . Retrieved May 24, 2022.
^
"Top Selling Albums of 1995" . The Official NZ Music Charts . Retrieved November 16, 2021 .
^
"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1995" . Billboard .
Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2021 .
^
"Top Selling Albums of 1996" . The Official NZ Music Charts . Retrieved November 16, 2021 .
^
"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1996" . Billboard .
Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2021 .
^ Mayfield, Geoff (December 25, 1999).
"1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade — The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s" .
Billboard . Retrieved October 15, 2010 .
^
"ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1996 Albums" (PDF) .
Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved November 12, 2021 .
^
"Canadian album certifications – Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View" .
Music Canada . Retrieved April 24, 2021 .
^
"Danish album certifications – Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View" .
IFPI Danmark . Retrieved October 5, 2021 .
^
"British album certifications – Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View" .
British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved April 24, 2021 .
^
"American album certifications – Hootie & The Blowfish" .
Recording Industry Association of America .
^
"Drumming Up Memories: Jim Sonefeld of Hootie & The Blowfish Book Signing Event" . The New Irmo News. December 13, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2024 .
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