Pros: Sincerity of music at times, the comfortable feel of the music
Cons: Drawling, accented vocals, no new sounds, music gets tiring, this music won't challenge you
The Bottom Line: This album is full of cover songs, lacking what I would consider to be new and original sounds. I'm looking for something more, something challenging.
Javelina's Full Review: Scattered, Smothered and Covered by Hootie & the B...
Browsing through some CD’s at my local library, I came across Scattered, Smothered & Covered, an album released in 2000 by Hootie and the Blowfish. I picked up the CD, remembering my high school years and how “cool” Hootie & the Blowfish had been back in day with their release of Cracked Rear View in 1994. I thought, sure, I’ll give this a try. At the same time, I hoped that their music had grown to new heights.
Although I remember a song or two from their first album, I cannot compare between the two Hootie & the Blowfish releases, because I only remember whatever made it onto the radio. Scattered, Smothered & Covered is an album full of cover songs, and with each song listed in the CD booklet is a little blurb usually explaining how the song made its way into Hootie’s repertoire.
The cover of the CD case insert has an “artsy” photograph through a window covered in dripping condensation. Nothing flashy, with sort of a hazy look to it. On the back, there is a list of the 15 tracks over a picture of car alone in a dark parking lot. I think that this is a much more toned-down effect, nothing that would lure in the average person browsing for CD’s- this is for the Hootie fan or someone who is trying out music in this genre, whatever that may be.
Scattered, Smothered & Covered starts with a song that was very reminiscent of the previous Hootie & the Blowfish album. In other words, if you heard any song from this album, you will know that you are listening to this group.
The first song is a good track to begin with, ”Fine Line”, which has a heavy, catchy beat. One of the guys sings the vocals, often accompanied by a woman’s voice. The booklet notes, ”Thanks to Gena Rankin for a stellar harmony vocal”. Her voice adds something extra to the music, something that I felt moved the type of singing away from today’s popular music.
If you’ve heard a song from the album, it is track 2, or I Go Blind. This is one of those songs that was overplayed on the radio, and it only took a short amount of time before the listener got tired of hearing this song. Every time I look at you, I go blind, Every time I look at you, I go blind”. I find I Go Blind to be very tiresome, because it feels like it takes a lot of effort. The booklet states, ” We’ve been covering this song longer than any other song on the album and it’s Deano’s vocal debut”.
Track 3, Almost Home is already starting to give the album an already familiar feel. It’s not that I didn’t like the song, but it is just the kind of thing that you could have going in the background. These first three songs just kind of amble on- there’s nothing that grabs your attention.
Hey Hey What Can I do introduces a bit of new sound, with the addition of some mandolin instrumentation, which is most obvious in the opening sequences. The overall instrumentation is simple, with several instruments that balance the use of the mandolin. There is just one singer for this track, and I liked the clearness of the sound.
Track 5, or Renaissance Eyes slows the pace down considerably. Here’s where I noticed the especially prominent characteristics of whoever sang the vocals- something I would characterize as a slow drawl, somewhat accented (Southern? I’m not quite sure), almost to the extent of “drunkenness”. There’s certainly no award for clear articulation for this one. The vocalist sings by himself, with some very light vocals in the background and no heavy beat. Quite a few lines of this song are belted out, so it does come off as full of feeling, because of the resulting strength of the words. I guess the lyrics are on the sad side, or maybe it is a bit of misery. “I once had a car but it was stolen”.
Track 6 picks up a little bit lighter, and I really like the intro instrumentation for Before the Heartache Rolls In. There are some verses that bring in several voices for a fuller effect, in addition to the single vocals. Araby follows, picking up the pace a bit. This sounds kind of like what I would think of as older rock. The sounds feel repetitive, with a pushing beat and a small range.
I’m Over You is again a drawling track, that presents nothing catchy. You won’t find yourself singing this one in the shower. Track 9, Gravity of the Situation was probably one of my least favorite songs. This included the addition of Nancy Griffith for vocals. This slow, reminiscing song really felt like a rendition of Cumbaya. I don’t even know how to describe this song, except that it sounded like a country lullaby, for lack of better adjectives. It almost had a country gospel feel, but all I know was that I felt like I stepped out of the rock world.
I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You, Track 10 is a live song. In general, I am not a fan of live songs, because I like the purity of the music, but the sound of the audience’s enthusiasm seems to almost complement this song. If I could picture what is going on as this song is being recorded, I see the vocalist sitting on a tall stool, huddled with guitar in hand, feeling the song emotionally as he vocalizes his feelings of love. ”Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you, 'Cause falling in love just makes me blue… I think that I’ve just fallen in love with you”.
Dream Baby begins “Sweet dreams, bayy-beh. Sweet dreams, bayy-beh. Sweet dreams, bayy-beh. How loooong was …” If I thought I had stepped back in time with a previous track, this song brought me back even further. As Dream Baby (or should I say “Bayyyy-beh”?) continues, women in the background chant “Sha-la-la” over and over, and then “dream bay-beh”, “bay-beh bay-beh”. You are never ever going to hear this song on Z-100 or any other popular music station.
Driver 8 takes us back to the typical Hootie & the Blowfish song. Let Me Be Your Man starts with some country-like guitar lead-ins. I actually like the full and sort of uplifting sound. It’s just the vocals, the accent that get to me. “Ah’ve been wait’in for you, I wish you could too…Held ya too long to lay back now… First time you caught mahhh aye…” I did like (or should I say, “Lahh-ike” the sound of this song, however, regardless of the drawling vocals.
Track 14, Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want was nothing groundbreaking. But the last track, Use Me finished out the album with more of an artistic feel. The booklet refers to this song as a Bill Withers tune.
The upsides? Well Scattered, Smothered & Covered definitely has that warm and homey feel to it. I wouldn’t even expect there to be swearing or anything violent about any of Hootie & the Blowfish’s stuff. I think I would be pretty shocked, considering their laid-back demeanor. The band can definitely play- no one is lacking in either the vocal or instrumentation departments, but I also don’t think they are pushing their potential. I would say they are in a comfort zone that they are decidedly staying within. These guys have been around for a while. They know what they’re doing and they aren’t going to change a whole lot.
The downsides? The guys (and sometimes the random girl) just sort of do their thing. You can listen to their music, but you sure aren’t going to be blown out of the water. You know how you get in a mood and you need music? Well I don’t think I would find myself playing this music to feel much of anything. It sort of fits in that generic category of background sound- maybe you would play this in the car. Although these guys are original, as in writing and performing, I wouldn’t say they are particularly creative. But I don’t think they want to expand out of their niche, so my prediction (and I’m no Ms. Cleo) says that you aren’t going to hear any new sounds from this band. This group does nothing to challenge their music styles. I understand that this is a compilation of cover songs, so there isn’t as much room for creativity as possible, but this is very unchallenging and stagnant.
Overall, I couldn’t get into Scattered, Smothered & Covered. Part of it was the vocals- they had too much of a country-esque drawl for my tastes. I don’t need to hear every word of a song, and I don’t really care how clearly the lyrics are articulated, but so many words were smeared and blurred into a drawl. It became way too noticeable, and distracted my attention away from other characteristics. This is not the kind of music where I take away a whole lot. I’m not craving their sound, and I don’t find myself with their tunes stuck in my head as I run to the supermarket, take a shower, or sit in the car.
In writing this review, I’m really not sure as to whether I’m criticizing Hootie & the Blowfish or the music that they selected as their covers. I pretty much have never heard of these groups or singers, and don’t recognize any of the selections. There’s not much for me to go on in terms of comparing Hootie’s performances of the songs to their originals. My guess is that I wouldn’t like the originals either.
I think either you like the music or you don’t. It’s something that you can listen to, but for me, nothing registered enough for me to want to listen to this CD again. After a while, I feel like the music is droning on and I have forgotten it is on.
Fine Line (Radney Foster)
I Go Blind (54-40)
Almost Home (The Reivers)
Hey Hey What Can I Do (Led Zeppelin)
Renaissance Eyes (Don Dixon)
Before The Heartache Rolls In (Foster and Lloyd)
Araby (The Reivers)
I’m Over You (The Silos)
Gravity Of The Situation (Vic Chesnutt)
I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You (Tom Waits)
Dream Baby (Roy Orbison)
Driver 8 (R.E.M.)
Let Me Be Your Man (New Grass Revival)
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (The Smiths)
Use Me (Bill Withers)
Often referred to as the Ultimate Bar Band, Hootie & The Blowfish has always enjoyed performing songs by their favorite artists - such as R.E.M., Roy ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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