Hootie & The Blowfish detail ‘Cracked Rear View’ 25th Anniversary Editions

Remastered album features rare and previously unreleased studio and live recordings

Hootie & the Blowfish are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the band’s debut album, Cracked Rear View, this year. The monumental record is currently the tenth best-selling album of all time in the U.S., certified 21x Platinum by the RIAA since its 1994 debut, as well as the best-selling debut album of all time. To commemorate the anniversary, the band will release two new versions of the monumental album with remastered, rare, and unreleased audio on May 31st in conjunction with the launch of their extensive North American Group Therapy Tour on May 30th.

Cracked Rear View: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will be available from Rhino Records as a 3 CD/DVD Deluxe Edition set on May 31st. A 2 CD Expanded Edition, digital download, and streaming versions will also be available on the same day.

The 3 CD/DVD Deluxe Edition includes a newly remastered version of the original album, rare and unreleased studio and live recordings, plus a DVD with surround sound mixes, the original music videos from the album and more. The set also comes with extensive liner notes written by Tim Sommer, who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1993.

The band – Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker and Jim “Soni” Sonefeld – recorded Cracked Rear View at NRG Studios in Los Angeles with producer Don Gehman. Released on July 5, 1994, the album became a musical phenomenon, topping the album charts in Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S., where it reached No. 1 five different times during 1995.

The album generated four massive singles: “Hold My Hand,” “Only Wanna Be With You,” “Time,” and “Let Her Cry,” which earned Hootie & the Blowfish a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group and also saw them recognized as Best New Pop Group by the Grammy® Awards.

Both new versions of the album are packed with rare recordings. Among the highlights are early versions of many of their biggest hits recorded in 1990 and 1991 and only available previously on cassettes sold at their live shows; the band’s five-song 1992 Kootchypop EP; and other unreleased and rare studio tracks.

The Deluxe Edition also boasts a live recording of the band’s February 3, 1995 concert at Nick’s Fat City in Pittsburgh, PA. Recorded just a few weeks after Cracked Rear View was certified gold, most of the concert has never been released, including performances of “I Go Blind,” “Hold My Hand” and a cover of “Love The One You’re With.”

In the liner notes, Sommer writes: “On stage, Hootie & the Blowfish really sought to combine the intimacy, sensitivity, and whirling dervish qualities of 1980s R.E.M. with the muscular he-man-ism of Springsteen and the E Street Band … The Pittsburgh set captures all this rather wonderfully.”

The Deluxe Edition DVD includes a 5.1 Surround Sound mix of the original album and 24/96 stereo mixes of five bonus tracks. It also features music videos for “Time,” “Let Her Cry” and three more songs.

3 CD/DVD Deluxe Edition | 2 CD Expanded Edition

CD 1: Original Album Remastered

1. Hannah Jane
2. Hold My Hand
3. Let Her Cry
4. Only Wanna Be With You
5. Running From An Angel
6. I’m Goin’ Home
7. Drowning
8. Time
9. Look Away
10. Not Even The Trees
11. Goodbye

CD 2: B-sides, Outtakes, Pre-LP Independent Recording

1. All That I Believe*
2. I Go Blind
3. Almost Home
4. Fine Line
5. Where Were You
6. Hey, Hey What Can I Do
7. The Old Man And Me – Kootchypop Version
8. Hold My Hand – Kootchypop Version
9. If You’re Going My Way – Kootchypop Version
10. Sorry’s Not Enough – Kootchypop Version
11. Only Wanna Be With You – Kootchypop Version
12. Running From An Angel – 1991 Version
13. Time – 1991 Version
14. Let Her Cry – 1991 Version
15. Drowning – 1991 Version
16. I Don’t Understand
17. Little Girl
18. Look Away – 1990 Version
19. Let My People Go
20. Hold My Hand – 1990 Version

CD 3: Live at Nick’s Fat City, Pittsburgh, PA, February 3, 1995

1. Hannah Jane
2. I Go Blind*
3. Not Even The Trees*
4. If You’re Going My Way*
5. Look Away*
6. Fine Line*
7. Let Her Cry*
8. Motherless Child*
9. I’m Goin’ Home*
10. Use Me
11. Running From An Angel*
12. Sorry’s Not Enough*
13. Drowning*
14. The Old Man and Me*
15. Only Wanna Be With You*
16. Time*
17. Goodbye*
18. The Ballad of John and Yoko
19. Hold My Hand*
20. Love The One You’re With*

DVD: 5.1 Surround Sound Mix Of The Original Album [Hi-Res 24/96 Bonus Tracks]

1. All That I Believe
2. I Go Blind
3. Almost Home
4. Fine Line
5. Where Were You

The Videos
6. Hold My Hand
7. Let Her Cry
8. Only Wanna Be With You
9. Time
10. Drowning – Live

*previously unreleased

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com