Cracked Rear View

Cracked Rear View
Studio album by Hootie & the Blowfish
Released	July 5, 1994[1]
Recorded	1994
Studio	NRG Recording Studios, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California[2]
Genre	Roots rock, pop rock, alternative rock
Length	43:04
Label	Atlantic 82613
Producer	Don Gehman[2]
Hootie & the Blowfish chronology
Kootchypop (1993) Cracked Rear View (1994) Fairweather Johnson (1996)
Singles from Cracked Rear View
"Hold My Hand" Released: July 18, 1994 "Let Her Cry" Released: December 17, 1994 "Only Wanna Be with You" Released: July 17, 1995 "Time" Released: October 24, 1995 "Drowning" Released: November 1995

Cracked Rear View is the debut studio album by Hootie & the Blowfish, released on July 5, 1994 by Atlantic Records.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B[3]
Rolling Stone	[4]

Cracked Rear View is Hootie & the Blowfish's most successful album. It was the highest-selling album of 1995, with 10.5 million shipments that year alone, eventually shipping 16 million copies to retailers by March 31, 1999. It is the joint 16th-best-selling album of all time in the United States.^[5] Cracked Rear View reached number one on the Billboard 200 five times over the course of 1995. The album also reached number one in Canada^[6] and New Zealand.^[7] Three million copies were sold through the Columbia House mail-order system.^[8]

Critical reviews of Cracked Rear View were mostly positive. The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it four and a half stars out of five, and said that it was "the success story of 1994/1995." He also said, "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."^[1]

Track listing

All songs written by Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld.

1. "Hannah Jane" – 3:33
2. "Hold My Hand" – 4:15
3. "Let Her Cry" – 5:08
4. "Only Wanna Be with You" – 3:46
5. "Running from an Angel" – 3:37
6. "I'm Goin' Home" – 4:11
7. "Drowning" – 5:01
8. "Time" – 4:53
9. "Look Away" – 2:38
10. "Not Even the Trees" – 4:37
11. "Goodbye" – 4:05

Includes hidden track "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (Traditional) – 0:54

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".

Personnel

Hootie & the Blowfish

• Mark Bryan – mandolin on "Only Wanna Be with You", piano on "Not Even the Trees", electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocal percussion
• Dean Felber – piano on "Only Wanna Be with You", bass guitar, clavinet, vocals
• Darius Rucker – vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion
• Jim "Soni" Sonefeld – glasses on "Not Even the Trees", drums, percussion, vocals, piano

Additional musicians

• David Crosby – background vocals on "Hold My Hand"
• Lili Haydn – violin on "Look Away" and "Running from an Angel"
• John Nau – piano on "I'm Goin' Home", Hammond organ

Production

• Jean Cronin – art director
• Don Gehman – producer, engineer, mixing
• Michael McLaughlin – photography
• Wade Norton – assistant engineer
• Gena Rankin – production coordinator
• Eddy Schreyer – mastering
• Tim Sommer – artists and repertoire
• Liz Sroka – assistant mixing

Charts

Album

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Australia (Top 50)[9]	7
Canada (RPM100 Albums)[6]	1
Germany (Media Control Charts) [10]	45
New Zealand (RIANZ Top 50)[7]	1
Scottish Albums (OCC)[11]	16
UK (The Official Charts Company)[12]	12
US Billboard 200[13]	1

End of decade charts

Chart (1990–1999)	Position
U.S. Billboard 200[14]	7

Awards

Year	Winner	Category
1996	"Let Her Cry"	Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals

See also

• List of best-selling albums in the United States

References

1. Stephen Thomas Erlweine. "Cracked Rear View — Hootie & the Blowfish : Overview". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
2. Cracked Rear View (CD liner). Hootie & the Blowfish. United States: Atlantic Records. 1994. 82613-2.
3. Christgau, Robert. "CG: Hootie and the Blowfish". RobertChristgau.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2013. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
4. Evans, Paul (February 2, 1998). "Hootie & the Blowfish: Cracked Rear View : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 26, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
5. RIAA Top 100 Archived 17 January 2010 at WebCite
6. "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.
7. "Cracked Rear View by Hootie & the Blowfish". charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Archived from the original (ASP) on February 2, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
8. Zaleski, Anne (June 9, 2015). "Four Columbia House Insiders Explain the Shady Math Behind '8 CDs for a Penny'". A. V. Club.
9. "Cracked Rear View by Hootie & the Blowfish". australian-charts. Hung Medien. Archived from the original (ASP) on February 20, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
10. Steffen Hung. "Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View". swisscharts.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
11. . Official Charts Company http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/scottish-albums-chart/19950312/40/. Retrieved 17 February 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
12. "Cracked Rear View by Hootie & the Blowfish". Chartstats. United Kingdom: The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original (PHP) on October 21, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
13. "Hootie & the Blowfish — Billboard Albums". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
14. Geoff Mayfield (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.