Cracked Rear View


Cracked Rear View is the debut studio album by Hootie & the Blowfish, released on July 5, 1994 by Atlantic Records. Released to positive critical reviews, it became extremely popular and is currently one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Recording

was chosen by A&R man Tim Sommer as a producer because of his previous work with John Mellencamp and R.E.M.

Reception

Cracked Rear View is Hootie & the Blowfish's most successful album. It was the best-selling album of 1995, with 10.5 million shipments that year alone, eventually achieving 21 million album equivalent units by May 21, 2018. It is the joint 19th-best-selling album of all time in the United States. 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 and New Zealand. Three million copies were sold through the Columbia House mail-order system.
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."

Track listing

All songs written by Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, except where noted.
  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" – 4:10
  7. "Drowning" – 5:01
  8. "Time" – 4:53
  9. "Look Away" – 2:38
  10. "Not Even the Trees" – 4:37
  11. "Goodbye" – 4:05
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
  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
Disc 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
Hi-Res 24/96 Bonus Tracks
Music videos:
Hootie & the Blowfish
Additional musicians
Production
Album
Chart Peak
position
Australia 7
Canada 1
Germany 45
New Zealand 1
Scotland 16
UK 12
US Billboard 2001

Decade-end charts
Chart Position
US Billboard 2007

Awards