This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
I didn’t read the press release for the new Hootie & The Blowfish album — because really, life is just too short for that kind of thing — but typically, when veteran performers put out self-titled albums, it’s meant to reflect their spiritual or musical “rebirth.”
Well, I’m still not sure whether to be bummed or glad that Hootie & The Blowfish haven’t changed a damn thing — not their music, not their clothes, not even their hairstyles (thought singer Darius Rucker is looking a little thin on top). On their first album in five years, the South Carolina quartet still traffic in the mainstream guitar-rock and last-waltz pop ballads they always have. Oh, here and there on these 12 songs, they may try to stretch a tad — Little Brother has a latter-day Doobies soul-funk groove, and their rootsy cover of Continental Drifters’ Rain Song is a nice touch — but this is less a rebirth than a change of clothes. Meet the new Blowfish; same as the old Blowfish.
