Scattered, Smothered and Covered

1	Fine Line 3:32
2	I Go Blind 3:14
3	Almost Home 3:51
4	Hey Hey What Can I Do 3:52
5	Renaissance Eyes 5:04
6	Before the Heartache Rolls In 4:24
7	Araby 2:49
8	I'm over You 4:18
9	Gravity of the Situation 4:36
10	I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You 2:58
11	Dream Baby 3:00
12	Driver 8 4:27
13	Let Me Be Your Man 3:04
14	Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want 1:50
15	Use Me 5:01

Barnes & Noble

Like most bands that hail from their neck of the woods, Hootie & the Blowfish started life as a bar band, playing places that demand lots of covers played lots of ways, an order reflected in this disc's Waffle House-inspired title. But while most of their peers quickly washed their hands of those days, Darius Rucker and company have always shown a lingering fondness for them, trotting out odd covers that often became concert highlights -- songs that now become the meat and potatoes of this 15-song set. Scattered, Smothered and Covered is Hootie's way to dust off some old favorites and, in the process, give fans a good look at their roots, which branch out in directions as varied as R.E.M. (whose "Driver 8" gets a chugging run-through here) and Led Zeppelin (represented by a surprisingly muscular "Hey, Hey What Can I Do"). While some of the stretches are a bit too tough to take -- Rucker can't make heads or tails of the Smiths' moping "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" -- the band should be commended for emphasizing good songs, including two from Austin's underrated Reivers, over easily recognizable ones. It's a fine listen, even without a watery draft beer in hand. David Sprague

All Music Guide

It's easy to make fun of Hootie & the Blowfish because they are what everyone says they are -- a bar band made good. Since they were a bar band from the early '90s, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they knocked out Smiths and R.E.M. covers along with songs from the Led Zeppelin and Bill Withers songbooks -- this was the music of the time, and they were a band of their time. All of this surfaces on their B-sides and rarities collection, Scattered, Smothered and Covered. As these 15 songs bounce between covers and tuneful originals slightly less memorable than their big hits, it occurs to you that this must be how Hootie & the Blowfish sounded in Southern college bars before they recorded Cracked Rear View -- they're amiable, good-humored, earnest, and likable. Since the big hits are missing, the group sounds a bit like a local act, too -- the kind of group that wrote sturdy songs but never found a transcendent hook -- but that's not a bad thing, since that's always been part of their charm. And, the fact is, this band has real affection for jangle-pop-derived rock. They knew enough to dig out "I Go Blind," a good old 54-40 song, and place it on the Friends soundtrack at the height of the show's popularity, so they could make the guys some money. It's hard to hate a band that does that, and that lends a certain charm even to an album like Scattered, Smothered and Covered, which is as uneven as any rarities collection (and, of course, only necessary for the hardcore), but blessed with an unexpected charm, since it proves in the best possible way that Hootie & the Blowfish really were America's bar band of the '90s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine