Hootie & The Blowfish – The Atlantic Years: 1994-2003

Regarding the CD box set - is Musical Chairs still HDCD encoded? The original HDCD utlized peak extension. It'd be great if this new release had the fully dynamic mastering, but not locked behind HDCD encoding.

My copy had just arrived in the UK, as others have stated it’s fantastic value and great value postage to here too.

I love them all but I’m so glad to finally have Musicals Chairs.

They sound clean, very nicely produced set and generally just what I’ve been after for ages. Thanks Rhino.

Great reviews below just waiting for mine to arrive in the UK. Great postage rates by Rhino of $16 can’t argue with that for a box set. Good work Rhino.

For someone who’s a big fan of the band and refusing to pay £100 for original presses of Musical Chairs or Fairweather Johnson, this boxset came at a perfect time. Adding in the underrated 2003 self titled album and extremely popular cover album into the mix as first time press is a massive win. Any Hootie fan should jump on this and as it’s limited to 2000 pressings it’ll be one to be proud of owning.

The albums sound smooth and honestly having Musical Chairs (finally) and Self Titled on record finally was worth the (personally fantastic price) of £130

Super-nice, sturdy, textured box. All LPs flat and quiet. No seam splits etc. thanks to perfect packaging for shipment. All mastered quite well. I was worried how a a couple would sound on single LP due to amount of tracks etc. but no issues at all! This is a winner all around.

This box set is relevant because even though most of us already have a copy of Cracked Rear View most of us don't have Fairweather Johnson or Musical Chairs. And none of us have the covers album or the self titled one since they're both making their vinyl debut. I can't find fault in this box set. It comes with a sturdy no frills cardboard box and no booklet. All the albums come in poly lined sleeves and were very clean and quiet. You'll be especially impressed with the sound on the two new entries. Hootie doing the mighty Led Zep, you gotta love it. Hey Hey is the perfect track for them to cover. Another favorite here too is Use Me, what a performance in front of only 100 fans. Some of the songs on the self titled abum could easily for Matchbox Twenty which isn't a bad thing. Plug in Rob Thomas on those tunes and you'll catch my drift. All of the titles come with an insert except for CRV which has never had one. Just because CRV was a multi platinum all time great and the other albums pale in comparison it doesn't mean they aren't a good listen because they are. If anything they're a breath of fresh air cause they haven't been played to death. I think the mastering is decent too even though they are from the digital age. $150 isn't a bad price for 5 albums with 4 of them not readily available. Only 2000 of these puppies are being pressed from the Rhino website. And kudos to them for going with usually dependable good old fashioned black wax. The colored vinyl craze has gotten out of hand. I a time when Grand Funk-We're An American Band was the only colored record I owned. Easy fun loving pop music at it's finest indeed.