[snip]
SCHEERER: You're all over the place. And your fans had a hand in selecting some of the songs. How did that work?
JIM "SONI" SONEFELD, HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH: We had -- when we decided we were going to put out an album, we decided: Let's make a positive sort of spin on the Internet and music these days, which is sort of lacking, and decided we would let them vote online, take little snippets of the songs and let them figure out about half the album. So they got five songs on the record that they chose.

SCHEERER: Including one by the Smiths too. Now...
RUCKER: Yeah.

SCHEERER: That's just like out of left field. This British folk rocker.

(CROSSTALK)

BRYAN: Yes.

RUCKER: That is that one of the those -- "Please, Please, Please" is one of those songs that, you know, if you love music and you listen to that song, you know, Morrissey's version of it, it is just so hauntingly beautiful that I always wanted to sing it. And one day, you know, when we finally got in a situation and we all learned it, you know, we wanted to play it. And it came out pretty cool.
[end snip]

You have to admit: the idea of Hootie and the Blowfish covering the Smiths' "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" is some kind of mind-blower. Morrissey is probably hiding under a couch somewhere right this minute, cringing as Darius Rucker turns the fey Brit ballad into pure Southern-rock corn. Say what you like about the Hootie dudes, but this covers compilation reveals them as an honorable South Carolina bar band that has survived its run-in with pop success by keeping its easygoing humor intact. Some of the selections get sluggish, but when the mighty Blowfish men bang out Led Zeppelin and Bill Withers classics, they prove that if they ever choose to return to their roots, they'll always have a future on the keg-party circuit. And if there's any justice, Morrissey will return the favor with a dramatic interpretation of "Only Wanna Be With You." (RS 854)
ROB SHEFFIELD

>>The one misstep on the disc is the group's treatment of "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want," but really — who can do the Smiths justice? Otherwise, Hootie & the Blowfish have both honored their idols and themselves with a totally pleasing rarities disc, and perhaps, at the risk of critical wrath, it's OK to commend them for doing so.<<

• Related link: Hootie & the Blowfish compilation to include Smiths cover - Oct. 6, 2000