Review of Hootie & The Blowfish: Short Trips

Introduction

This disc is another of those reasons why I have a multi-region player. There is very little chance that it will ever appear in region 2, so it was just crying out to be bought from across the ocean.

For those of you that don`t know, Hootie and the Blowfish are an American band. None of them are called Hootie, and there are no fish in the band. They`re difficult to categorise, so I`ll hedge my bets by describing them as rootsy/bluesy/funky/folky/poppy/bluegrassy/rocky as that covers most eventualities. The closest comparison I could come up with in my last review was Counting Crows, and that`s about as much as I can manage this time. They`re certainly a lot more upbeat than the Crows though!

Video

Essentially this is a series of music videos interspersed with some interview-style footage, so you`d probably expect it to be in 4:3. And you`d be right, but it is very high quality and thus looks very good. I certainly couldn`t spot any faults and was most impressed.

Audio

Two audio tracks on offer here - a stereo track and the vastly superior DD5.1 track. The sound is one of the main reasons for buying this disc.

It`s fair to say that I am familiar with the songs on this disc, having listened to them quite a few times over the last 5 or 6 years. So it comes as a pleasant surprise to pick out new elements to all of the songs whilst listening to the 5.1 mix, and it really is a joy to listen to.

Vocals are generally locked on to the centre channel, with some backing vocals intentionally floating around the surrounds now and then to good effect. All of the instruments hold their own in the mix and this is Hootie sounding their very best.

Features

There is a bonus video, but this could have easily been included as part of the main feature. Conversely, all of the interview footage could have been collected as an extra, but is instead mixed in to the main feature.

So not a feature laden disc, but that can just about be forgiven.

Conclusion

As I said about the other Hootie disc that`s available, this really is a must buy for fans. The video quality is excellent (and you`ve probably not seen most of the videos on British TV), and the audio quality really is fantastic.

The songs are great, there are some interesting videos, some nice insights into the band with the "behind the scenes" footage, and you`re unlikely to ever see this in region 2.

My one gripe would be that this is a little bit short at 50 minutes. But the disc is reasonably priced (around the 15 dollar mark) so you don`t feel too let down.