Darius Rucker: Back to Then : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Who knew that underneath that flannel button-down and baseball cap lay a bohemian in waiting? Darius Rucker's basso profundo was served well by Hootie and the Blowfish's rollicking blues rock, but this neo-soul solo turn finds Rucker unsure whether to let the good times roll or to stop and reflect upon mistakes past. On "Sometimes I Wonder," a duet with Jill Scott, Rucker doesn't have the range -- vocal or emotional -- to compete with his partner. Apart from a brief rendition of "Amazing Grace," Rucker mostly tries to restrain his voice's rich textures, presumably out of respect for his new genre's presumed delicacy. Still, sometimes he nails it: On "Exodus," the album's finest moment, Rucker pleads to "drink the river flowing from your eyes." He struggles with weakness on the breakup epic "Ten Years" but spoils it with a hefty, gasping breakdown that defies belief, and taste. Bizarrely, Rucker may be that rare thing: a restless soul fit more for the roadhouse than the coffeehouse.

JON CARAMANICA
(RS 898 - June 20, 2002)