** Hootie and the Blowfish

MUSICAL CHAIRS

(Atlantic)

In retrospect, Hootie and the Blowfish's biggest crime is that they've never been quite as exceptionally awful as some may have wished them to be -- they've been bad but always, to borrow a thought from TV critic Joe Queenan, in a "safe, predictable way." Which at least partly accounts for the waves of psychic nausea the band generated when they came out of nowhere (i.e., South Carolina) four years ago to sell 15 million copies of Cracked Rear View Mirror (Atlantic). It didn't help that Hootie were miscast as alternative, even though they were clearly a sentimental alternative to the raging alienation of the otherwise quaint grunge years. On Musical Chairs the band recover from the bad vibes that sank '96's Fairweather Johnson (Atlantic) and return to the easy-going, country- and soul-tinged guitar pop of their debut. Darius Rucker's warm, rounded voice and the creamy arrangements of the upbeat single "I Will Wait," the blue ballad "Only Lonely," and the Buffetty "Las Vegas Nights" are the radio equivalent of comfort food -- eminently listenable, middle of the road, and not nearly as bad as you might hope.

-- Matt Ashare