Tongues have been wagging over Hootie & The Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker's new country album, Learn to Live. He recently scored a hit with “Don't Think I Don't Know About It,” and has made the talk show circuit discussing his seemingly improbable transformation to country star. What some may not know is that this is not his first solo effort; his 2002 album Back to Then, showcased his love of R&B mixed with rock. The CD barely made a dent on the pop and R&B charts, quietly slipping away from public consciousness. Even Rucker's own website makes no mention of the work.

However, Back to Then is an unfairly dismissed album, a stellar effort that probably suffered from not sticking to any one genre. While the album leans toward R&B, it also nods to jazz, rock, hip-hop, and folk. Radio programmers couldn't fit the CD into any one category, thus Rucker received barely any airplay. Now that Rucker is back in the music scene, the time is ripe for rediscovering Back to Then.

Beginning with the funky track “Wild One,” Rucker expands his vocal range, using more nasal inflections and even allowing a bit of raspiness. The horns punctuate the tempo, making it resemble an old-school Philadelphia soul single. The next track, “Exodus,” features swirling chords, with acoustic guitar dominating the sound. “One More Night” finds him in his “please baby please” begging mode, but he pulls it off with his deep vocals.

The album also includes an interesting duet with Jill Scott, “Sometimes I Wonder,” which deftly combines R&B with a funkier beat. From the sound of their voices, the two seemed to have fun recording the tune, slightly laughing as they coo back and forth: Lovin' you is like my dream come true/I want you to know that I'll always be there standing up for you,” Rucker croons, with Scott replying “From the mountain/From the river/From the root to the to the, baby,” with Rucker chuckling in the background. He keeps up surprisingly well with Scott's phrasing and vocal power. Incidentally, this track also appears on Scott's Collaborations compilation.

Unfortunately the album contains a couple of clunkers. Someone apparently informed Rucker that he needed to incorporate some rap into his sound in order to get airplay: the result is “Sleeping in My Bed,” an ill-advised duet with Snoop Dogg. Rucker valiantly tries to sound “street,” but falls short. A brief clip of Rucker singing “Amazing Grace also seems out of place.

While the album mainly contains nicely crafted tunes, the highlight of Back to Then remains “This Is My World,” a should-have-been-hit that contains some of the best pop song lyrics I've heard in a while. As the midtempo beat kicks in, strings and piano swirl as though they sneaked in from a Babyface session. The lyrics address an important issue in any relationship, the tendency to want to change the other person:

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