New BOSTON album due [don't hold your breath!]

[Vic2012]

however, the idea of spending a decade or longer to create an album of sonically outragous yet alarmingly mundane AOR-schlock seems increasingly ridiculous to me.

That's what's always turned me off about this band. Really, the first album is all you need. The second wasn't as good as the first but the "sound" was still there and it had some good songs. It wasn't a bad follow up overall. But then you read stories about how disappointed Tom was with Don't Look Back. Okay Tom, the third album will be a masterpiece right? Wrong. Third Stage had some nice songs but overall I couldn't stand how it sounded, and it seemed like there were too many "crunch ballads." Boston was a "sound" not a living, breathing, rock band. I only bought Walk On for the medly. I think I tried to hear the whole thing once and could barely stand it. I found a used copy and sampled the Walk On Medley, and though I'd give it a chance. The medley's pretty cool actually, despite how awful the drums sound. But at least there was that Smokin' vibe going on. It was worth spending a few bucks for the medley. I was never curious, not even slightly to hear the last album. After I read all the reviews and saw that they had a female singer and all that I thought, Jesus can this band descend further into schlock?

You know, I think Boston is a band that created such a great sound in the 70s and such a great debut album that it's been their legacy for all these years. It's what they've lived off for over 30 years, that one, great album. But this "perfectionism" of Tom, and all these law suits, and this and that. It's comical really. It's pathetic too. You'd think this band was a band you'd compare to the Beatles or Zeppelin.

[GuitarGeek]

If one is gonna limit themselves to owning only the first album, you might as well not even bother. You don't "need" it, all you need to do is turn on classic rock radio, because they program every goddamn song on that record like it's the national anthem or something. So if you're really hurting to listen to Hitch A Ride, Foreplay/Long Time, or whatever, well, put your local classic rock station on and at some point today, you will hear that (and probably every other song from the album) eventually.

Personally, I prefer Don't Look Back and Third Stage. Don't Look Back opens with the great Don't Look Back/The Journey/It's Easy suite, and A Man I'll Never Be is in my opinion one of the definitive power ballads. I also like the songs on side two. Yeah, Party and Feelin' Satisfied are "dopey boogie numbers" but I they're good dopey boogie numbers. I also really dig Used To Bad News (check out the organ and guitar solos on that one) and Don't Be Afraid (which I just think has a cool sounding chorus, as well as a great false ending).

Third Stage has one of the worst drum sounds known to man (courtesy of an Oberheim DMX drum machine), but again, I think the songs make up for it. The We're Ready/The Launch/Cool The Engines/My Destination suite I think is quite excellent (even if The Launch uses the exact same melody as The Journey), and again Hollyann is another top notch power ballad (though the live arrangement, with the extended organ solo and Gary Pihl playing a guitar solo that's not on the studio version, I think is superior to the studio track).

I have to put Walk On on again, as I don't really remember that much about it, except that the big JS Bach wannabe organ solo in the middle of Walk On itself was something you can hear Tommy Boy playing on some of the bootlegs from the Don't Look Back tour. Oh yeah, and I remember the tacky ballad that was used on the Greatest Hits album, I forget what it was called, but it was apparently the first time Scholz had ever used a synthesizer.

Speaking of the Greatest Hits release, I think the two new songs on there, Tell Me and Higher Power, are both really solid songs. I remember it being noted on the old AOL Boston board, at the time, that everyone who was in Boston at the time played on the two new tracks, but somehow Scholz still managed to play most of the instruments, this time even hijacking the digital drumkit away from the drummer (who was reduced to merely playing a harmonica solo on Higher Power).

As far as Boston being more a "sound" than an actual "band", that's pretty much the truth. It's now a known fact that Scholz played most on all the Boston studio recordings (I think there's like one song on each of the first two albums that Fran Sheehan actually played bass on, and Barry Goudreau I think played on only two or three songs on each of them). And in fact, I believe I read once that the original contract the band signed with Epic named only Delp and Scholz. The other guys were literally their "hired hands" or whatever you want to call it.

[The Fantastic Progo Rican]

Yeah the last one I enjoyed was Walk On, I remember buying Corporate America, listened to it once then coming back to the record store the next day and invented an excuse to get a credit and get something else.

[The Fantastic Progo Rican]

Yeah Michael Sweet and Tommy DeCarlo shared lead vocals on that one tour, and I've seen some vids on YouTube and they both did a good job, I guess Sweet was brought mostly to back up DiCarlo who was very green and had no stage presence. Stryper even recorded a version of Peace Of Mind.

[The Fantastic Progo Rican]

thanks for clarifying this! *taking a long hard look in the mirror*

Yeah sorry I didn't come back in time to reply to you but GuitarGeek made a great save

[Scott Bails]

I actually love Amanda, especially when the song reappears on Third Stage as My Destination. That song makes me sad every time I hear it(especially the middle eight), due to Brad's tragic passing.

Love "Amanda," but always thought it was beyond lame that they basically recorded the same song again with "My Destination."

As much as I like Third Stage, it's so pathetic that we waited 8 years for it, and it's only 36-and-a-half minutes long, with the same song on it twice.

[Banquo]

I think probably the best versions of Shattered Images and Television Politician that circulate are on the King Biscuit show. I haven't listened to that one in ages, so I really don't remember.

The KBFH of Long Beach, Calif. is the mixture of material from two shows played on the same date in 1977, and featured material from the then-unreleased second album. It has been broadcasted many times in different variations. A rare version also contains a blues number called "I Don't Wan't To Lose In Love". All this stuff can be found at Wolfgang's Vault. There's also a Cleveland Agora show from 9.27.76, and a Philly Spectrum show from 12.18.76, as well as a pro-shot video from the Meadowlands, 1979.

And of course, who doesn't have the "Trashcan" album?

[davis]

The only song I liked by them was "Long Time." I heard the debut numerous times from friends, but I've never been a fan

[JKL2000]

This is going to sound crazy, but I'm not sure I ever heard Boston's 2nd album, Don't Look Back, and I also don't know what the song Don't Look Back sounds like. I guess I must have heard it a lot, because I see it was a huge hit. But while I know the first album thoroughly, I feel like I don't know the 2nd album at all. Is Don't Look Back played incessently on FM radio the way most of the first album still is?

Also, have they been playing a TON of Boston on FM radio the past few days?

[Gerardo]

I saw Boston in Puerto Rico when they played the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in 1998 when they were touring in support of the Greatest Hits cd. It was an awesome show and one of my top 5 concerts I've ever seen. They played for 3 hours and did 3 encores. People just didn't want to leave. I liked the combination of Brad Delp and Fran Cosmo on vocals. Cosmo even sang "Cool The Engines", which was sung by Brad Delp on the 'Third Stage' album (which is my favorite Boston record). David Sikes was still with the band and sung "Tell Me" from the 'Greatest Hits' cd. The drummer was Curly Smith. The band was spot on that night and Brad and Cosmo were fantastic.

Speaking of Brad Delp, I had seen him previously perform in Puerto Rico at the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum in my hometown city of Bayamon with the Boston splinter band RTZ in 1992. That was also a great show, and it was nice to see Brad and Barry Goudreau perform together on stage. For the encore they played a medley of Boston songs.

I was disappointed with the release of 'Corporate America'. I thought it was a weak record, but I've kept it and play it on occasion because it does have some good songs like the title track, "Someone", and "I Had a Good Time". The other songs on the album were an attempt to sound like an alternative rock band or something, it was like listening to two different bands on the same record; and "Stare at Your Window" has to be one of the worst songs ever written by anybody, I don't understand why this was included. I always thought this would have been a better album if they had put the two new songs of the Greatest Hits on it, as it seems to me that they were intended to be on a new album and not on a Greatest Hits record. I say this because of the striking similarities in the melody of the songs "Higher Power" and "Corporate America". That being said, for some reason I do enjoy the Cosmo album 'Alien' which is very similar in sound to 'Corporate America'.

I do like the first 4 Boston albums and, hopefully, the new one will be a Boston rock'n'roll record that do away or, at least, minimize the ballads.

[trurl]

Is Don't Look Back played incessently on FM radio the way most of the first album still is?

It is around here; every bit as much as More Than A Feeling and Foreplay/Long Time and way more than the others. I actually think it's a damn good song too, but iirc the rest of the album was same old/same old. Vic is totally right, you can get all the essential Boston you need just by turning on classic rawk radio.

[Vic2012]

Don't Look Back opens with the great Don't Look Back/The Journey/It's Easy suite, and A Man I'll Never Be is in my opinion one of the definitive power ballads. I also like the songs on side two.

It really isn't a bad album at all. It's a pretty good follow up, so I'll never understand what Tommy is so disappointed about. At least that's the impression I got fom reading articles about that album. Tom wanted more time on it. I think the reason why it sounds good is because he was "rushed" to get it out. I never have owned either CD but I had one of those cheap, two-fer cassettes with both albums for like 4 bucks. I don't think the second album is essential but it's not a bad album, and if you like the first you might like the second. Yeah, A Man I'll Never Be is a great power ballad. I usually hate power ballads but this one really sounds majestic. My favorite overall song on DLB is "Party." "Feelin Satisfied" is dopey but it has a nice groove. The lyrics always crack me up. ..... ooooh are you fellin' satisfied, come on let us give your mind a ride ..... I don't know why I find that so funny but it just makes me chuckle. It's so dumb it's cool.

Vic is totally right, you can get all the essential Boston you need just by turning on classic rawk radio.

Chris said that (Guitar Geek). But he's right. At any given time, you'll hear More Than A Feeling on radio.

[GuitarGeek]

Love "Amanda," but always thought it was beyond lame that they basically recorded the same song again with "My Destination."

Why? Progressive rock bands do that all the time. For instance, on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, there's several songs that reprise bits from earlier tunes (eg Lilywhite Lilith, The Light Dies Down On Broadway).

[GuitarGeek]

There's also a Cleveland Agora show from 9.27.76, and a Philly Spectrum show from 12.18.76, as well as a pro-shot video from the Meadowlands, 1979.

I just watched the Giants Stadium footage last night. Interesting, my first thought was that it was another video screen feed, but it looks like they used more cameras (at least four or five that I counted) and had more shots of the full stage than you usually see with screen feeds, so I'm not quite sure what the purpose might have been, unless they filmed the concert for TV, and then it didn't get used (which seems unlikely because that kind of thing is mucho expensive).

At any rate, there's some cool stuff on that video, but again, the vocals are a bit iffy, though maybe not as bad as they are on the Agora Ballroom show.

And of course, who doesn't have the "Trashcan" album?

I don't have the Trashcan thing. If I remember correctly, isn't that supposed to be the songs the rest of Boston recorded out in LA after Epic got tired of waiting for the first album?

[GuitarGeek]

Is Don't Look Back played incessently on FM radio the way most of the first album still is?

I don't listen to the radio anymore, but when I did, Don't Look Back itself, the actual song, got as much airplay as More Than A Feeling or Peace Of Mind. Feelin' Satisfied also gets quite a bit of airplay too, I think.

[trurl]

Chris said that (Guitar Geek). But he's right. At any given time, you'll hear More Than A Feeling on radio.

Oh, whoops!

[GuitarGeek]

It really isn't a bad album at all. It's a pretty good follow up, so I'll never understand what Tommy is so disappointed about.

I seem to recall one interview where he said that everyone bought that album ought to be entitled to get half their money because Tommy Boy was "only half finished" when Epic pried it away from him. What he would have done if he could have worked on it for another 3 years, is anybody's guess. I do agree, though, it sounds just fine as it is.

Chris said that (Guitar Geek). But he's right. At any given time, you'll hear More Than A Feeling on radio.

Well, that's only if you're of the opinion that only the first album is worth having. I disagree with that logic, just because I think there are good songs on the other records, too. But if you're going to limit to that first album, you might as well just turn the radio on and wait for the damn songs to come on.

[Koreabruce]

[GuitarGeek]

Dammit, if you're going to post a video of Don't Look Back, you might as well post the entire fucking suite, not just the first song:

[Banquo]

I don't have the Trashcan thing. If I remember correctly, isn't that supposed to be the songs the rest of Boston recorded out in LA after Epic got tired of waiting for the first album?

No. These are the demos recorded by Scholz, Jim Masdea and Brad Delp in '74-'75 in Scholz's home studio prior to signing with Epic.

[Scott Bails]

It really isn't a bad album at all. It's a pretty good follow up, so I'll never understand what Tommy is so disappointed about. At least that's the impression I got fom reading articles about that album. Tom wanted more time on it.

I can't imagine what more he would have done with it. I think it's better than the debut. Of course, that might be because classic rock radio hasn't shoved it down my throat for 30 years.

Why? Progressive rock bands do that all the time. For instance, on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, there's several songs that reprise bits from earlier tunes (eg Lilywhite Lilith, The Light Dies Down On Broadway).

Well, let's see...

LLDoB is a double album that came out a year after Genesis' previous album.

Third Stage is thirty-six and a half minutes long, and we waited eight years for it.

Just a bit of a different situation.

[GuitarGeek]

No. These are the demos recorded by Scholz, Jim Masdea and Brad Delp in '74-'75 in Scholz's home studio prior to signing with Epic.

OK, and how different are they from what made it onto the final album, given that it's the same three people. I seem to recall reading there was one bootleg that had a bunch of songs that were recorded in LA, while Tom stayed behind in Boston to finish up working on the first album. That's the one I'd actually like to hear.

[GuitarGeek]

I can't imagine what more he would have done with it. I think it's better than the debut. Of course, that might be because classic rock radio hasn't shoved it down my throat for 30 years.



Well, let's see...

LLDoB is a double album that came out a year after Genesis' previous album.

Third Stage is thirty-six and a half minutes long, and we waited eight years for it.

Just a bit of a different situation.

Well, maybe Scholz like both variations on the Amanda/My Destination motif, and felt both fit the concept of the album. Yes, apparently, Scholz viewed Third Stage a "concept album", or at least that's how the liner notes make them sound. And when they first went on tour in 87, they were playing the entire album, in sequence, the way Marillion did with Misplaced Childhood, Pink Floyd did with Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here, etc. At any rate, I don't look at it from the point of quantity so much as quality.

[Scott Bails]

The point is, eight years, not even thirty-seven minutes of music, and the same song twice - pretty terrible production rate.

[GuitarGeek]

The point is, eight years, not even thirty-seven minutes of music, and the same song twice - pretty terrible production rate.

I still don't see why you think the 8 years thing and the length of the album have anything to do with it. If Genesis, Marillion, Yes, and other progressive rock bands can repeat motifs, so can Boston.