# Boston



## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Following the recent trend of 70s-induced, psychedelic madness, I'm opening the Boston thread. I've always liked their 1st album and I now own it again. Excellent stuff. What do you guys think of the band?


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## thewonders (Dec 12, 2015)

Their first album is pretty much "Boston's Greatest Hits". I know they had a couple of popular songs from later albums but no subsequent album ever matched the quality of the first one.

And Brad Delp has passed on.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

R. I. P. Brad Delp. A great singer, he really made Boston 'the complete package', with Tom Scholz's compositional talent and excellent guitar-playing serving as backbone.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Since you asked, I don't really like them. A little too clean and pat my tastes. But that's how things went in the late 70s and 80s. I like the rougher-edged and/or bluesier stuff.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I bought the first two albums but my affection didn't really last for long - despite being impressed at first the over-polished sound started to grate after a while and creatively it was classic case of diminishing returns after the debut anyway. 

My mate saw them live in 1978 or 79 when they were touring 'Don't Look Back' and still swears to this day that it was arguably the dullest gig he's ever been to by a top-flight band. 

After 'Don't Look Back' Tom Scholz seemed to become even more a victim of his own over-fussy sense of artistic control not to mention being stuck in a time-warp - that third album took forever to make yet there's hardly any stylistic advancement at all. The egg-headed Scholz was probably in his element with all the 80s digital technology now available to him but therein lies part of the problem - the album lacked any kind of spontaneity and thanks to the use of electronic percussion in places it's also dated rather badly.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I do have a soft spot for over-polished sound, for the big sound, and for the whole genre known variously as pomp rock, arena or stadium rock, anthem rock. There is some precedent for the notion that many cycles in the arts last for about 15 years, and the years 1974-1989 were a Golden decade-and-a-half of great pop-rock: 1974 gave us the first big albums of Jefferson Starship, Styx, ELO, Queen, Boston, later to be joined by REO Speedwagon and Journey in 1978. And the music kept going--but The Cult's _Edie_ of 1989 sort of marks a close, or at least a diminution, as Grunge and other, newer trends were meanwhile abuilding. I do like Boston, and give them a serious listen a couple times a year in the car, airing one of my myriad custom "favorites" cassettes.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I like this clever tune by former Zappa vocalist, Ike Willis. He incorporates the names of several FM radio friendly 70s bands in the lyrics. The album is chock full of good tunes, but the production is dated.


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## nightscape (Jun 22, 2013)

Their first album is a rock masterpiece. The second is more of the same so it doesn't have the same impact. Couple of really good songs on their though.

They're not a band I revisit since I'm over-familiar with the music. There're only so many times I need to hear "More Than a Feelin'" in a lifetime.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I think that a weakness of Boston was the fact that once Scholz, Delp & Co. had established their trademark sound, they never deviated very far from it, unlike the contemporary and subsequent groups that occupied a similar musical space. Styx is probably closest to Boston in stylistic conservatism, and maybe Jefferson Starship the most variable, though even Jefferson Starship became more conservative when Mickey Thomas replaced Grace Slick for _Freedom at Point Zero_. But later the Thomas/Slick vocal duo had a great sound together after Grace rejoined the band. But I love them all (selectively).


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

For nostalgia reasons, I put _More than a feeling_ on the car USB stick. That suffices for me.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Strange Magic said:


> I think that a weakness of Boston was the fact that once Scholz, Delp & Co. had established their trademark sound, they never deviated very far from it, unlike the contemporary and subsequent groups that occupied a similar musical space. Styx is probably closest to Boston in stylistic conservatism, and maybe Jefferson Starship the most variable, though even Jefferson Starship became more conservative when Mickey Thomas replaced Grace Slick for _Freedom at Point Zero_. But later the Thomas/Slick vocal duo had a great sound together after Grace rejoined the band. But I love them all (selectively).


One advantage Styx definitely had over Boston was that they had no less than three frontmen who could not only write three different types of song on their own but could also collaborate with each other. This game them far more options and variety than the Scholz-dominated Boston could ever offer, especially as Tommy Shaw, James Young and Dennis DeYoung could all sing lead when required (as could the late John Curulewski when he was in the band).


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

elgars ghost said:


> One advantage Styx definitely had over Boston was that they had no less than three frontmen who could not only write three different types of song on their own but could also collaborate with each other. This game them far more options and variety than the Scholz-dominated Boston could ever offer, especially as Tommy Shaw, James Young and Dennis DeYoung could all sing lead when required (as could the late John Curulewski when he was in the band).


Still though, the first album is a masterpiece, imo.


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