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Boston (album)

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Untitled

Boston is the debut album by American rock band Boston. The album broke fast, with several blockbuster hard rock hits. All eight of the songs on the album still receive regular airplay on classic rock radio. Taking a mere 2 months to earn an RIAA Gold Record Award in 1976 and then a Platinum Award (1,000,000 in unit sales) after 3 months, it was the fastest selling debut album for any American group. In the subsequent 10 years of its 1976 release, the recording continued to sell very well reaching 9 million in sales in 1986 and has continued to receive multi-platinum awards through the present.

Background

Tom Scholz started off jamming in a makeshift band that included future Boston members Barry Goudreau and Brad Delp. Unsatisfied with the live sound, the perfectionist Scholz disbanded the act and instead made demos in his home studio with Delp on vocals. The demos eventually attracted the attention of Epic Records.

Scholz began to learn guitar and various instruments at the age of 21 during the recordings of the album. This was noted on a loading screen in the video game, Rock Band.

Scholz was satisfied with the demos to the point that he wanted to use them as a final album, but Epic said no. "The material had to be recorded in a 'professional' studio in exactly the same way!" Scholz later wrote. Scholz insisted on doing the rerecording in his basement. Epic producer John Boylan (produced Little River Band among many others) made a deal with Scholz. Boylan would have the rest of the makeshift band record some studio arrangements in Los Angeles, Delp and Sib Hashian (with Barry Goudreau joining toward the end) to "create a diversion" while Scholz made his multitrack recordings at home.

Most of the guitar, bass, and keyboards were performed by Scholz and recorded at his basement studio. Most of Delp's vocals were recorded in Los Angeles with Boylan. Only two tracks include all the musicians who ultimately toured under the name of Boston, "Foreplay/Long Time" and "Let Me Take You Home Tonight."

The Remasters

This album and the group's second (Don't Look Back) were remastered and re-released on June 13 2006. The re-releases were digitally remastered personally by the band's leader, Tom Scholz, after he heard (not directly) that the remastering project was to be handled by Sony's team. This was unacceptable to him, and he took it on himself after negotiations with Legacy. "I've always wanted to make those albums sound good on CD, and the chance arrived," he said.[1] The re-masters have received very high praise from magazine critics, and especially from the die-hard fan base.

A small number of the Sony-remastered versions briefly went on sale in Canada on April 4, 2006 before being pulled off the shelves. Those discs also included live versions of "Smokin" and "Foreplay/Long Time" from a 1976 Philadelphia concert. [1]

Track listing

All songs written by Tom Scholz, except where noted.

CD

  1. "More Than a Feeling" – 4:46
  2. "Peace of Mind" – 5:02
  3. "Foreplay/Long Time" – 7:47
  4. "Rock and Roll Band" – 3:00
  5. "Smokin'" (Bradley Delp, Scholz) – 4:20
  6. "Hitch a Ride" – 4:13
  7. "Something About You" – 3:48
  8. "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" (Delp) – 4:43

LP

  1. "More Than a Feeling" – 4:44
  2. "Peace of Mind" – 4:55
  3. "Foreplay/Long Time" – 7:56
  4. "Rock and Roll Band" – 2:59
  5. "Smokin'" (Bradley Delp, Scholz) – 4:44
  6. "Hitch a Ride" – 3:18
  7. "Something About You" – 4:19
  8. "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" (Delp) – 4:12


On the original vinyl and CD releases, the length of "Rock & Roll Band" is actually listed as the unconventional "2:60" rather than the more suitable "3:00".

Some CD releases incorrectly label the length of "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" as 4:12 rather than 4:43. Also, some have "Foreplay/Long Time" as 7:48.

Personnel

Production personnel

  • "Peace of Mind" was played on the 2005 Sci-fi show Supernatural at the end of the 7th episode of the first season called "Hookman". It is also the background music for a series of Panasonic Toughbook television commercials in 2007.
  • "Foreplay/Long Time" was also used in Supernatural, as the background music for the recap prior to the 21st episode of the second season, "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1".
  • "Peace of Mind" is a downloadable track in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
  • "Smokin'" was featured on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game soundtrack on K-DST radio station.
  • A cover of "More Than a Feeling" is a playable song in the PlayStation 2 game Guitar Hero.
  • "More Than A Feeling" was played at the end of the Scrubs episode "My Half Acre" (#509).
  • "Foreplay/Longtime" is sampled in the first track, "Once Again," of Girl Talk's album, Night Ripper.
  • "Foreplay/Long Time" is a playable track in the music video game Rock Band for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 consoles. Additionally, all other songs from the album excluding "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" are availiable for gameplay as downloadable tracks for the two first consoles.

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1976 Billboard Pop Albums 3
1987 The Billboard 200 101

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1976 "More Than a Feeling" Billboard Pop Singles 5
1977 "Foreplay/Long Time" Billboard Pop Singles 22
1977 "Peace of Mind" Billboard Pop Singles 38

Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA – U.S. Gold October 26 1976
RIAA – U.S. Platinum November 22 1976
CRIA – Canada Platinum January 1 1977
CRIA – Canada Gold November 1 1978
CRIA – Canada Double Platinum December 1 1978
CRIA – Canada Triple Platinum December 1 1978
BPI – UK Gold March 20 1979
CRIA – Canada 4X Platinum July 1 1979
CRIA – Canada 5X Platinum July 1 1979
RIAA – U.S. 9X Platinum October 30 1986
RIAA – U.S. 10X Platinum January 29 1990
RIAA – U.S. 11X Platinum December 10 1992
RIAA – U.S. 15X Platinum November 9 1994
RIAA – U.S. 16X Platinum January 10 1997
CRIA – Canada 6X Platinum May 13 1997
CRIA – Canada 7X Platinum May 13 1997
CRIA – Canada 8X Platinum May 13 1997
CRIA – Canada 9X Platinum May 13 1997
CRIA – Canada Diamond May 13 1997
RIAA – U.S. 17X Platinum November 20 2003

References

  1. ^ Official release letter, boston.org

See also

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