Boston - by Boston
...I see my Marianne walk away.
From the very first stylistic, clean, pseudo-acoustic guitar riffs to the all out ripping guitar backed synthesizer rolls,"More than a Feeling" was obviously something very different.
Released in late Summer of 1976, the self-titled debut album of "Boston" was definitely something very different. Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder had Top 10 albums, while David Bowie and the Ramones were ushering in the New-Wave/Punk sound that would share radio space for the next several years with the Bee Gees and the short-lived disco sound.
It is no wonder then, that an album created by a group of MIT engineers would usher in the cleanly-produced and highly-engineered "Corporate Rock Era", which would feature such standard acts as Journey, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, and, of course, a rock-and-roll band out of Boston.
Still, before the release of "Boston", rock was dead. In a possible effort to prove it, the 1976 Grammy for Album of the year was awarded to the Starlight Vocal Band for "Afternoon Delight", a one-hit wonder that has become more of an answer to a trivial question than anything else.
After its release in August of 1976, it took only 20 days to sell 500,000 copies and be certified "Gold" and a mere 78 days to reach Platinum, being the fastest ever album to sell as many copies.
As well as being nominated for "Album of the Year" in 1976, the album also produced two more hits. "Foreplay/Long Time" tapped into Tom Scholz' classical piano playing background. The opening Synthesizer riff (again, this was music before its time; the use of Synthesizers did not hit full stride until three years later when Gary Numan's hit song, "Cars" peaked in the US at #9 on the Billboard charts in late 1980.
Side A of the album continues with "Peace of Mind", a solid single to folow-up to "More than a Feeling" before continuing to the third and last song of Side A, "Foreplay/Long Time"
Although the song clocks in at 7:47, it is two songs in one. The first half, "Foreplay", features a hypnotic, rolling synthesizer lick, a pounding bass line, and the somewhat "Galactic" sounding guitar riffs that fil out the rest of the song's robust sound. When the preamble of "Foreplay" ends and Brad Delp belts out, "Well, I get so lonely, when I'm without you...", it is a seamless transition from instrumental to full-blown Classic Rock epic. Side A closes with a smooth, Classic Rock feel that has extended through out rock universe and can be heard in riffs from Journey, Nirvana, and The Black Keys.
Side B continues in much the same fashion, with guitars zipping along with those same galatic sound effects engineered by front man Tom Scholz himself. The autobiogrtaphic lyrics just hammered their message home:
"We were just another band out of Boston,
On the Road to try to make ends meet.
Playing all the bars, sleeping in our cars,
and we'd practice right out in the street...
"...Playin' for week in Rhode Island
A man came to the stage one night
He smoked a big cigar, drove a Cadillac car
And said boys, I think this band's outta sight
Oh, sign a record company contract
You know I've got great expectations
When I hear you on the car radio you're gonna be a sensation."
It is only the intermissions of acoustic guitar tied with Delp's lead and the choral musings of the remaining band members that says with a song that was originally started in Tom Scholz,' basement-turned-recording studio, "...it's been such a long time."
From the very first stylistic, clean, pseudo-acoustic guitar riffs to the all out ripping guitar backed synthesizer rolls,"More than a Feeling" was obviously something very different.
Released in late Summer of 1976, the self-titled debut album of "Boston" was definitely something very different. Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder had Top 10 albums, while David Bowie and the Ramones were ushering in the New-Wave/Punk sound that would share radio space for the next several years with the Bee Gees and the short-lived disco sound.
It is no wonder then, that an album created by a group of MIT engineers would usher in the cleanly-produced and highly-engineered "Corporate Rock Era", which would feature such standard acts as Journey, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, and, of course, a rock-and-roll band out of Boston.
Still, before the release of "Boston", rock was dead. In a possible effort to prove it, the 1976 Grammy for Album of the year was awarded to the Starlight Vocal Band for "Afternoon Delight", a one-hit wonder that has become more of an answer to a trivial question than anything else.
After its release in August of 1976, it took only 20 days to sell 500,000 copies and be certified "Gold" and a mere 78 days to reach Platinum, being the fastest ever album to sell as many copies.
As well as being nominated for "Album of the Year" in 1976, the album also produced two more hits. "Foreplay/Long Time" tapped into Tom Scholz' classical piano playing background. The opening Synthesizer riff (again, this was music before its time; the use of Synthesizers did not hit full stride until three years later when Gary Numan's hit song, "Cars" peaked in the US at #9 on the Billboard charts in late 1980.
Side A of the album continues with "Peace of Mind", a solid single to folow-up to "More than a Feeling" before continuing to the third and last song of Side A, "Foreplay/Long Time"
Although the song clocks in at 7:47, it is two songs in one. The first half, "Foreplay", features a hypnotic, rolling synthesizer lick, a pounding bass line, and the somewhat "Galactic" sounding guitar riffs that fil out the rest of the song's robust sound. When the preamble of "Foreplay" ends and Brad Delp belts out, "Well, I get so lonely, when I'm without you...", it is a seamless transition from instrumental to full-blown Classic Rock epic. Side A closes with a smooth, Classic Rock feel that has extended through out rock universe and can be heard in riffs from Journey, Nirvana, and The Black Keys.
Side B continues in much the same fashion, with guitars zipping along with those same galatic sound effects engineered by front man Tom Scholz himself. The autobiogrtaphic lyrics just hammered their message home:
"We were just another band out of Boston,
On the Road to try to make ends meet.
Playing all the bars, sleeping in our cars,
and we'd practice right out in the street...
"...Playin' for week in Rhode Island
A man came to the stage one night
He smoked a big cigar, drove a Cadillac car
And said boys, I think this band's outta sight
Oh, sign a record company contract
You know I've got great expectations
When I hear you on the car radio you're gonna be a sensation."
It is only the intermissions of acoustic guitar tied with Delp's lead and the choral musings of the remaining band members that says with a song that was originally started in Tom Scholz,' basement-turned-recording studio, "...it's been such a long time."
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